Dr. Davey F. Wright ⛏️🦕🧬

this is extremely relatable. i love them so much and wish i could've seen them in their glory

👀

Can't believe I got to see one of my all time favorite bands twice in the same year. Check it this really cool * signed * Descendents poster I got after their show in OKC!

Bar graph comparing frequency of clades for which new species were described in Palaeontology since 2010. Invertebrates of various types (molluscs, insects, ostracods, etc.) dominate this journal, followed by different types of fishes and mystery animals outside of Metazoa.

Bar graph comparing frequency of geologic time bins from which new species were described in Palaeontology between 2010 and 2026. The Cretaceous is overwhelmingly the most common, followed by the Jurassic, Cambrian, and Devonian.

Palaeontology (@thepalass.bsky.social) is the best I have atm for 'typical' paleo in which naming of inverts outpaces that of verts - not uncommon to see single papers naming 5+ new species of inverts, which almost never happens for verts. Binned inverts out more for @daveyfwright.bsky.social

What it's like asking AI tools for advice

Prompt: "What are the nutrient, lighting, and water needs of my house plant?"

AI: "Evidence suggests Brawndo: The Thirst Mutilator has what plants crave, with many citing its life-giving electrolytes."

Once again convincing myself this will be the year my beloved NY Mets won't self-destruct their season into ignominy

The promise of a beer and ballgame in the near future is doing a lot of emotional heavy lifting these days.

Lol. I've probably received a ton of similarly aged rejections over the years but it was rare for me to keep a professional email at the same institution for more than a few years at a time

they should invent emails that find me well

Just a heads up that I and many other people are much more block happy on here than I was on twitter. It's something that developed early in the culture of this app. I feel no need to justify it. If you're being weird, creeping me out, I don't like the vibe, you're rude, speaking in bad faith, BLOCK

So I pleased to announce the conceptual spawn of FigTree: PearTree (acronym still to be finalised). If you want to dive right in it is hosted as a web app here: artic-network.github.io/peartree (click the “Example...” button for immediate candy and then click every button you can find).

I can't get the slides to load, but judging from the description: 2012 was before my first Evolution. However, it must have been around this time. We were definitely corresponding via email and on social media in 2012, so maybe I saw the slides there? Either way, it was awesome then and it still is

they should invent a kind of news that's good

Limitations of molecular dating using constant birth–death rate priors in deep time reflected in Brachiopoda evolution Molecular dating often struggles to align with fossil records when divergence times are estimated in deep evolutionary history, particularly during th…

Limitations of molecular dating using constant birth-death rate priors in deep time reflected in Brachiopoda evolution www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Descendents - Nothing With You YouTube video by SkankinLozer

"People knock on my door
Ringing my phone
Telling me the things I gotta get done today
To satisfy them, but what about me?
Lately I've been wishing I was brain dead
No responsibilities in my head today"

Encountered the phrase "luxury AI" and I've had enough

I genuinely like Star Wars > Star Trek but also totally agree with the poll

Pour one out for the extinct non-arthropod invertebrates lol

whoa!

Shout out to @dwbapst.bsky.social for one of the best (and earliest to my memory) scientific presentations involving Pokémon

Pokémon turns 30 — how the fictional pocket monsters shaped science The Japanese media sensation has inspired generations of researchers in fields as diverse as evolution, biodiversity and research integrity.

"Fossils are another major theme in Pokémon"

It absolutely destroys me every time I see this happen

I continue to be fascinated by the phenomenon whereby an expert engages with any of the LLMs on their field of expertise and is instantly horrified by the wrong answers, and then goes on to use it for things they are not experts in as though it won’t be just as bad for those.

Oh now that's a movie one cannot unsee! Way more disturbing (in a fun way) than almost any horror movie I can think of. I couldn't stop thinking about for weeks after watching

I love studying fossils and biological evolution so much. I'm incredibly grateful (and lucky) to be a paleontologist for a living

Very cool! They played this song when I saw them last year in OKC. Their set list was *very* old school punk (a lot from Mommy's Little Monster but very few country influenced songs of later albums). Mike Ness was was a force on stage and just as angry as ever at systems of injustice and inequality

Then again, a 'freakin Cape May Warbler was spotted a few days ago here in Oklahoma, which is *way* more unusual and completely unexpected in the region, so crazier bird things are happening

Seems too early but I swear I heard a Hermit thrush singing this morning

(not an endorsement of Ayn Rand btw)

Cambrian Shrugged