For this #FossilFriday the giant Cenozoic boa like snake Madtsoia bai, from the Eocene Sarmiento formation of Argentina. At an estimated 9 meters or more, this was a very big snake. Species in the genus have been named before and after the K/Pg boundary. #snakes #fossil #museum #paleo

Today is my final day in Argentina (and South America), so for #FossilFriday - one of the most iconic dinosaurs of Argentina, Carnotaurus sastrei. Casts of this theropod are displayed in any major museum in the country, but the real fossils are housed here at the MACN. #dinosaur

#FossilFriday and #SciArt The maxilla of various Tyrannosaurus specimens (perhaps or not "rex") have several peculiar, and possibly diagnostic, surface features relating to their integument (skin, horn, whatnot). We begin with, and perhaps best with, AMNH 5027, the "archetypal" T. rex skull.

Non-stop rain since the morning, but yesterday there were much nicer views and weather! Iguazu falls, Argentina

Traveling through South America, I've seen many fossils big and small - so many that I should start my own #FossilFriday posts! Macrauchenia, one of the last and largest of the litopterns, a South American lineage that is totally extinct. Apparently, Macrauchenia had a remarkable nose ->

Hot off the press, too! www.haaretz.com/archaeology/...

And of course, many colleagues and friends have helped me in completing this project, but most of all my supervisors, Meirav Meiri and Nimrod Marom @nxmarom.bsky.social - who introduced me to this fantastic antelope, to their fields of research and supported me along the way 🙏🏼

I'm glad to share my M.Sc thesis about the extinct Levantine #hartebeest , now published and #openaccess ! Link following 🧵 The hartebeest is a staple antelope of eastern and southern African savannahs. However, the species had a far wider past distribution 1/13

Trying to get back to some activity on bluesky! I finished my M.Sc. earlier this year and for the past 6 months I've been travelling through South America, north to south. I've been to amazing places: the Galápagos, the Amazon river and rainforest, trekking the Peruvian Andes, and many others...

Today's bombshell in @nature.com by Lindsay Zanno & James Napoli @jgn-paleo.bsky.social (bit.ly/4qBE6ng) shows that putative juvvy T. rex fossils actually are Nanotyrannus. I reviewed the manuscript, so Nature invited me to write the News & Views commentary. Free link: rdcu.be/eNv94 🦖

Noooo Jane Goodall died! She was one of the best exemplars of something I believe to my very core: that empathy is often an essential ingredient in good science.

Just came out of two hours of teaching early humans and primates to hear that Jane Goodall has sadly died. The legacy and impact of this human is beyond measure. She brought us closer to each other, closer to primates and face to face with our evolutionary inheritance.

I hope people spend days and days talking about her (she is 10,000,000 times more important than Charlie Kirk) and the amazing work she did. This photo will always be so powerful and as defining of who we all can be. Be like Jane Goodall. Photographer: Hugo van Lawick

I am filled with so much love and gratitude that I cannot grieve. Dr. Goodall worked tirelessly in her gentle, hopeful way for a better world for all life on Earth. She has laid down her field notebook for the last time; now it is for us to fill with wonder, joy, and connection, into infinity.

I think a lot about what Carl Sagan said in one of his final interviews.

Target ended its DEI programs, Black ppl got pissed, organized a boycott that ended up plunging Target’s earnings and now the CEO’s pay is cut. Brilliant

This is just a short love letter to PubMed: absolutely one of the best things US agencies have ever done for science. 'When I were a lad': we had databases of articles (Science Citation Index Expanded or Medline) but the only way to access text was to find the physical journal then photocopy it.

Cyprus warblers - tiny, beautiful birbs. Caught them in a migration stopover, between the Nubian desert to Cyprus

A poignant #WomenInScience day for the macroevolutionary community, as we are informed that Elizabeth Vrba passed away this week. All who knew her tell of a brilliant, innovative thinker and skilled, pioneering paleontologist. My current research is directly and proudly influenced by hers. R.I.P.

Today is Iguanodon's 200th anniversary. A good chance to focus on little positivity among it all. My passion for extinct life and the natural world at large, began with Disney's Dinosaur (2000) and the protagonist, Aladar the Iguanodon. My identity today was set in course by his story.

Read it slowly and understand it. 😳🥺 Repost 👇🏾 👇🏾

What scientific discovery absolutely blew you away? Of course there are many for me, but this one comes to mind (one I discuss in ENDS OF THE EARTH): freshwater lakes, some the size of the Great Lakes, buried under 2 or more miles of ice in Antarctica. With living creatures inside, no less.

Gene editing technology began by people studying salt marshes. Ozempic began by folks studying the venom of Gila Monsters. Support for basic science has empowered us to understand our world. Tethering it to applications health has transformed and saved countless lives.

'Australopithecus africanus: The Man-Ape of South Africa' 100 years since, it still holds the record for coolest scientific article title

🦃 Animal #544 🦚 I figured it out in 3 guesses! 🟧🟧🟩 🔥 1 | Avg. Guesses: 5.6 metazooa.com #metazooa

For the record: sea krait was my 3rd guess! But I got to sea snake only later 🦗 Animal #527 🐢 I figured it out in 6 guesses! 🟧🟧🟩🟩🟩🟩 🔥 1 | Avg. Guesses: 6.3 metazooa.com #metazooa

I am incredibly excited to share our new Open Access publication in the @zoojlinnsoc.bsky.social that was released today. Please welcome *Ahvaytum bahndooiveche*, a new species of sauropodomorph(?) dinosaur from the Popo Agie Formation, WY, USA. tinyurl.com/3zx7s3mx (1/x)

Merychippus everyone 🎄🐎

Something wonderful for the weekend! About 40,000 years ago, during the #IceAge, an ancient artist skilfully sculpted this tiny head of a cave lion from mammoth ivory. It is one of the World’s oldest known works of figurative art. 📷 by me #Archaeology

Great paper one-liner

I made one for stats papers