I helped write some words with @nicrawlencenz.bsky.social about the impact of Sam Neill's portrayal of Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park. Here are those words, including some delightful quotes from some of our palaeo pals.

Check out my interview on RNZ Nights about @heapsgood.bsky.social & my tribute to Sam Neill's inspirational performance in #JurassicPark as the dinosaur man Dr Alan Grant www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro.... You can also check our @aunz.theconversation.com piece here theconversation.com/how-sam-neil...

The passing of actor Sam Neill brought tributes from all over Aotearoa, including many paleontologists who saw his iconic character Dr Alan Grant from Jurassic Park as a vital career inspiration 💫 🦕🦖 One such tribute is from Professor Nic Rawlence ✨ Read here ⬇️

As Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park, Sam Neill portrayed a scientist who was authentic, normal and relatable. For many budding paleontologists, it was life changing.

Good 🍲 Memento mori you magnificent man 💙

Thanks to all who provided heartfelt quotes, even if we couldn't incl. them all: @ladynaturalist.bsky.social, Kallie Moore, @sally-foundafossil.bsky.social, @tetzoo.bsky.social, @kathronodon.bsky.social, Jake Kotevski, @deanrlomax.bsky.social, John Stewart & Adele Pentland. Please share widely 2/2

Sam Neill's iconic role as Dr Alan Grant in #JurassicPark has been a huge inspiration to generations of children & palaeontologists (incl. myself), so Michael Mills (@heapsgood.bsky.social) & I decided we should write a tribute to the dinosaur man theconversation.com/how-sam-neil... 1/2 🧵

How Sam Neill in Jurassic Park influenced a generation of palaeontologists. flip.it/eQJcvN #NZ #Science I expect there are also quite a few astronomers & physicists whose origin stories include characters from movies & tv shows. Were you one?

Sam Neill's iconic role as Dr Alan Grant in #JurassicPark has been a huge inspiration to generations of children & palaeontologists (incl. myself), so Michael Mills (@heapsgood.bsky.social) & I decided we should write a tribute to the dinosaur man theconversation.com/how-sam-neil... 1/2 🧵

Listen to Nic, who, unlike #ColossalBio, knows of what he speaks…

Just in time for #SMBE2026, our new preprint is out: using 130 genomes spanning ~200 years, fitness data and simulations, we show that conservation rescued the Mauritius kestrel from extinction, but not from genomic erosion. 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #popgen #consgen #conservation

This is insane $$ for fossils & puts these impt specimens out of reach of museums. Fossils are being treated like artworks for the super-rich & are lost to science. In museums, palaeos revisit them as techniques evolve, discovering new pages of our natural history www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Not just fossils. Increasingly I worry that big tech is pricing *science* out of tech itself. But hey, maybe that means an increase in the supply of future dinosaurs? \sarc

This will never not make me smile.

This is excellent from Sam Neill - good lessons for academics here as well

Magestical... 😢

Vale Sam Neill. You will forever be Dr Alan Grant and Merlin to me www.rnz.co.nz/life/people/...

It was great chatting to Dr Barbara Anderson for the Otago Institute podcast about ancient environments, moa, and MythBusting de-extinction. You can check it out here www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kmn...

"The focus on high-glamour, extinct predators distracts resources from urgent, grounded conservation work needed for critically endangered living species"

It was great chatting to Dr Barbara Anderson for the Otago Institute podcast about ancient environments, moa, and MythBusting de-extinction. You can check it out here www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kmn...

The San Diego Zoo already has one and it's actually based on science instead of hype. sandiegozoowildlifealliance.org/story-hub/fr...

Sigh. More #ColossalBio grift — they literally have no product to sell, so “partner” with governments to build the “Colossal BioVault” system (up to 10 I think) and garner more press coverage, all the while the San Diego Frozen Zoo and others have been doing this for decades 1/n

The work we did with kākāpō is now not possible because the govt has said that our funding should go to science that makes money. Members of our current govt have said that if an endangered species is in the way of a mine or a new road then it’s goodbye #nzpol peterkdearden.substack.com/p/on-kakapo

There’s been hints that #ColossalBio has been playing fast and loose with their #RedWolf conservation plans and so–called ghost red wolves, of course along with very clickbaitable headlines. This thread is an excellent explainer, as is this video 🐺 👻 m.youtube.com/watch?v=V9fL...

Remember the deextinction company that claimed to bring back the dire wolf last year? They're launching an endangered species biobank with the US government. Conservationists are skeptical. My latest for @wired.com: www.wired.com/story/coloss...

From dodos to dire wolves, catch me on ABC’s Late Night Live talking about de-extinction. Drawing on my book Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction, which you might also fancy reading. www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

A new agreement between the USFWS and Colossal Biosciences (of dire wolf revival fame) allows the private company to collect cell lines, tissue samples, and DNA from all species listed as threatened and endangered under the Endangered Species Act. #conservation #publiclands #endangeredspeciesact

Is the Trump administration teaming up with a company built around what geneticist Adam Rutherford calls "a con, full of gloss, bullshit and ghoulish greed" a match made in heaven? www.gmwatch.org/en/106-news/...

Concerns that genetic engineering would replace critical conservation work heightened when Mr. Burgum, the interior secretary, celebrated the company's announcement on X, writing that "the marvel of 'de-extinction' technology can help forge a future where populations are never at risk."

Trump administration teaming up with "de-extinction" company Colossal Biosciences to preserve cells and DNA of imperiled species. "But concerns are ... growing that the rise of genetic engineering and efforts to revive extinct species will erode support for on-the-ground conservation."

I wrote a short bloggy item about the so-called dire wolf (it's not) resurrection (it's not), and the credulous and carefully timed coverage of Colossal's work, last year, and flagged the weird simpatico vibes with the Trump admin at the time

i mean, ugh. de-extinction is a horrible bedrock basis for modern species conservation. what??

I also wrote about this last year and I agree with you... There is SO much misinformation on what this tech company is actually doing! factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

The other significantish thing I spotted is that the alliance/partnership between the Trump admin and Colossal Biosciences got a lot tighter

🦆🌿 This year's NZ Garden Bird Survey runs until Sunday - there's still time to take part! 📝 If you have a spare hour, count the birds where you are and help help build a clear picture of changes in our backyards. gardenbirdsurvey.nz/take-part/ #CitizenScience #BioeconomyScience

Reuben Davidson asked the Minister about the PM’s quoted intent to “brutally commercialise the research system”. Despite this and opportunities for the PM himself to walk it back at the PM’s science awards, I feel neither enlightened nor reassured. youtu.be/koeINt5pz3A

And here’s the full episode of How We Survive, a podcast about climate solutions: www.marketplace.org/episode/2026...

A while ago, I talked with the host of @marketplace.org’s climate podcast How We Survive about cloning woolly mammoths. They just aired a snippet of the show on Marketplace tonight (scroll to “Latest Episode;” the segment starts at 7:18): www.marketplace.org/shows/market...

I am really interested in the claim here that research funding occurs independently of politicians. This is a really important principle in my view.

This morning's Otago Daily Times. I'm not sure what a cyclone journey is, though 😂.