Lander Lorca-Francisco's Avatar

Lander Lorca-Francisco

@fourcornersworld

Biologist specialising in archaeogenetics and evolutionary genomics 🧬🏺🦴🦠 Ancient Near East and Palaeobiology enjoyer πŸ“ MSc UniversitΓ€t TΓΌbingen ⬅️ BSc Universitat de Barcelona

259
Followers
1,034
Following
41
Posts
03.08.2023
Joined
Posts Following

Latest posts by Lander Lorca-Francisco @fourcornersworld

If you see this post a monster.

"grampapa I caught a BUG today"

21.02.2026 18:56 πŸ‘ 121 πŸ” 32 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 2
Preview
New study uses Neanderthals to demonstrate gap between generative AI and scholarly knowledge Technological advances over the past four decades have turned mobile devices and computers into the world's largest library, where information is just a tap away. Phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatche...

Neat demonstration of how artificial so-called intelligence is taking us backwards.

"ChatGPT produced content most consistent with the 1960s and DALL-E 3 in the late 1980s and early '90s."

#AI - see @shannonvallor.bsky.social's work for important thinking on this
phys.org/news/2026-02...

07.02.2026 08:59 πŸ‘ 136 πŸ” 54 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 12

When I go, do this to me

22.01.2026 17:00 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below!
Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage

21.01.2026 19:25 πŸ‘ 1136 πŸ” 414 πŸ’¬ 39 πŸ“Œ 110

So proud that this is out 🐺⏳🧬🦏. First paper as a senior author (co-shared with @lovedalen.bsky.social; thanks for a great opportunity) and led by my awesome former MSc student @solveiggudjonsd.bsky.social and a brilliant CPG postdoc @edanalord.bsky.social (1/n)

OA: academic.oup.com/gbe/article/...

16.01.2026 12:32 πŸ‘ 30 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0
rectangular acrylic painting against a white background. painting depicts red sand desert dunes, floating in the sky above an oval rainbow with 2 faintly connected stars

rectangular acrylic painting against a white background. painting depicts red sand desert dunes, floating in the sky above an oval rainbow with 2 faintly connected stars

desert mitosis, 2024

12.01.2026 04:48 πŸ‘ 1838 πŸ” 597 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

And for some reason everybody keeps slowly morphing into Jeff from HR

11.01.2026 23:55 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Reminds me of a very old post that went along the lines of 'humans are god's passion project, crabs are his job'

10.01.2026 21:59 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Video thumbnail

'Tis the season for some festive science songs.

If you've ever wanted to hear someone sing about a dimunitive tyranosaur then now is your chance

18.12.2025 18:36 πŸ‘ 386 πŸ” 224 πŸ’¬ 18 πŸ“Œ 47
Preview
Neanderthal mobility over very long distances: The case of El Castillo cave (northern Spain) and the β€˜Vasconian’ Mousterian This study explores the mobility and raw material circulation of Neanderthals at the El Castillo cave, located in the northern part of the Iberian Pen…

Hace 45-70 ka neandertales de El Castillo usaban materia prima local para talla lΓ­tica, pero tambiΓ©n de largas distancias (+100 km).
Neanderthal mobility over very long distances: The case of El Castillo cave (northern Spain) and the β€˜Vasconian’ Mousterian

22.11.2025 12:30 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Video thumbnail

🦣 🀯 🦣 🀯 🦣

Video of woolly mammoth leg discovered in the Siberian permafrost!

Researchers from #CpgSthlm and SciLifeLab have now, for the first time ever, identified signatures of gene activity in frozen mammoth remains!

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

16.11.2025 13:53 πŸ‘ 64 πŸ” 20 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 3
Post image Post image Post image

🚲 Tübingen - Rottenburg - Tübingen

15.11.2025 13:27 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

It's not a good day until you've had a look at a new species of fungus

12.11.2025 16:40 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

When you think the next can't be any worse and it's the most catastrophically horrible thing a human can say

07.11.2025 22:44 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age β€” Season 3 Official Trailer | Apple TV
Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age β€” Season 3 Official Trailer | Apple TV YouTube video by Apple TV

Yes, the #PrehistoricPlanetIceAge trailer is out today...

06.11.2025 16:36 πŸ‘ 269 πŸ” 111 πŸ’¬ 24 πŸ“Œ 37
Diagram of people encircling a vessel, each drinking through a straw.

Diagram of people encircling a vessel, each drinking through a straw.

Me and the boys on a night out in 3000 BC 🍻

In ancient Sumer, it was common to drink beer from a communal vessel using long straws. Similar straws and vessels have been found as far away as the Caucasus, indicating the practice was popular!

(Β£) doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

🏺 #Archaeology

06.11.2025 17:31 πŸ‘ 41 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

I love living in the future

21.10.2025 08:16 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
The 126,000-Year-Old Butt-Drag That Rewrote What Counts as aΒ Fossil How a small animal’s odd habit turned into one of the most unexpected stories ever preserved inΒ stone Some discoveries make headlines because they’re dramatic: new...

A 126,000-year-old butt-drag just made fossil history.
A tiny rock hyrax scooted across the sand of ancient South Africa, and that moment was preserved in stone.

Even the smallest acts can echo through time.
πŸ§ͺ #SciComm
buff.ly/dcGWTR4

10.10.2025 18:36 πŸ‘ 176 πŸ” 59 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 16
The War on Science
The War on Science YouTube video by Shaun

video www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyU5...

23.09.2025 14:03 πŸ‘ 3735 πŸ” 801 πŸ’¬ 102 πŸ“Œ 145

Discovering computer as an adult makes you go crazy. Discovering computer as a baby makes you go crazy. In all of human history, there will only ever be one generation to discover computer at the correct age: 13

12.09.2025 20:58 πŸ‘ 21606 πŸ” 5146 πŸ’¬ 258 πŸ“Œ 286

Say what you want about pseudoarchaeology, but it's just silly

Why would you prefer a more entertaining, but laughably false narrative over the detailed richness and nuanced messiness of the real evidence for our shared human past?

06.09.2025 19:54 πŸ‘ 120 πŸ” 13 πŸ’¬ 13 πŸ“Œ 0

New basal need unlocked

30.08.2025 15:52 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

πŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰!! πŸ•οΈ:(

24.08.2025 21:10 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

Getting accepted | Finding housing

16.08.2025 17:10 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

I have just experienced a school classmate from my cohort having a child... for the first time

07.08.2025 21:33 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
The Wall Street Journal tweets: "Evidence suggests early humans used primitive sunscreen and wore tailored clothingβ€”possibly contributing to their survival as Neanderthals went extinct." There is then a link to a story.

The Wall Street Journal tweets: "Evidence suggests early humans used primitive sunscreen and wore tailored clothingβ€”possibly contributing to their survival as Neanderthals went extinct." There is then a link to a story.

that's right

06.08.2025 20:23 πŸ‘ 6838 πŸ” 413 πŸ’¬ 180 πŸ“Œ 57

"de-extinction feels like a distraction from the unfinished business of protecting life in the present"
πŸ’―

Incredibly disappointing that two extremely wealthy creatives, George Martin and Peter Jackson, have chosen to invest in this rather than fund immediately impactful conservation efforts

12.07.2025 12:14 πŸ‘ 198 πŸ” 64 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 3
31.07.2025 11:46 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Thank you so much for such a thorough (and interesting!) reply! It makes me think that despite all the effort and emphasis in finding common humanity with people of the past to better understand them, there's always more dimensions to explore. Do you have any recs for further reading on this topic??

25.07.2025 15:43 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Woah! It had definitely never occurred to me to think of these mega-projects as sites of political intrigue, or just how many conflicting interests could be at play for different groups and 'elites' and how much could be riding their (non-)completion!

25.07.2025 15:35 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0