Mel Pardi

Rebuild those programs BIGGER

The Curling Controversy at the Winter Olympics Isn’t What You Think After Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson accused Canadian vice-skip Marc Kennedy of cheating last week, everyone has become an expert in curling rules. They’re missing the point.

The Curling Controversy at the Winter Olympics Isn’t What You Think www.wired.com/story/2026-w...

Scientists: if you have pursued/secured philanthropic funding in the wake of federal research funding cuts, I want to talk to you.

Reposts appreciated!

Canadian fossil reveals one of the first plant-eating animals Scientists have unearthed in Canada's province of Nova Scotia the skull of a creature dating to about 307 million years ago that is one of the oldest-known plant-eating land vertebrates, representing ...

Canadian fossil reveals one of the first plant-eating animals
www.reuters.com/science/cana...

Japan's ancient 'tigers' were actually cave lions, DNA evidence shows There aren't any native lion or tiger populations living in Japan today, but this was not always the case. Fossil evidence indicates that at least one species of large cat roamed the archipelago durin...

Japan's ancient 'tigers' were actually cave lions, DNA evidence shows ⛏️🧬🦁🇯🇵 phys.org/news/2026-02...

Quite low. I know a couple that have masters degrees, but when they were giving me career advice they urged me to get a PhD.

India Sees Its Grasslands as 'Wastelands.' Ancient Poems Show Otherwise The sprawling grasslands of western India are, in the popular imagination, the remains of woodlands that were leveled under British rule — areas to be reforested, rather than conserved. But a recent analysis of stories, songs, and poems from centuries past reveals that western grasslands predate British colonization.

The grasslands of western India are, in the popular imagination, the remains of woodlands lost under British rule — areas to be reforested, not conserved.

But an analysis of medieval songs and stories reveals the grasslands predate British colonization.

The billion-dollar case for sustaining palaeontology’s digital databases - Nature Ecology & Evolution The authors survey community palaeontological databases, documenting their contributions to science as well as their vulnerabilities, and provide recommendations for the future of open science databas...

New paper emerging from our Paleosynthesis project @paleosynth.bsky.social.
In www.nature.com/articles/s41..., we highlight the value of databases to #paleontology and the importantce of sustained funding. Our finding are probably applicable to other science fields as well.

The first Early Pleistocene (ca 1 Ma) fossil terrestrial vertebrate fauna from a cave in New Zealand reveals substantial avifaunal turnover in the last million years New Zealand has a rich Late Pleistocene–Holocene vertebrate fossil record with numerous sites across the country in dune, cave and wetland deposits, collectively providing detailed knowledge on the...

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The first Early Pleistocene (ca 1 Ma) fossil terrestrial vertebrate fauna from a cave in New Zealand reveals substantial avifaunal turnover in the last million years

New Date: February 23!

My allergist warned me before going to college that with my exposure throughout childhood and my allergies, when I left for school and then returned home I would be worse: he was 100% correct.

I desperately want this

a man in a suit and tie is sitting at a table with papers . ALT: a man in a suit and tie is sitting at a table with papers .

It's giving

Too late for me, but this is excellent news for millions of people who suffer with this condition.

So power imbalance and coercive behavior is taken as a price to be paid. Anything becomes permissible as long as things appear consensual. Those with power and money keep it, and many look the other way to not jeopardize funding, field camps, their opportunities.

The problems are pervasive.

It's becoming so exhausting to be angry all the time.

Just as a quick note while we discuss all the new (and familiar) names in the Epstein files: be careful about saying "everyone knows" about prominent people who are predators. People new to the field, people less connected (often marginalized folks), people who are adjacent, etc. may not know.

(11) In 2013, Horner was awarded the Romer-Simpson Medal by the @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social (its highest honor). I was at the meeting and saw his acceptance speech. Given this, I would urge those still in SVP to perhaps call on the Society to RESCIND the Medal and suspend his membership...

Yep. The men who clustered around JE were already well funded, mostly at rich private institutions. Indeed that was their half of the bargain: JE wanted association with big names, and found that misogyny flattery and money reeled them in.

Yes, that's exactly what people have been saying the whole time

He's a union leader and veteran so I guess it depends on what YOU value.

Four people (including a brown-haired Mark Norell) on ladders remove model skull from Apatosaurus mounted skeleton

Hmm, sounds like we need a refresher. The issue of whether everyone's favorite long-neck is called Brontosaurus or Apatosaurus (or both) has *nothing* to do with which skull was historically included on museum mounts! 🧵#FossilFriday

#FossilFriday: The Pacific mastodon, Mammut pacificus, known from California and Idaho. This species was described in 2019. This is the second of two species of Mammut from North America, the other being Mammut americanum.

Anyone who says that people are lazy and won't work if there is UBI are telling on themselves. Many people volunteer for charities, help neighbours in need, organise community events all the time without getting paid for it. People want to feel valuable., that won't change.

Screenshot of a Wall Street Journal opinion article titled “A Guaranteed Income Won’t Stop People From Wanting to Work,” by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo. A subheading says evidence from programs around the world suggests basic income does not make recipients lazier. Below the headline is a photo of several women sitting outdoors at a table working.

"Not only don't people work less when they are guaranteed an income, they might actually put in more effort at work. And the fact that they have more money to spend leads to the creation of more jobs."

Nobel Prize–winning economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo

Imagine driving down the Miracle Mile in 1967 and seeing this in your rearview mirror...

Fear not, it's just sculptor Howard Ball in a VW towing one of his fiberglass mammoths to be installed at the La Brea Tar Pits.

But no training on how to deescalate interactions

Oooooids

Illustration titled "Mastodon Giganteus" from 1852, showing detailed black-and-white drawings of several fossilized mastodon bones. The bones, labeled Fig. 1 to Fig. 6, include long limb bones and joint fragments with rough textures and surface irregularities. Each bone is displayed with anatomical accuracy, highlighting their size and structure. The top of the page states "Plate XXV" with a scale indicating one inch to a foot. The illustration provides a scientific view of the extinct North American mastodon's skeletal features for study.

🦣 The Mastodon giganteus of North America /.
Boston: J. Wilson, 1852..

[Source]

3-panel comic. (1) [Three small arthropods on ocean floor.] ARTHROPOD 1: Now that we’re multicellular, what are your plans? I’m gonna evolve little legs and swim around with them! ARTHROPOD 2: I’m gonna evolve sharp pincers and use them to crunch stuff! ARTHROPOD 3: I’m gonna evolve glands to make string from my butt and use it to construct elaborate geometric nets hundreds of times my size to catch other animals. (2) [Silence] (3) ARTHROPOD 1: *Dude.* ARTHROPOD 2: Can you *please* just be normal about this? ARTHROPOD 3: *What??!*

Early Arthropods

xkcd.com/3199/