The oldest known image of an owl: More than 30,000 years ago, someone skillfully scratched the figure of a long-eared owl (Asio otus) into the soft outer layer of the walls of Chauvet Cave, France. The owl is looking backward over their wings, head turned 180 degrees carnegiemnh.org/ancient-owl-...

Born OTD in 1807: Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, the designer and creator of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs! Seen here, embossed in gold, on the 1875 book: “Sketches of Creation : A Popular View of Some of the Grand Conclusions of the Sciences in Reference to the History of Matter and of Life” 1/2

The mattress globbered. This is the noise made by a live, swamp-dwelling mattress that is deeply moved by a story of personal tragedy.

This is truly baffling. A seed does not become an angiosperm fruit only because there are some vague lines on it. It is the equivalent of having a full diapsid skull and saying you found Permian dinosaurs...

Sheep farming in Derbyshire A chance meeting via Freecycle sparks a farmer's truth: wool pays less than in the 1970s, costs soar, and small British farms fight to survive | Simon Ferrigno @brexcyclopaedia.bsky.social @centralbylines.co.uk

Mozilla will allow Firefox users to entirely block current and future generative AI features on the browser after user feedback revealed many who wanted an AI-free browser experience.

始祖马

Have been reading Bollocks to Alton Towers by @gralefrit.bsky.social & co - better late than never! Much to love (& have visited many of the attractions), but the most interesting thing is the transformation in the fortunes of the Crystal Palace dinosaurs @cpdinosaurs.bsky.social over the 20 yrs.

Two years ago, I was signing stock in a warehouse. I now have no books to sell or promote when I go to any festivals or events. That’s thanks to outright theft by one publisher, and arcane internal politics within another. As one of Britains best-selling authors of the last decade, this is WEIRD.

The LRC had a productive few days at the British Paediatric Neurological Association (BPNA) conference in Glasgow. Raising awareness is key to tick bite prevention and to achieving early diagnosis and effective treatment for future Lyme patients.

Even in this context I had conversations that began with “I know about ticks because I have a dog.” Health professionals - a plea: please tell parents to protect their children from ticks. #QuietEpidemic #LymeDisease

Keep your eyes peeled! I discovered this large fossilized #ammonite in an underground parking garage staircase in Wiesbaden. #urbangeology

This fossil is an example of what is called a "mortality plate" as it contains the remains of several animals that all died around the same time. Trilobites were some of the first animals to evolve an exoskeleton, and as a result fossilize very well compared to other Cambrian creatures.

honestly jolene you can fucking have him, good luck girl

Nature Report: Bird tracks, or small dinosaur tracks.

Shipworm (see last repost) & other tunnelling molluscs from the Oxford Book of Invertebrates (1971)

Here's the hi res of it if anyone wants it

What do we reckon?

“AI is actually brown people in a shed” part 6519

I want a Trent Reznor episode. It would be the 21st century equivalent of the Alice Cooper one. His big number could be Bite The Hand That Feeds, with a full cast of frackles & the other proper weirdos who he asks in turn "will you bite the hand that feeds you? Will you get down on your knees?"

#FossilFriday falls with the creeping inevitability of a global glaciation. These Proterozoic stromatolites from Minnesota's Iron Ranges stand as a reminder that, no matter how small we are alone, together we can change the world, making complex relationships possible like a breath of fresh air. 🧪⚒️

Back in stock! Give them a share to help them find them happy homes. My two most popular #DoctorWho pins of 2025 are back in stock (limited run only). Etsy: proudscience.etsy.com My store: www.jamiebgall.co.uk/shop

talent is a gatekeeping mechanism *hits bossa nova button on casino keyboard* how you like that fuckos

An Etruscan vessel in the shape of Charun, the demon of death. Dating around 400 BC. On display at Antikensammlung München 📷 me 🏺 #archaeology

I know the retvrn guys are all fascists but you never see them post the actual accomplishments of western art, like the utter vibe that is Bruegel’s winter paintings. It’s all pseudoclassical dreck

Dazed Jeff Bezos Realizes He Spent Entire Conversation Thinking About How To Automate Person Talking To Him https://theonion.com/dazed-jeff-bezos-realizes-he-spent-entire-conversation-1822418205/

Did someone say beveragino?

Did someone say beveragino?

Did somebody say beveragino?

Wizard Island, the larger of two volcanic islands in the Crater Lake caldera. Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, 26 Jul 2015. #NationalParks

Really taken with Haolong dongi, out today from Jiandong Huang, Pascal Godefroit and team. Just submitted news article on it. An iguanodontian with abundant hollow spikes across the neck and body, projecting from among conventional basement scales, and with rows of plate-like scales along the tail.

This is such a fun example of why people need liberal arts as well as science. Without liberal arts and SW history you wouldn’t know about animals story. Without science, we wouldn’t be studying small random bones found in the Earth. Education should include all the things!!!!

I’m antsy for the end of winter, so here’s a couple of Miocene frogs for #FossilFriday Miopelodytes from Nevada and Pelophylax from Spain.

A 95 million year old angiosperm leaf preserved as an impression in an iron-cemented sandstone. The original leaf may have gone, but you can still see where invertebrates nibbled it. From Dakota Formation, Kansas. Cenomanian, probably. #FossilFriday ⚒🌏🔬🌱🍃🌳

Welcome back to #fossilfriday! Here are the impressions of the Inoceramid clam Mytiloides mytiloides. This specimen comes from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) Greenhorn Formation (Colorado Group) in northwestern Nebraska.

Finally, another fuzzy ornithischian: www.nature.com/articles/s41.... This is a big deal for dinosaur #paleoart, confirming some of what we've been doing for a while now, but also showing that we've probably underestimated how weird the integuments of these animals could be.

This #FossilFriday, how about a little look forward in the #Ediacaran to the post Kotlin Crisis extinction event strata in in Newfoundland. doi.org/10.1130/G542... The post-extinction biotas are dominated by discs such as #Aspidella terranovica and the giant protistan #Palaeopascichnus.

#JustIn on Plantae - Plants and Viruses: Biotechnology, the Arms Race, and Agriculture. In this new piece, ASPB Plantae Fellows Jahed A., Kavita J., and Trevor M. discuss the use of viruses in biotechnology, the arms race between plants and viruses, and the role of viruses in agri.

Fossil Friday #303: Mounted Pecopteris notata #fossils #paleontology #history #MazonCreek #FossilFriday #fern #carboniferous #pennsylvanian #paleobotany

Believe it or not, on Sunday in the northern hemisphere we will have finished the darkest 14 weeks of the year. The other 38 are basically OK for daylight. We are essentially through now.

“Palaeoverse, a grassroots organization that develops R packages for paleontology, has been awarded a Large Grant from the Software Sustainability Institute, via the Research Software Maintenance Fund” #rstats ropensci.org/blog/2026/02... 🧪

Some urban paleontology for #FossilFriday: echinoid tests in paving stones outside Casa-Voyageurs rail station, Casablanca.

Newsletter up. Rant incoming. Pop sci mostly reaches educated, left-leaning, wealthy readers — including, of course, scientists and science writers. I increasingly believe the gap between the real general audience and what's called "general audience" in scicomm is huge and worth talking about: 🧪

The first paper of my PhD thesis, and first solo authored paper is out today! It you like dinosaur footprints or history, this is for you! Open access via this link- www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

AI technologies have been actively promoted in universities under the guise of efficiency, time optimization, and the fear of missing out or “falling behind.”

Megan L. Jacobs (2026) The historiography of dinosaur footprints of the Lower Cretaceous Wealden Group on the Isle of Wight, UK Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 101164 doi: doi.org/10.1016/j.pg... www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Yet another strike against the "large dinosaurs can't have any fibrous integument" narrative. www.nature.com/articles/s41...