We were delighted that our Chief Scientist Dave Stone was invited to take part in a Parliamentary Roundtable exploring the latest science on climate & nature. The roundtable was chaired by @evoswami.bsky.social Defra Chief Scientific Adviser & hosted by Minister @marycreagh.bsky.social

Fun! @evoswami.bsky.social is quoted from the interview on @sciam.bsky.social by @katewong.bsky.social on "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me" from @npr.org! (min 34:50) www.npr.org/2025/05/24/1...

Can’t believe this interview made it onto Wait, wait. Also can’t believe that my half awake tweet from several years ago (though I stand by it) has gotten this much attention. Definitely regretting using the phrase “yeah, they suck” to describe all other animals…

Love that this interview is making people laugh! Of course as a scientist, I don’t think perfection is a biologically realistic concept, but, if it were, surely cats are our best example of it. Not least because cats couldn’t care less if we think they are perfect or not & I worship them for it!

“Cats have nailed one thing so well that they all do it and just come up with slightly different sizes. They're not jacks-of-all-trades; they're masters of one.” Evolutionary biologist @evoswami.bsky.social explains why 🐈‍⬛ 🐈 are perfect evolutionarily: buff.ly/qMc1Ql6

One fine day in the Los Alamitos Formation!

Hello from Patagonia and Patagotitan!

From balmy Brazil to a much chillier Patagonia…

Catching up with our Triassic kin in Porto Alegre

Thrilled to share my second PhD paper with @tomezard.bsky.social & @evoswami.bsky.social focused on the application of landmark-free geometric morphometrics! 🎉 Excited to contribute to advancing shape analysis techniques in biology. Check it out here: doi.org/10.1186/s128...

I absolutely love that this new article about my appointment as DEFRA chief science adviser managed to squeeze in my obsession with Zelda! 🧝‍♀️🗡️🎮 www.linkedin.com/posts/global...

Exciting times ahead! www.gov.uk/government/n...

Come join us @linneansociety.bsky.social Monday, April 7 at 6pm for a fascinating talk by world-renowned tiger expert Prof Uma Ramakrishnan from @ncbsbangalore.bsky.social as she tells us about how cutting-edge genomics is helping to save wild tigers in India! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-geneti...

My single favourite wildlife photo from our trip to Galápagos has to be this marine iguana sneezing out salt - such an elegant and glamorous adaptation to their unusual lifestyle!

I had the immense privilege to visit the Galápagos Islands last summer and see thousands of marine and land iguanas up close, even swimming with some and watching them feed underwater.

We’re micro-CT scanning iguanas today to better understand the evolution of the incredible adaptations of the Galapagos marine iguanas. Some of the specimens in our collection were collected by Darwin himself! 150 years later, they are still contributing new knowledge about the natural world.

So excited to see this paper finally out! Part of the Paleobiology 50th anniversary issue, we cover the history of the field, morphometrics, morphospaces, new approaches to evolutionary models & disparity, incorporating climate, the importance of fossils & more. Check it out! doi.org/10.1017/pab....

Fantastic thread pulling the very standard, well-established mouse science out from behind the PR curtain of mammoth de-extinction.

How is my 8yo already cooler than I ever will be?

Brussels sure has some pretty impressive climbing gyms

Congratulations to @jimalkhalili.bsky.social for receiving the #DarwinDayLecture Medal! @evoswami.bsky.social awarded Jim for 'Transforming our understanding of unusual atomic nuclei with groundbreaking theoretical models, shedding light on the complex structures of matter...'

Does anyone know how to abbreviate Uhlenbeck to 5 letters for today’s @nytimes.com mini crossword? #nerdjokes

This Friday evening, join @jimalkhalili.bsky.social and @evoswami.bsky.social for the #DarwinDayLecture 2025, on the 700-million-year story of the human brain – the most remarkable and mysterious object in the cosmos! humanists.uk/events/darwi...

Our inspiring authors roadshow started last week at Southmead Primary School with the incredible palaeontologist and author Anjali Goswami @evoswami.bsky.social This would not be possible without the support of @JuliaRTrust #everychildareader #author #authorvisit #literacy #lovereading #lovebooks

Stumbled across my favourite fossil, Thylacosmilus atrox, while looking though the collections at the lovely, newly renovated Yale Peabody Museum. I maintain that this animal is the best (stem) marsupial ever! Also arguably the best sabre-toothed animal ever…

At 10:07am local time, Dylan began a marathon that he’s been planning for months and preparing for his whole 8-year long life - to read the entire Dog Man canon in order in a single sitting. Stay tuned for updates as we follow his progress live on this cold and bright January day.

Job alert! Come help the world’s oldest biological society grow as our new Head of Membership & Development! Work with our amazing fellows, members, and staff, lead efforts to fund our ambitious programmes, and support our mission to cultivate a global community working for nature!

We sent @weratedogs.com the cover art for Casper’s solo album after his band (fig. 2) broke up. I think 12/10 means they agree it’s going to go even more platinum than that winter coat that he hates so much.

Have been lazy about posting as #SICB2025 was a whirlwind, but very excited to use my first post of the year to congratulate DR Jack McMinn on successfully passing his PhD viva yesterday! His thesis answered a question about Paleogene mammal dispersal patterns that has been bugging me for decades :)

Congratulations to Kory Evans @sternarchella.bsky.social, winner of this year’s @J_Exp_Biol sponsored Carl Gans Award at #SICB2025. His #biomechanics research examines the role of modularity in the evolution of the #fish skull. Don't miss his talk: 7 Jan at 13:30 in Marquis D Please repost

My greatest accomplishment of 2024, completed just in the nick of time! The full model along with a dramatic reconstruction of Quint’s death scene as staged by my somewhat worryingly morbid children.

It was a lovely experience working with this team (and the sweet pup on my lap in this photo) & larger LinnSoc staff, trustees, fellows & volunteers to develop our new strategy, ensuring we are using our many assets to their fullest possible extent to better understand, value, and protect nature.

There is public support for nature, as well as awareness and concern that it needs protecting, but there are substantial barriers to action. Our strategy centres around addressing these barriers. Our strategic plan can be read in full on our website, here www.linnean.org/the-...

Clear my schedule until the new year!

"Women full professors are 19% more likely than men at the same career stage to leave academia, as compared with 6% for women assistant professors and 10% for associates."

Okay I might have slightly overreacted to how quickly my tweenager goes through shampoo and conditioner…

Are you a dog lover looking for a PhD? You're in luck, becuase we are advertising a BBSRC-funded project that combines evolution, morphology, and biomechanics, and actually helps #dogs live better lives! Check it out here: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Spent the morning scoping out the iguanas from Galápagos in our collection, including some very salty fellas! Feel quite sorry for this poor overstuffed one that was rudely named “rough head”.

Quote: "It is very hard to interpret big data in ecology in meaningful ways if you do not know anything about who the organisms are and what they do in the environment." onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

If you're a UK citizen/resident, sign and share this parliamentary petition to have the Cass Review reevaluated. Trans people need our support more than ever! petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...

Just getting ready to head over to King’s Place for today’s matinee and evening shows! Super excited to share the stage with a stellar lineup of my fave scientists and comedians!

I was this many days old when I learned how the pros clean their dirty boots. Next time I may even manage to do it without drenching my socks and trousers too. Thanks to @knapprew.bsky.social for the impressive demo!

Spent this gorgeous, December Friday in the sun, getting muddy and looking for fossils in a Cretaceous clay pit, all part of my resolution to spend more time doing fun things with nice people! Shout out to @tweetisaurus.bsky.social for letting me tag along to Smokejack!

Just overheard the best convo on the Piccadilly line. Four people discussing something in rapidfire Italian. One looks at his phone & hesitantly says “square pants”. They continue to debate heatedly until he shows them his phone & repeats with conviction “square pants”, ending the conversation.

This is an amazing local charity working with families and schools to help everyone learn to love to read! All donations are doubled this week, so dig deep! 🦖🦕+📚=❤️

btw the alt text for this is incredible

This was one of the defining memories of my childhood. My grandparents suffered from the effects of this event for the rest of their lives & they were the lucky ones for surviving at all. Still unbelievable that Union Carbide/Dow paid a pittance & never cleaned it up - the site is still there today!

Do you work with 3D image data? Spending precious time segmenting scans? ⏰ Check out our new open-source semi-automated segmentation pipeline, SPROUT! doi.org/10.1101/2024... 🌱

Led by the Iroro Tanshi for the @biojlinnsoc.bsky.social Announcing a special issue in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society titled: "Mobilizing Natural History Collection in the Global South" I am a guest editor, learn more below... academic.oup.com/biolinnean/p...

Advertisements for the special issue in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese ... please encourage folks from the Global South to submit a manuscript to this special issue.