Extinct blog

From the Archive: Comparisons with Teeth — Extinct A deep cut: in which Max examines the durability and challenges of actualistic reasoning in paleontology

Even though our Bluesky account has gone dark (my fault), there are still things happening on the Extinct blog! Most recently, an update of an old essay on actualistic reasoning in the historical sciences, featuring some recent work on Otodus megalodon...
www.extinctblog.org/extinct/2026...

Overheard in North Minneapolis (my 4-year-old son talking to my 2-year-old daughter): "Lucky for us, Farrah, Dunkleosteus is extinct"

Agostino Scilla and the true nature and origin of fossils. At the beginning of the sixteenth century and throughout the seventeenth century a great debate about the true nature of and the origin of fossils started in Italy, the cradle of Leonardo and Aldro…

Agostino Scilla and the true nature and origin of fossils. #histsci 🧪⚒️

paleonerdish.wordpress.com/2013/09/23/a...

Max’s New Gould paper — Extinct My new paper in Paleobiology (OA), on some lesser known aspects of the early history of punctuated equilibria, is available to read online. It is, in effect, a synthesis of some of my older work on ...

My new Gould paper is out today in Paleobiology (OA)! It is, in effect, a synthesis of some of my historical work on Stephen Jay Gould’s early career, which explores the curious position of punctuated equilibria in his early vision for evolutionary paleontology

www.extinctblog.org/palaeonews/2...

#Lancaster! Join Alison Bashford tonight, Nov 12 at 5pm, @globalaffairslu.bsky.social (with @victorianhand.bsky.social) as she discusses her new book, Decoding the Hand: A History of Science, Medicine, and Magic. #HistSTM #HSTM #HistSci #BookTour #Palmistry buff.ly/jsJZ7Kp

why is James Watson's Times Obit 20,000 words longgggg

to unnecessarily intellectualize this, it shows how much the public understanding of science is still organized by the concept of discovery. but that isn't the whole reason

From the Archive: Lords of Marble and the Spear — Extinct In which Max asks what an argument for repatriating a fossil might look like in the absence of demonstrable illegality in the acquisition of that fossil

I was just reading about the new documentary, The Marbles, and I thought it was time to repost this. It's an old post in which I ask whether some arguments developed for reuniting the Parthenon Marbles work for natural history specimens, like fossils...
www.extinctblog.org/extinct/2023...

You're probably right that the citations record is unreliable. Sprigg published some longer, more taxonomically oriented papers on the Ediacaran fossils in '47 and '49. The Nature dispatch was only supposed to be a "hey, look at this letter"

What the Actual Hell is Going On (Or, the Great Reg Sprigg Nature Letter "Rejection" Mystery...) — Extinct In which Max blows your little mind

Bluesky sleuths & Ediacaran enthusiasts! I need your help...
I found something very weird. It involves Reg Sprigg, discoverer of the Ediacaran fauna, who for 40 years complained about Nature rejecting his discovery announcement. But, the thing is ... (Read on!)
www.extinctblog.org/extinct/2025...

Some trilobite poetry for a lazy Sunday (of a rotten year, of a depressing decade). Courtesy of May Kendall, a satirist and radical sociological thinker, originally writing for Punch magazine

Are We in a Sixth Mass Extinction? The Challenges of Answering and Value of Asking Federica Bocchi, Alisa Bokulich, Leticia Castillo Brache, Gloria Grand-Pierre, and Aja Watkins PDF PDF PLUS Abstract Full Text Abstract In both scientific and popular circles, it is often said that we are in the midst of a sixth mass extinction. Although the urgency of our present environmental crises is not in doubt, such claims of a present mass extinction are highly controversial scientifically. Our aims are, first, to get to the bottom of this scientific debate by shedding philosophical light on the many conceptual and methodological challenges involved in answering this scientific question and, second, to offer new philosophical perspectives on what the value of asking this question has been—and whether that value persists today. We show that the conceptual challenges in defining ‘mass extinction’, uncertainties in past and present diversity assessments, and data incommensurabilities undermine a straightforward answer to the question of whether we are in, or entering, a sixth mass extinction today. More broadly, we argue that an excessive focus on the mass extinction framing can be misleading for present conservation efforts and may lead us to miss out on the many other valuable insights that Earth’s deep time can offer in guiding our future.

Zoom screenshot of 6 women smiling: Federica, Leticia, Alisa, Aja, Gloria, Matilde

Sections Abstract 1. Introduction 2. A Brief History of the Sixth Mass Extinction Debate 3. What Is a Mass Extinction? 4. Challenges from Palaeodiversity Data 5. Challenges from Biodiversity Data 6. Incommensurabilities of Past and Current Extinctions 7. Making the Comparisons More Compatible 8. Conclusion: Rethinking the Value of Asking Notes References

Excited our paper "Are We in a 6th Mass Extinction?" accepted in 2022 is now out @ BJPS! It began as UROP project w/ undergrad Gloria, expanded to a COVID lockdown project w/ Phi-Geo group, Sect 5 became kernel Federica's dissert & Sect 7 Aja's dissertation. Read ⬇️
doi.org/10.1086/722107
#HPS ⚒️

Reminder: the Handbook of the Historiography of the Earth and Environmental Sciences (Springer, 2024), ed. by Elena Aronova, @hallucigenia.bsky.social & Marco Tamborini, is #OpenAccess. Download the PDF here: link.springer.com/referencewor...

#histsci #HPS

S5 E11 - Steven Shapin on the Social Life of Scientific Knowledge Podcast Episode · The HPS Podcast - Conversations from History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science · 19/10/2025 · 50m

This week we welcome Prof. Steven Shapin to the pod!🎙️

We explore his journey through interdisciplinary spaces, revisit Leviathan and the Air-Pump 40 years on, and explore how credibility, trust and expertise are shaped by the fragmentation of expertise and (recent) political & cultural challenges

#HPBio #histsci #histSTM #evobio #HPS

Climate by Proxy A HISTORY OF SCIENTIFIC RECONSTRUCTIONS OF THE PAST AND FUTURE Melissa Charenko

CONTENTS List of Illustrations vii INTRODUCTION 1 1: MAKING CLIMATE DYNAMIC IN THE HUMAN PERIOD 33 Plant Macrofossils and Gearchaeological Evidence 2: CLIMATE AS A DRIVER OF HUMAN HISTORY 64 Pollen and Tree Rings 3: PREDICTION OR PROPHECY DURING THE DUST BOWL? 97 Pollen and Tree Rings 4: NARRATING THE PLEISTOCENE EXTINCTIONS 124 Sloth Dung and Packrat Middens 5: LOOKING FORWARD WHEN THE FUTURE IS UNPRECEDENTED 150 Analogs CONCLUSION: PROXY WORK TODAY 175 A Complex Whole Acknowledgments 181 List of Abbreviations 185 Notes 187 Index 235

A wonderful present arrived in the mail today: @melissacharenko.bsky.social's new book Climate by Proxy! #HPS

Screenshot of the article header from the European Journal for Philosophy of Science titled “Experiment and the pursuit of ugly models” by Martin King. The header indicates it is a paper in philosophy of the natural sciences. The DOI is https://doi.org/10.1007/s13194-025-00692-y

Physicists have long been enamored with “beautiful” models—but this seems to have changed in high-energy physics. In his new paper, Martin King argues that experimental contexts strongly determine the pursuitworthiness of “ugly models” 👇📃 link.springer.com/article/10.1... #philsci #philphysics #HPS

Don’t miss our Annual Lecture Series with Angela Potochnik!

📅 Tomorrow, October 10th
⏰ 3:30pm EDT
📍 CL-1008

Title: "Causes Don’t Push"

Can't make the talk? Join on Zoom: https://pitt.zoom.us/j/94976944388

#ALS #CenterPhilSci

A History of Geology Reading List, Part 2 — Extinct In which Max has finally completed his two-part reading list for people interested in learning more about the history of geology

So, back in February I posted the first part of a reading list in the history of geology, intended mostly for people in philosophy and HPS who want to gain a footing in the subject. Here, 8 months later, is Part 2. (You can find the link to Part 1 within...)
www.extinctblog.org/extinct/2025...

Call for papers: Ian Hacking and the Philosophy of Psychiatry. Deadline: 1st February 2026. Guest editors: Şerife Tekin and Jonathan Y. Tsou. Submit your work! think.taylorandfranc... #philsky #philpsy #philsci

🎉 can’t wait to dig into this book - and to add it to my syllabus for philosophers-to-be. The glimpses I’ve seen are full of exciting ideas, and I’m sure the full thing is even richer. #sts #philsci

🙌 to @adrian-currie.bsky.social and @phieveigl.bsky.social for pulling this into existence

S5 E8 - Philip Kitcher on Philosophy for Science and the Common Good Podcast Episode · The HPS Podcast - Conversations from History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science · 11/09/2025 · 48m

I had a rich and wide-ranging conversation w/ Professor Philip Kitcher for the podcast this week.

We discuss his intellectual journey, interventions in creationism, sociobiology & the genome project, his philosophical evolution, and vision for philosophy serving the common good. A real privilege.

Florentino Ameghino, the father of Argentinian paleontology. Florentino Ameghino was born on September 18, 1854. He came from a family of Italian immigrants who settled in 1854 in the town of Lujan, Buenos Aires, Argentina, where the extraction and exportati…

Florentino Ameghino, the father of Argentinian paleontology, was born #OTD 1854. He became a national icon for his role in creating national science and culture. 🧪⚒️

wp.me/p3ihHu-Af #histsci

My linocut portrait of Marie Tharp (woman in grey shirt with oversized glasses and red hair in up-do) in front of her physiographic of the Atlantic (in grey on teal) with mid-ocean ridge, resting her cheek on her left hand with elbow on table covered with depth sounder data.

For Day 16 #sciArtSeptember prompt rift: my portrait of #geologist & oceanographic #cartographer Marie Tharp (1920-2006), whose pioneering, thorough & complete ocean floor maps with Bruce Heezen, made using realms of echo sounder data, revealed the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.⁠ 🐡⚒️🧪👩🏼‍🔬 #histsci
⁠
After studying

CFP on Recent Work in Philosophy of the Historical Sciences special issue Revue Philosophique de Louvain. Abstract 500 words to charles.pence@uclouvain.be & daniel.swaim@marquette.edu, by October 1, 2025.
Accepted abstracts full papers due July 1, 2026
pencelab.be/en/events/rp...
#HPS #paleosky

Our International Postdoc Forum is a virtual seminar series for early career researchers to share their work w/commentary by MCPS community members. Excited to welcome @rosetrappes.bsky.social (University of Bergen, Norway) at 1215 CT Wed 24 Sept. Sign up for Zoom link. buff.ly/MSAXLgY

Amazing. Congrats!

Robert B. Farren's portrait of the elderly geologist Adam Sedgwick, cradling and gesturing to a globe.

In a few weeks, I'll be starting a new role as Research Associate in Natural History Humanities at Cambridge, based at the @sedgwickmuseum.bsky.social. As part of @camglamresearch.bsky.social, my project will be about 'Re-Excavating the Cambridge School of Geology, 1850–1914'.

Mark Norell, Who Studied Link Between Dinosaurs and Birds, Dies at 68

Nice obit of Mark Norell in the NYT:
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/s...

Printed in a gradient of dark blue-green at the bottom through dark blue to light blue at the top, this is my 9.25” x 12.5” portrait of Japanese geochemist in the lab adjusting a round bottomed flask with other posts and an array of chemical glassware in the foreground. In the background are carved ocean waves so the top looks like sky over wavy ocean

Day 13 #SciArtSeptember prompt bottleneck, I’m interpreting literally with Japanese #geochemist Katsuko Saruhashi (1920-2007) 🧪🐡👩🏻‍🔬 #histsci who created tools that allowed her to make 1st measurements of CO2 in seawater, raised the alarm about nuclear fallout, tracing it in oceans & researched 🧵

Annie Montague Alexander, naturalist & fossil hunter, died #OTD, 1950. She co-founded the museum of natural history of the University of California and the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology.
wp.me/p3ihHu-1MU #WomeninSTEM #histsci