We've already got hundreds of students and mentors here, sharing how the sudden policy change has derailed plans. We're looking at formally "delivering" results to NSF leadership tomorrow, please do keep sharing and spreading the word: laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/

Good news! KU's IRACDA program was reinstated! We are now taking applications for postdocs. Please spread the word. sjobs.brassring.com/TGnewUI/Sear...

Do you love #fossil plants? Are you searching for a #PhD position? I am recruiting a doctoral student to join my group at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt/M! Deadline on the 11th of May #paleobotany #paleontology #plants #botany www.senckenberg.de/en/career/sc...

Democracy is not a spectator sport. If we don’t speak up, eventually there will be no one left to speak up. #MarchForDemocracy #MarchforDemocracyKC

I think, going forward, I will only be giving money to Democrats who have a proven track record of throwing hands. No more money for do-nothings, no more money for cowards, no more money for people who spend all of their time looking for ways to playact at opposition.

On a lighter note, I never realized the first two catalog numbers at the Academy of Natural Sciences were from my mom's hometown of Wellington (and about half an hour south of my hometown of Wichita)!

Hey scientists. This rules. Check it out.

The Democrats on the House Science Committee have set up a website to collect stories from fired federal employees, anonymously if desired democrats-science.house.gov/sciencefirings

We have been careful to avoid using the word coup, but it’s time to call it what it is—this is a coup. Trump signed an executive order granting only the attorney general or the president the authority to interpret laws executed by the executive branch.

I keep thinking about this one. Because now it's our country, and we can't all stay away from it.

100% agreed. To add, it'd be really great if our Universities and Institutes, rather than folding like wet paper sacks, actually sued (or got their states to sue) over illegally-cancelled grant contracts that had *already been awarded and signed* by the gov't. Your researchers are depending on you.

I went to post about the National Japanese American Memorial in D.C., which is beautiful but usually missed by tourists. It is a deeply staggering admission of guilt and a warning to future Americans. I went to link to the inscriptions and- Well, they took the site down. www.nps.gov/places/japan...

Join our Public Fossil Digs this summer in North Dakota! NDGSdigs2025.eventbrite.com Registration opens Feb 1st, but if you want to be assured of getting a spot you can become a Dig Supporter donor and get access to early registration next week. More info here: Ndpaleofriends.org/dig-supporters/

We're on BlueSky now! Hello! We are Common Descent, a podcast about paleontology, evolution, and the history of life on Earth! We release episodes every fortnight! Each one focuses on a topic requested by our audience! commondescentpodcast.com

What kind of resources/systems would really boost the success rates of earth/life science students applying to competitive seasonal internships (URE, DOI, etc)? (Ignore 💰 and 🕰️ constraints.) I’d love to hear from folks who review apps, do hiring, have successfully applied to such positions… Thanks!

A reminder that we have two open PhD projects on Bayesian phylogenetics in the lab: One with the new TREE Doctoral Landscape Awards: www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/int... (deadline 20th Jan) And another with CSC: www.findaphd.com/phds/project... (deadline 29th Jan)

Slow Loris in Malaysia California Condors in Arizona Gobi jerboa in China Northern tamandua in Costa Rica Spectral bat in Belize

Check out our new paper for #FossilFriday! We describe a new latest Paleocene mammal fauna and propose an updated division of the Clarkforkian NALMA. By relying on immigrant taxa, this approach should allow for correlation of Paleocene faunas throughout North America.

Check out our new #OA paper, part of EJLS' special issue "A Global Perspective on Adaptive Radiation"! With @aigverte.bsky.social & Marco Mello, we review the intrinsic & extrinsic factors potentially underlying the phyllostomid adaptive radiation 🦇https://doi.org/10.1093/evolinnean/kzae032

A question for my Paleo people...I am adding a class on ethics in Paleontology to my 4th year undergrad seminar on Primate Evolution. I'd appreciate some suggestions for readings that students at that level are likely to find digestible and relevant. Thanks!

Upcoming info sessions for folks interested in joining the 2025 instructional staff team! RSVP here: forms.gle/cMeXD9dVyarx...

#Marchofthrmammals2024 day 22 Synemporion keana, Hawaii's third endemic mammal #sciart #paleoart #paleontology

Plesiorycteropus madagascarensis for day 21 of #marchofthemammals2024 #sciart #paleoart #paleontology

For #FossilFriday, a few lovely examples of _Ophiomorpha_, an ichnogenus attributed to burrowing shrimp. These specimens were preserved in a 125,000 year-old fossil reef complex on San Salvador Island (The Bahamas), which I was lucky enough to see last week there. #ichnology

No such thing as too much art of mammalian woodpeckers!

FINAL DAYS! Are you a Post-baccalaureate interested in Biological Science Research? Don't miss your last chance to apply for NHMLA’s 2024-2025 UNLAB program where hosted researchers will engage in a year-long research and preparation program. Applications due midnight, February 29: nhm.org/unlab

As the deadline nears, we have had a lot of questions about our new post-bacc program. Please encourage prospective applicants to join our final information session on Feb 29, 2024 05:00 PM Central Time. Register here:

Sign the petition asking Duke university to reconsidering the closure of the herbarium chng.it/GZHdMnNYV5

Advertising a 2 year postdoc position to work on echinoderm evolution for #FossilFriday! If you feel you're qualified, please reach out to me. We're looking for people with either knowledge of fossil echinoderms or an interest in heterochrony 🧪⚒️ wvu.taleo.net/careersectio...

I keep bringing this up in other contexts, but Duke hired the same consultants that are gutting education across the country. West Virginia University was in the news recently for having a ton of programs cut, too. Same consultant - Huron Consulting is going door to door gutting universities.

Friends, I wrote up a quick guide to getting started on Bluesky for folks who are used to old Science Twitter. Please share it with your folks who are joining. And please let me know if I missed anything or got anything wrong. 🧪 www.southernfriedscience.com/bluesky-is-n...

Skype a Scientist LIVE features fantastic scientists doing cool work for Q&As! Coming up: March 4: Shark Noses! with @curlybiologist.bsky.social March 19: Sea Star Feet! with Theo Po April 26: Finding medicine in plants! with Josh Kellogg Learn more here! www.skypeascientist.com/livestreams....

We are pleased to announce that applications are now open for our new NSF RaMP postbaccalaureate program "Integrating Biodiversity Science with Genetic Evolutionary Mechanisms (BioGEM)." Please spread the word. biogem.ku.edu

Exciting macroevolutionary study on the insect-angiosperm duo: "We found that angiosperms played a dual role that changed through time, mitigating insect extinction in the Cretaceous and promoting insect origination in the Cenozoic..." www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪 #Paleobio #EvoBio ⚒️ #Geology

I want more schools to replicate the STEM Scholars program. It is different from most training programs in its approach, recruitment, & low cost. I give talks on how to establish this program. It is modeled after the 30+ year old Biology Scholars Program (UC Berkeley) where I previously worked.

🚨New paper alert 🚨 Technically a few weeks old, but sharing another now-published dissertation chapter this #FossilFriday bioone.org/journals/ann...

A very late #BatWeek #FossilFriday featuring the recently described bat Vielasia sigei from France. Vielasia is known from multiple specimens, including the 3D preserved skull below, which suggests it was capable of echolocation and roasted communally in caves. #BatWeek2023

Anybody teaching Scientific Writing next semester? It will be here before you know it 😱 If you'd like all the materials from my own writing course, they're available: scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com/2020/05/26/s...

Come learn about scientific societies, careers, and opportunities in evolutionary biology at booth no. 907 at the SACNAS #2023NDiSTEM Conference! #EvolSACNAS

So a lot of people who are in unstable, abusive, and/or periodically violent living situations keep cell phones hidden for emergencies. If you know anyone in such a situation, make sure they know about FEMA's testing of its Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system next Wednesday. /1

Happy #FossilFriday from our prototype Silvisaurus skull reconstruction. This is the first to have complete jaws, and was recently designated the Kansas State Land Fossil. 🧪

Today is World Rhino Day and here is a concept sketch of one of the largest rhinoceroses (and land mammals) ever to exist. The giant Paraceratherium transouralicum from Oligocene Asia 🐡🎨🧪#paleontology

Briefly stopped by the KU Natural History Museum on #WorldRhinoDay, so check out this mounted skeleton of Teleoceras. It was a short-legged rhino that would have lived in what is now Kansas 5-10 million years ago. #FossilFriday

Miocene South America was just the weirdest Astrapotherium magnum at NHM London for #FossilFriday! #paleontology 🧪 ⚒️

Lizards have Independently lost limbs dozens of times, fish about 24 times, amphibians, at least 3 times, and mammals once.🧪 But archosaurs never have! They've gotten close with wing reduction in flightless birds like Hesperornis here, who went almost all in on legs, but still kept their humeri!🪶

First #FossilFriday post on blue sky! On the left is the brontothere Megacerops and the right is the hyaenodont Hyaenodon from the White River Group exhibit at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum.