Are you right- or left-handed? You may have something in common with this 550-million-year-old animal! 🤯 👉 Meet Spriggina—the world’s first “right-handed” animal! Long before dinosaurs, this little organism crawled along a slime-covered seafloor and preferred bending to the right.

Scientists have discovered a 518-million-year-old fossil that has the earliest known evidence of spiders’ fangs! 🕷️ Using X-ray analysis, researchers found two pincer-like limbs emerging just behind the animals’ eyes, which are thought to be precursors of the fangs used by modern spiders.

The pangolins’ iconic pinecone-shaped scales have made them targets of wildlife trafficking. New DNA analysis has revealed that populations of Chinese pangolins living in the Himalayan foothills are actually a separate species. This distinction could be vital in helping to stop illegal poaching!

“Ford says it has hired back some human engineers after AI failed to match their skills and experience.” Sad that it’s required people to lose their jobs for a company to realise the value of human experience. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Natural history on canvas: Brueghel knew about bird-eating noctule bats Just published in @pnas.org, OA for all eyes Led by the one-and-only @romero-vidal.bsky.social, with the amazing @elena-tena.bsky.social and Sonia Sánchez-Navarro @ebdonana.bsky.social LINK: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Nice article by @joshlukedavis.com on our Antarctic sauropod paper: www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...

🧪🧵 🪰 🐜🪲🐞🦗🐛🦋🪳🦟 How many species of insect are there?  A seemingly simple question, but one that has been 'bugging' scientists for years.  Our work out today suggests that there are millions more than we had previously expected.  doi.org/10.1073/pnas... @gdfcf.bsky.social

Even in a heatwave, I can’t shake my very British habit of having a cuppa. 😅

The GCSE in Natural History moves a step closer. 👏 www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Vote, vote, vote! 🚨 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

🌈Want to come listen to me talk about queer nature? Of course you do! I'm doing a cute little talk this Sunday 07 for Manningtree Pride at ✨Little Bear Bar✨. Tickets are only £5, so if you're in the area you've got no excuse, really. Buy a ticket! 👇 checkout.square.site/merchant/MLA...

Had a wonderful time presenting the Natural History Museum’s livestream last night, giving a first look at the fantastic new exhibition, Jurassic Oceans! 🐟 The exhibition looks amazing, and it was great to speak with some of the scientists who brought it all to life. 👏

I also managed to get in lots of climbing! 🧗🏼‍♀️

Just returned from two weeks in a forest with limited internet access. I really need to do this more often. ☺️

Happy 100th Birthday Sir David Attenborough! 🥳 The GOAT of natural history storytelling and a big reason why I became a science communicator. www.bbc.co.uk/news/resourc...

I was admiring this old oak, then realised I was being watched. 👀

we're thrilled to share that we've started the year with a new addition to our team! he's extremely smart, capable, charming, persuasive, and boasts a wealth of museum experience

This is really cool! 😮 DNA analysis has revealed what may be the oldest genetic evidence of domestic dogs. Several fossils found across Europe and Türkiye indicate that dogs may have been widespread by at least 14,000 years ago. Check it out 👇 www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...

Wonderful to see the Natural History Museum is as popular as ever! 💚 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This is your regularly-scheduled reminder that "someone saw a shark, saw dolphins, and was not eaten by a shark" does NOT mean "dolphins saved someone from a shark eating them." (By me, more than 10 years ago) slate.com/technology/2...

So excited for this! 👏

Spent my birthday weekend in the Cotswolds and now I get the hype.

Given how much nature is declining, I’d say it’s a fantastic time to highlight Britain’s wildlife on our banknotes. Can’t wait to see which designs get chosen. 👏

Two minutes of octopuses bursting into the world. @schmidtocean.bsky.social has the 4k version on their socials. Dive 622 #octoodyssey #MarineLife

Love this! 🐦‍⬛🐛🦔🐝🐞🦡 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

🦜🏔️ How did vibrant Amazonian parrot feathers end up in a desert tomb on the Pacific coast of Peru 1,000 years ago? Our new paper on @natcomms.nature.com reveals they didn't just trade feathers, pre-Inca societies transported live macaws and parrots across the Andes!👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Finally, the bug is back with a round of the Guinness.

What have I been up to this week? Quite a bit, but here are the articles that have come out! First up, (hopefully) everything you wanted to know about plesiosaurs: www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/wha...

A new species of Spinosaur with a remarkable crest has been discovered in the Sahara! www.sciencealert.com/astonishing-...

The BBC Olympics snowboarding commentary is bringing me so much joy. Never before have I wanted two people to start a podcast this much.

So in the Bluesky user map, I find myself sitting in the Palaeontology Researchers and Educators. Which is fair. But we definitely have the best neighbours. 🌈💃

Imagination in bonobos! I am thrilled to share a new paper w/ Amalia Bastos, out now in @science.org We provide the first experimental evidence that a nonhuman animal can follow along a pretend scenario & track imaginary objects. Work w/ Kanzi, the bonobo, at Ape Initiative youtu.be/NUSHcQQz2Ko

We got sheep! 🐑 Come meet Barley and Rye in the gardens of the Natural History Museum. 😁 @nhm-london.bsky.social

I see Barney has turned to a life of crime. 👀

And yet more gorgeous wildlife images from this year's People's Choice Award! 🙌🏻 Particularly love this one of a rufous-vented ground cuckoo with its lovely metallic orange-purple tail 🪶🧪 www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2026/february/vote-for-wildlife-of-the-year-nuveen-peoples-choice-award-2026.html

Great news for Svalbard polar bars, for the time being anyway. ❄️ Interesting to see how some animals are adapting to the effects of climate change. www.newscientist.com/article/2513...

This #FossilFriday, we have a new Paranthropus fossil that was recently discovered in northern Ethiopia! 🦴 The latest discovery shows that this group was as widely distributed as other early human relatives, despite having a more specialised diet. Check it out 👇 www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...

Yesterday it was cows using tools, today its penguins using satellite imagery.

Cows use tools! 🧹 www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

I doubt I will ever see a more inspired bit of upcycling.

This is my 30th year as a journalist. But I still continue to be shocked daily at the extent to which these same 'news'papers revel in wilful misinformation in order to relentlessly promote the ideology/interests of their senior editors and owners. An utter disregard and contempt for their readers

Every time I visit an Ivy restaurant, I always come away with new ideas of how I want to decorate my house.

Today in the UK, I dropped my six-year-old at school and came home. Alive. Wednesday in the USA, Renee Good dropped her six-year-old at school and never made it home. Killed by masked government agents. There are UK politicians who want Trump-style ICE enforcement here. Let's never vote them in!

It’s official, 125 plants and 65 fungi were named NEW to science in 2025! Every year, our botanists & mycologists work with partners across the world to officially name & describe new species to science 🧪 See our list of the top ten! 👉 https://ow.ly/J7LY50XT51M

There’s something endearing about watching birds trying to walk on a frozen lake. 🦆

Tired: Everything evolves to be a crab. Wired: Everything evolves to eat ants.

I am constantly blown away by how weird and wonderful nature can be! 🦈 This remarkable fossil is believed to be the lower jaw of a Helicoprion, an extinct group of shark-like fish that lived more than 270 million years ago during the Permian. Its mouth was basically a buzz saw. 🤯

Today is (apparently) National Trivia Day! Here’s my favorite fun piece of shark trivia: Greenland sharks, which can live to be over 400 years old, have been found with reindeer and polar bear remains in their stomachs!

It’s a cold one on the water today. 🥶

This is really cool! 🌞