At last! Ediacarans and Cambrian animals in the same site! Amazing! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Yesterday I had a conversation in which a bunch of academics (a) defended the use of generative AI in research and writing. (b) expressed the opinion that "machines will take over in five years, causing mass starvation". One even saw this as a good thing.

I'm choosing to believe that this is a statement from this actual dog.

All the good work being done by Miliband and his department is totally undermined by the government cosying up to data centres. Embracing AI is such a lose-lose-lose situation.

I've infiltrated an Irish pub for Super Saturday. Three wins from three, please... 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇹🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Right, England men. Time to buck up for next week. Get Kildunne in for an inspirational speech. Anything... It may not be the title decider Borthwick wanted but it'll still be a title decider.

This is maybe the best Six Nations in history. And this weekend has been one of the greatest rounds the tournament has ever had.

Great article on AMOC collapse and acting to avoid even unlikely tipping points. There is no issue preparing for/preventing disasters that never materialise, but failing to prepare for one that does would be BAD. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/enviro... [disclaimer - written by my sister]

I occasionally write poetry, usually formal and/or heavily constrained. This one is about interpreting ambiguous data - in this case the dying 'condylarth' and its discovered remains. Each half of the poem has the same letters in the same order.

I've got so fed up with people refusing to believe that I'm Scottish that I've started denying their Englishness (it's always English people) by picking a different English accent from theirs and telling them that they don't sound like that so they can't be English. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The old poem says about the land around Moffat: "Frae Annan-fit tae Eric-stane Man and horse lang syne hae gane Neath greenwood gay" For so long, the greenwood has been held back by sheep, but it is returning quickly thanks to exclusion and rewilding. Relatively low cost and effort, high impact.

I have a clear, old, memory of a TV show with a blue piano and a magical triangle that could become a portal, but until yesterday could never locate it. Turns out it was about an anti-fascist underground revolutionary group, and I watched it aged 5 or 6.

Allowing our labour to enrich the modern tech aristocrats without compensation? Keir Hardie's spinning could be a new source of renewable energy.

What a result!! Huge congratulations to the amazing Hannah Spencer - everyone in Gorton and Denton has just made history. This result shows @greenparty.org.uk can win anywhere, that the politics of hope can win over the politics of hate & there is no longer any such thing as a Labour safe seat 💚

Exciting news - Otherlands Illustrated has been shortlisted for an Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award in the Children's category. Good to see that time travel counts, and looking forward to going into @stanfordstravel.bsky.social to find out how we've done! www.stanfords.co.uk/edward-stanf...

North pole winter sea ice is now over a metre thinner than when I was born. There's only c. 1.5 metres left. #ClimateCrisis

🚨 Hot off the press: Our look into of the palaeontological database landscape and its sustainability into the future. Palaeo databases are invaluable and continue to transform our research field - but they are vulnerable... (1/6) 🧪 ⛏️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The palaeontology cluster sits between historians and archaeologists, children's authors, open science advocates, and biologists, which makes sense. But zoom in, and our *nearest* neighbours are "Queer Taylor Swift fans". Which also frankly makes a lot of sense.

We've got a mystery rodent visiting our attic and making lots of noise, and the best bit about this is that the pest control is putting in a camera trap to figure out if it's a rat or a squirrel, and I'll get a notification on my phone! Looking forward to some nighttime footage of the sneaky beast.

(1) Long 🧵 Time. Today we learned that paleontologist Jack Horner (the same guy who helped give us "Jurassic Park") is in the Epstein Files. As a paleontologist, I feel compelled to say something because this touches my field and I want to make my stance clear on this...

Imbolc. The snowdrops return to the garden. With a dark and rainy day, folklore says that the Cailleach can't go out to collect firewood, and winter comes to an end.

Jack Horner also apparently went fossil hunting in North Dakota with Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Robert F Kennedy Jr some time before the ranch visits.

Today, on the walk to school, we saw a tiny goldcrest confidently bouncing about in a bare tree. Never having seen one before, the boys were utterly engrossed. We ended up very nearly being late, but the time to stop and admire it until it flew away was so worth it.

On this day in 1793, the Russian Empire under Catherine II continued its annexation of Poland-Lithuania in a series of partitions; they wouldn't be independent until 1918. As it's also Burns Night in two days, here's what the bard thought of those trying to seize land and install new governments...

BIG news in Scottish palaeobiology, with evidence from Aberdeenshire's Rhynie Chert that Prototaxites has weird anatomical features that make it look like it's not actually a fungus but some previously unknown, entirely extinct *other* type of eukaryote. So so cool.

How to get into nature.

just so it's clear: this is the exact core function of genAI Fascist government and climate deniers love it because it can produce the aesthetics of knowledge without any actual tendency towards truth. It is automated denialism. Shame on every climate scientist promoting its use (there are lots)

There's only a few days of it left, but the Wyllyotts Theatre panto (Cinderella) in Potters Bar is so so good. Outrageous dames, really good songs, and Morgan Phillips as Buttons is one of the best in the Clown role I've ever seen.

Well, #PrehistoricPlanet might have speculated that a Thylacoleo in a tree is dangerous, but ours is always very cheery.

🎉 Children's Book of the Year! 🎉 Gavin and I will be signing copies at Foyles, Charing Cross Road, tonight! And there's mulled wine and mince pies for free, and lots of other exciting authors too. www.foyles.co.uk/highlights/f...

Over 1 million views (currently over 1.1 million) for the #PrehistoricPlanetIceAge images I've shared at Instagram. Debuts on #AppleTV Nov 26th, a stunning and definitive vision created by #BBCStudios, you're going to love it. Am attending screening events, can't wait.

Challenging weather & transport conditions for our evening authors’ event, but wonderful to hear Tom Holland in conversation with @elsa-panciroli.bsky.social @endofthepier.bsky.social & @tjdhalliday.bsky.social #2025SVP

Lovely review of the illustrated Otherlands from LoveReading4Kids (an online bookshop which donates some of the revenue to school libraries). "A star of stars", "an absolute gem" www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/book/9780241...

Looking forward to joining all the vertebrate palaeontology shenanigans at #2025SVP #SVP2025 in Birmingham for one day only on Friday. I'm sad I can't be there all week, but it's the first time I'll have made it since Albuquerque. Find me and say hello!

Fungus spotting in Gobion's Wood this half term, where we found about 25 species (of apparently about 550!)

Otherlands Illustrated has been shortlisted for 2025 Children's Book of the Year!! Come to the Christmas Evening at Foyles on Charing Cross Road on the 27th of November to find out if it's won! Event is FREE and there will be lots of authors signing books. www.foyles.co.uk/highlights/f...

Ever get the feeling you're being watched? Publication day for the Illustrated Otherlands - get your own copy at all bookshops, or get your local library to order one and borrow it!

Would you look at that? Only three days to go until the UK release. And if you don't have a local bookshop you can use, why not support a small independent by ordering your books at this link? uk.bookshop.org/p/books/othe...

Please share!! 🙏🏼 Want to see where the science of geology began? Then help us build the Deep Time Trail!

One week to go until this beauty is out in the world! Pre-order now or go to your nearest bookshop, where if they don't have it, they'll order one in. www.penguin.co.uk/books/453616...

I've spent the last couple of days in Reykjavik at the Umhverfisthing (Environmental Assembly). Lots of visions of climatic and Environmental hope, great engagement with the community. From the architecture to the food to the people, Iceland has quickly become one of my favourite countries.

Attendees of #SVP2025 #2025SVP: registration now open for two special events: Friday night authors’ event & book signing with @elsa-panciroli.bsky.social @endofthepier.bsky.social & @tjdhalliday.bsky.social chaired by Tom Holland! Spaces limited - check your email for how to register! (2/2)

Anyone in the Brighton area should come and watch some of the Golf Croquet World Team Championships (Tier 2). 5th-10th of August, Sussex County Croquet Club. Fierce competition between 12 countries to get promotion to the top tier in four years time - and Scotland are in with an outside shot! 🔵🔴⚫🟡

🚨Exciting news🚨 The illustrated version of Otherlands has appeared through my letterbox! The art by Gavin Scott is just beautiful, with more than 100 pages of scenes, stories, and guides to bring the past to life. Perfect for readers aged 7-11, but also for anyone who just wanted more pictures!

Not going to name any names, but I've just turned down the chance to be a talking head on a prospective palaeo show because it turned out that they wanted to have *all* the CGI reconstructions be done by AI. I'm lost for words at the laziness...

It was an absolute pleasure reading this and all the other submissions to the Nine Dots Prize. Very much looking forward to seeing the finished product once Grace's book is published.

The latest translation of Otherlands is now out - in Brazilian Portuguese. If that appeals to you or your Brazilian friends, you can get it here and elsewhere. www.planetadelivros.com.br/livro-outros...

Delighted to find out I've been shortlisted for a science poetry prize (thanks to @toriherridge.bsky.social for alerting me to the competition some time ago). Prizes announced next week, but I'd be surprised if I get anything... www.thebrilliantpoetry.com/inspiration-2

For my current book project, I'm looking for an illustrator who can in particular make evocative palaeomaps. They will have to be black and white for printing, and cover a variety of scales from global to local - I'd obviously give direction on that front. Can anyone recommend someone to contact?