We've already got hundreds of students and mentors here, sharing how the sudden policy change has derailed plans. We're looking at formally "delivering" results to NSF leadership tomorrow, please do keep sharing and spreading the word: laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/
Good news! KU's IRACDA program was reinstated! We are now taking applications for postdocs. Please spread the word.
sjobs.brassring.com/TGnewUI/Sear...
Do you love #fossil plants? Are you searching for a #PhD position? I am recruiting a doctoral student to join my group at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt/M! Deadline on the 11th of May
#paleobotany #paleontology #plants #botany
www.senckenberg.de/en/career/sc...
Democracy is not a spectator sport. If we don’t speak up, eventually there will be no one left to speak up. #MarchForDemocracy #MarchforDemocracyKC
It's like watching the Christmas decorations go up
I think, going forward, I will only be giving money to Democrats who have a proven track record of throwing hands. No more money for do-nothings, no more money for cowards, no more money for people who spend all of their time looking for ways to playact at opposition.
There's definitely a skull on exhibit either at the Chisholm Trail Museum or at City Hall in Wellington (it's been a while, I can't remember which). I think there are a handful of other specimens from the Wellington area at KU, and who knows where else!
On a lighter note, I never realized the first two catalog numbers at the Academy of Natural Sciences were from my mom's hometown of Wellington (and about half an hour south of my hometown of Wichita)!
Hey scientists. This rules. Check it out.
The Democrats on the House Science Committee have set up a website to collect stories from fired federal employees, anonymously if desired democrats-science.house.gov/sciencefirings
We have been careful to avoid using the word coup, but it’s time to call it what it is—this is a coup. Trump signed an executive order granting only the attorney general or the president the authority to interpret laws executed by the executive branch.
A Mastodon post from Rod Hilton that says: He talked about electric cars. I don't know anything about cars, so when people said he was a genius I figured he must be a genius. Then he talked about rockets. I don't know anything about rockets, so when people said he was a genius I figured he must be a genius. Now he talks about software. I happen to know a lot about software & Elon Musk is saying the stupidest shit I've ever heard anyone say, so when people say he's a genius I figure I should stay the hell away from his cars and rockets.
I keep thinking about this one.
Because now it's our country, and we can't all stay away from it.
100% agreed.
To add, it'd be really great if our Universities and Institutes, rather than folding like wet paper sacks, actually sued (or got their states to sue) over illegally-cancelled grant contracts that had *already been awarded and signed* by the gov't.
Your researchers are depending on you.
stone text inlay: HERE WE ADMIT A WRONG
I went to post about the National Japanese American Memorial in D.C., which is beautiful but usually missed by tourists. It is a deeply staggering admission of guilt and a warning to future Americans. I went to link to the inscriptions and-
Well, they took the site down. www.nps.gov/places/japan...
Paleontologist Clint Boyd sits on a large plaster field jacket containing a skeleton of the fish Ichthyodectes. Collected in August of 2024 at the Pembina Public Fossil Dig.
Join our Public Fossil Digs this summer in North Dakota!
NDGSdigs2025.eventbrite.com
Registration opens Feb 1st, but if you want to be assured of getting a spot you can become a Dig Supporter donor and get access to early registration next week. More info here:
Ndpaleofriends.org/dig-supporters/
Logo of the Common Descent Podcast, featuring a cartoon-y alligator and snake (Bask and Coil) sitting at a desk in front of a microphone and a computer monitor. Under the desk are the words "Common Descent" Art by Rob Soto.
We're on BlueSky now!
Hello! We are Common Descent, a podcast about paleontology, evolution, and the history of life on Earth!
We release episodes every fortnight! Each one focuses on a topic requested by our audience!
commondescentpodcast.com
What kind of resources/systems would really boost the success rates of earth/life science students applying to competitive seasonal internships (URE, DOI, etc)? (Ignore 💰 and 🕰️ constraints.)
I’d love to hear from folks who review apps, do hiring, have successfully applied to such positions… Thanks!
A reminder that we have two open PhD projects on Bayesian phylogenetics in the lab:
One with the new TREE Doctoral Landscape Awards: www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/int... (deadline 20th Jan)
And another with CSC: www.findaphd.com/phds/project... (deadline 29th Jan)
Slow Loris in Malaysia
California Condors in Arizona
Gobi jerboa in China
Northern tamandua in Costa Rica
Spectral bat in Belize
There are some localities that sample higher elevation habitats--late Eocene Florissant Fossil Beds in Colorado comes to mind. But even in the case of Florissant, it was a high elevation lake, so it was still a depositional environment.
It's on my to-do list!
As always, please contact me if you want to read the paper but don't have access.
Check out our new paper for #FossilFriday! We describe a new latest Paleocene mammal fauna and propose an updated division of the Clarkforkian NALMA. By relying on immigrant taxa, this approach should allow for correlation of Paleocene faunas throughout North America.
Check out our new #OA paper, part of EJLS' special issue "A Global Perspective on Adaptive Radiation"! With @aigverte.bsky.social & Marco Mello, we review the intrinsic & extrinsic factors potentially underlying the phyllostomid adaptive radiation 🦇https://doi.org/10.1093/evolinnean/kzae032
A question for my Paleo people...I am adding a class on ethics in Paleontology to my 4th year undergrad seminar on Primate Evolution. I'd appreciate some suggestions for readings that students at that level are likely to find digestible and relevant. Thanks!
Four images from the Sternberg Museum Science Camps program in a square info graphic. A QR code in the middle. Zoom online info events are on -December 6th, 11:00am CST -December 11th, 1:00pm CST -December 19th, 11:00am CST -December 28th, 11:00am CST Please RSVP using the link or the QR code above. Zoom links will be sent out in advance of each event.
Upcoming info sessions for folks interested in joining the 2025 instructional staff team!
RSVP here: forms.gle/cMeXD9dVyarx...
And speaking of convergence, the Aye-aye-like "mammalian woodpecker" bauplan may have evolved at least 5 times... that we know of.
Vector illustration of the recently extinct vesper bat Synemporion keana with a cave moth in it's mouth
#Marchofthrmammals2024 day 22 Synemporion keana, Hawaii's third endemic mammal
#sciart #paleoart #paleontology
Vector illustration of Plesiorycteropus madagascarensis, an enigmatic tenrec relative from Madagascar
Plesiorycteropus madagascarensis for day 21 of #marchofthemammals2024
#sciart #paleoart #paleontology
