Very interesting, and very Cretaceous, choice of mascot for a company called Jurassic... Should I be that person and tell them? Will they care? Such are the perils of palaeontology.

Men are extremely keen to explain to me that Britain *needs* a domestic steel production plant and doesn't necessarily *need* universities. Okay. Steel contributed about £1.7bn to the UK economy in 2024. Universities contributed more than £200bn.

Job alert: Director of Science @ Defra! Join my team in a critical science leadership role to ensure robust evidence underpins decisions on nature, climate, pollution, food & more. Apply if you enjoy solving big, complex challenges & want to make a real difference! www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/44...

Sunny day out with @taphonomist.bsky.social to Lyme Regis teaching @uniofreading.bsky.social Biology undergrads about Jurassic marine ecosystems and how to make a stratigraphic log ☀️⚒️ @colezoology.bsky.social

Here is my take on the giant ancient octopus Nanaimoteuthis story for the @uk.theconversation.com - while its size will be questioned, the fact this fossil exists has sparked exciting conversations about giant cephalopods which, in my book, is a good thing! 🐙❤️ theconversation.com/were-enormou...

Creature Feature: Nanaimoteuthis

Ooooooh yeah

Did I have many important things to do this afternoon? Yes. Did I spend it drawing Nanimoteuthis haggarti? Also yes. 🐙🦑 #sciart

Really disappointed to see the #BBC coverage of the giant octopus fossil yday (by @hbriggsjourno.bsky.social) use a comment from a problematic palaeontologist who lost a major grant for bullying... They don't even work on fossil cephalopods! There are lots of us out here, use Google to do better.

Quick and dirty sketch

One contestant irk of palaeoart is that marine reptiles are always devouring my beloved cephalopods... Well no longer! Calling palaeoartists to realise my dream of a giant octopus get vengeance for all cephalopod kind!!! My thoughts on the new paper here! 🐙 www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Don't be shy to take on a little two-week side project. These five months will be the most precious three years of your academic journey.

🚨 Out today: our Editorial in @jvertpaleo.bsky.social on an important issue in science - the reproducibility crisis in phylogenetic analyses. In it, we analyze several years of editorial data to ask a simple question: are things improving? www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

We’re looking for researchers in any discipline of natural history: if you have a paper coming out and you want to pitch @pbseons.bsky.social on a potential episode about it, send me a DM! #scicomm #paleosky #FossilFriday (Arsinoitherium says please and thank you!)

Calling all fossilologists! Can anyone help identify this? It was found loose in a drawer, no data or providence. What on earth could our little weird friend be? Please RT for reach because it's flummoxing us!

🐟 Are you an ichthyologist driven by collection-based research? 🧑‍🔬 Apply by May 17 ⏰ At SMNS, we extend our collections integrating genomes 🧬, distributions 🗺️, and species interactions 🕸️ to understand and conserve biodiversity 🌱🐞🦎🦅 Join us! Please share 🔁 www.naturkundemuseum-bw.de/en/jobs/deta...

Very excited for the fossil festival again, I’ll be with @nhm-london.bsky.social and this year I’ll also be giving a talk as part of the student talks series ⭐️

The world’s oldest octopus isn’t actually an octopus at all! 🐙 New research reveals that Pohlsepia mazonensis is actually a relative of the nautilus, revealing more about what these animals were like. Dive into the history of this mysterious fossil 👇 www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...

This deep sea creature is as sharp & clear as broken class, & can grow as long as your hand. This giant amphipod, (Cystisoma) only has two colored body parts: the dense orange stomach/egg pouch, & two MASSIVE eyes, which are a glittering holographic orange layer completely covering its head. 📽️ MBARI

I'm excited to see @taphonomist.bsky.social's newest paper out @royalsociety.org. Our analytical investigations reveal an important cautionary tale about decay: what was believed to be the worlds oldest octopus remains (Pohlsepia) - is in fact, a highly decomposed nautiloid! Congrats again, Thomas!

Awesome new paper by Thomas Clements and co-authors! https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.2369 Fun fact: despite the name similarity, I have nothing to do with Pohlsepia or Palaeocadmus pohli 😉 #cephalopods #coleoids #coleoid #octopus #taphonomy #Carboniferous

This is looking to be a banner year for Mazon Creek. Here's an excellent study by @taphonomist.bsky.social reconsidering the Mazon Creek octopus, showing it is likely a nautiloid instead. Really cool synchrotron element mapping

I am so unbelievably proud to present 8 years of hard work: the worlds oldest octopus is not an octopus... Pohlsepia is actually a really rotten Nautiloid (but oldest soft tissue nautiloid ever found!). 🐙❌ royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

Erm, they're called palaeontologists, actually.

‼️🚨 Job Alert ‼️ 🚨 Two Post Doc Opportunities: PDRA in Macroecology / Paleobiology my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru... PDRA in Extinction & Conservation / Paleobiology my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru... Any questions, please get in touch! Closing date May 1st.

Be safe out there today. No kings!

Sauropod teeth figured in Buffetaut et al., 2006. Collected from near Jezzine in south Lebanon, kilometres away from where two of the most prominent Lebanese journalists were just assassinated As usual, a fundraiser where you can help the 1 million+ displaced gofund.me/bf2171be5

The beautiful preservstion of trilobite compound eyes will never cease to amaze me. On this little 400ish million year old Phacops you can see all the little lenses - each one a rigid calcite mineral crystal! Together they had excellent 360° vision, perfect for finding lunch on the seafloor.

There is a single taphonony joke but the punchline is rotten.

Very tough weekend of rugby. England lose a nail biter and Exeter comprehensively battered. Well done Leicester though. What a win to secure the league.

From El Hossny et al., 2020: Spathiurus, a Cretaceous relative of bowfins. This specimen is at a museum tied to the Lebanese University. One of the university’s campuses has been bombed, and the director of the Faculty of Science has been killed You can support Lebanon here: gofund.me/40b24e072

I’m looking for a post doc (up to five years) interested in phylogenetics and earth systems - please spread the word!

Amazing 440 million year old sea snail fossils (gastropods) hidden under the feet of commuters at Paddington Station in London.

Today I learnt that there are 36 species of Daffodils with over 26000 cultivated varieties! The bees are loving them this morning 🐝

The sea pangolin! Now you tell us...😳

ICAL are ON TOUR! We’re taking part in FunLabs at the Trafford Centre all weekend, chatting fossils, biomolecules and bones with anyone who comes by. Big thanks to the @thepalass.bsky.social engagement grant for giving us the funds to improve our resources (and buy a trolly which is awesome!) 🙌

Appalling, boring, and utterly uninspiring rugby from England. Borthwick needs to be sacked - poor selection, terrible tactics, inexcusable indiscipline, and awful substitutions. Congratulations Azzuri, a well deserved and historic win but bleak days as an England fan. #6nations

A beautifully preserved Cretaceous octopus on display at the Mim Museum in Beirut. Lebanese fossils are some of the most important in the world for understanding cephalopod evolution Beirut is currently under attack. You can donate to help through this link: gofund.me/f6fd46bfa

I’ll start to regularly post photos of Lebanese fossils alongside links to charities supporting the thousands displaced in this war. Even the smallest donations can save lives Fossils on display at Memory of Time, Jbeil, and you can donate here: gofund.me/24a3cee49

YAY! Three random blokes were able to say no to Epstein - and in one case only 'cos mummy said he might be a bad man! What a waste of words. www.science.org/content/arti...

Glob-glob! Absolutely magical sea anemone larva (about 7 mm) from The Lombok Strait, Indonesia 🇮🇩

🚨 UK Student Palaeo Research Opportunity 🚨 Brymbo Fossil Forest are offering students the chance to get involved in active palaeontology research & excavations ⚒️ at a unique #Carboniferous fossil site in Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 - See below for more details ⬇️ #Paleontology #Geology #Fieldwork #FossilFriday #ECR

‘I used to be a mountain’ by Maarten Inghels onboards.be/nl/product/m... 📷 Maarten Inghels/Onboards Biennale #urbangeology

Whenever I see pseudoscientific conspiracy theories about ancient aliens or giant petrified trees or ice age satellites or whatever it drives me crazy because THE EARTH IS COOL ENOUGH JUST AS IT IS! WE DON’T NEED TO REACH FOR REASONS TO MAKE IT MORE INTERESTING! HAVE YOU SEEN A TULLY MONSTER??!!

The Stuttgart Natural History Museum is offering a postdoc position (m/f/d) in Temnospondyl Geochemistry E 13 TV-L, 100 %, 2 years Application deadline: March 8th, 2026 ➡ Further information: https://t1p.de/nwrfi

I keep thinking about this tweet.

Dinosaurs Survived! All 15 designs so far. www.emmalerae.com/store.html

Imagine wearing a #jellyfish as a helmet!?! Well, that’s exactly what this juvenile jack is doing! Mostly immune to its sting, the jack has taken the jellyfish prisoner. Shot using #scuba, out over the deep abyss, drifting at night. #blackwater #blackwaterdiving #scubadiving #gug

⚡Applications for Paleontological Society Student Representative (2026-2028) are open! ⚡ @paleosoc.bsky.social It's a great way to be a part of the community and advocate for students! Applications due March 1. forms.gle/6qg2BLWgEXVd...

Galway University are doing a cool study to see how well people can identify common plants in the UK and Ireland. Got ten minutes? Give it a go! Plant identification survey: forms.office.com/e/nn7brd9T2p