@caitlinrkiernan
Paleontologist & 2-time World Fantasy Award winning F&SF author. McWane Sci. Center & University of Ala. research assoc. (mosasaurs, turtles, PETM). Humanist. Classical liberal. Irish Appalachian. Math nerd. Anti-fascist. Trans; LGBTQ+ They/them/she/her.
A study in Nature shows that the earliest known ankylosaurs had uniquely elaborate body armour, including a spiky ornament on their tail. These extreme armour features are unlike those of any other vertebrate, including other ankylosaurs later in their evolutionary history. #Paleosky 🧪
🦖 Free Webinar: 200 Years of Vertebrate Paleontology in South Asia
Join Dr. Advait Jukar for a fascinating look at the history and future of vertebrate paleontology in South Asia.
📅 March 11 | 12-1 PM ET
🔗 Register: anatomy.org/ANATOMY/Meet...
watch this super cool trailer @briansiano.bsky.social did for "the Drowning Girl" by Caitlin R. Kiernan!
AND Mississippi. Not sure how I left that out, as that state's produced some of the best material from the group.
FABL = fore-aft basal length.
Since this find, remains of eudromaeosaurian theropods have turned up in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, as well as other localities in Alabama, all once a part of the Appalachian subcontinent during the Late Cretaceous.
The cf. Saurornithoides sp. tooth I recovered from the Mooreville Chalk of W. Alabama in '98, first evidence of Troodontidae from SE Appalachia. So tiny (2.8mm FABL), I first mistook it for an odd fish tooth. SEM photomicrograph courtesy Fernbank Sci. Center, ATL. Pub. in '04. #paleosky #dinosaurs
Kansas immediately revokes transgender residents’ driver’s licenses
www.advocate.com/pol...
#transgender #trans #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA
Today’s Daily Cartoon, by Brendan Loper. #NewYorkerCartoons
A feature in Nature reports on discoveries in Jurassic rocks that are expanding scientists’ knowledge in how birds evolved. #Paleosky 🧪
What am I writing now? Failure Protocols, to be the fourth and final volume in the Tinfoil Dossier series. With luck I'll finish by the end of March.
MAGA Unreality vs the World
The U.S. government is in the hands of people who are fully detached from reality. That is a major weakness for the regime – but also a source of further radicalization.
Some thoughts from my new piece:
🧵
steady.page/en/democracy...
An embarrassment of riches: currently working on a new plioplatecarpin (Demopolis Chalk), a new selmasaurin (Niobrara Fm.), and the solution to a longstanding mystery regarding halisauromorph taxonomy (Mooreville Chalk). All I need are more hours in the day. #paleosky #mosasaurs
Did you know..?
Today more species of frogs exist than mammals 🐸
Frogs have been evolving and diversifying for over 250 million years! Hop on over to JSP to find out about a slightly younger (100 million year old) ancient frog: buff.ly/uZx2JCe
#Paleosky #FunFact #MindBlown
Republicans Send Federal “Don’t Say Trans” Act to Committee
www.transvitae.com/r...
#transgender #trans #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA
A new hadrosauroid ornithopod species from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Densuș-Ciula Formation, Romania
Kryptohadros kallaiae gen et sp. nov.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Research shows how social media algorithms such as that of Twitter shift users toward more right wing views.
#SocialMedia 🧪
A good argument for keeping AI out of classrooms...and lots of other places.
SHOULDN'T FUCK CHEAT!
*mutter*
Close to Mars’s North Pole you’ll find basaltic sand dunes.
They’re covered with a seasonal carbon dioxide frost.
#astronomy 🧪
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. Of Arizona
Life reconstruction of the head of Triceratops prorsus. Nasal soft tissues inferred in the linked study shown. Soft tissues include the main narial nerves and blood vessels, nasal gland, nasolacrimal duct, and respiratory turbinate. Credit: K. Sakane
Triceratops had unique rostral anatomy with oversized nasal passages that likely helped to regulate body temperature and may have contained heat-exchange structures (respiratory turbinates) similar to those found in modern birds and mammals! 🧪
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Then they should fucking cheat.
People are making the wrong comparisons. This isn't Skynet. We aren't talking about machines that will become self-aware and decide to cancel humanity. We're talking systems that regularly make things up, give dangerous advice, and obliterate data for no reason—those systems powering weapons.
#FossilFriday A beautiful Cretaceous seastar. This fully articulated specimen of Calliderma was collected in the Chalk of England.
UK: Government to bring forward Conversion Practices Bill this parliamentary session, confirms equalities minister
www.thepinknews.com/...
#transgender #trans #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA
Square slab with sprawled, partially disarticulated bird skeleton. Feather outlines on tail and wings. No skull.
Closer look at same under raking light. Deep gouges dug around the bones.
A more complete bird skeleton, including skull. Under mostly flat light. Fine detail around fingers, claws, ribs, but the matrix is prepped very shallowly
Closer look at same. Very fine detail, including teeth, visible on skull and vertebrae.
No shade on 19th century preparators doing their best, but it’s very striking how chunky the London Archaeopteryx looks compared to the recently-prepped Chicago specimen.
Imagine all the data that was lost on old specimens, and what future preparators will think of today’s work. #FossilFriday
Brits Bill & Karen looked forward to 2-mo long 2025 holiday in US going thru CA,NV,WY,MT& Canada. An expired visa landed them in prison for SIX wks! Separated, shackled at the wrist, waist & ankles, sleeping on the floor of a cell. Stunned & terrified. Trump’s US! www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
