University of California Museum of Paleontology

UCMP Short Course on March 7, 2026! We'll explore "Life's Six Great Ways of Being." UC Berkeley scientists will discuss how new methods in molecular genetics give us a new perspective on traditional classification systems. Register for this free lecture series at: ucmp.berkeley.edu/short-course...

Congratulations to UCMP Curator Dr. Juan Liu, who has been awarded the 2026 W.M. Cobb Early Career Investigator Award in Morphological Sciences from the American Association for Anatomy! 🐟🐠Well done, Juan!🐠🐠

🪨📜✂️ These lizards play an evolutionary game of rock-paper-scissors, vying to leave behind more offspring in the next generation. New research reveals the genetic rules they play by. Read more in the latest Evo in the News. #stemEd #evolution #rockpaperscissors tinyurl.com/lizardrockpa...

🌱UCMP welcomes Alexander Lowe as the new Sr. Museum Scientist of Paleobotany!🌱Alex received his PhD from the Univ of Washington and was a postdoc at the Smithsonian prior to arriving at UCMP. Alex's research focuses on reconstructing Cenozoic terrestrial vegetation and climate in the western US.

Postdoctoral Researcher, Paleontology San Francisco, CA

Collaborate with me! Myself and @peterroopnarine.bsky.social are looking for a postdoc with expertise in quantitative paleoecology to work on our new NSF grant addressing whether communities after the PTME functioned differently than those beforehand.

job-boards.greenhouse.io/californiaac...

Happy Holidays from Santa Claws! 🎄🎄🎉🦖 #fossilfriday #trex #santaclaws

Thought to be invasive, these island iguanas are actually locals and have likely lived on their island for hundreds of thousands of years. This Evo in the News explains how researchers used evolution to figure it out. #geneticdrift #STEMed #evolution

evolution.berkeley.edu/evo-news/is-...

Grad student Jaemin Lee has published on grasshopper ootheca (egg clutch) found in the Sheep Rock unit of the park. CT scanning was also utilized in analyzing this fossil. Read about the 29-million-year-old fossil grasshopper ootheca here: doi.org/10.5070/P540...

Grad student Sergio Garcia-Lara has scanned several oreodont dentaries collected from John Day formation in order to analyze the bending strength along different inter-dental mandibular spaces between hypsodont and non-hypsodont oreodonts.

Post-doc @narimanechatar.bsky.social is working with extinct sabertoothed cat-like carnivores from John Day, scanning a cast of Pogonodon platycopsis, housed in the UCMP. 3D scanning allows her to compare the shape and mechanical performances of its cranium and jaw. tinyurl.com/pogcranium

@tsengzj.bsky.social is working with Nick Famoso at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument using a 3D scan of a fossil hedgehog in a larger study of hedgehog evolution. This allowed them to digitally extract the fossil from the concretion without preparing the skull itself tinyurl.com/fossilhedgehog

We’d also like to highlight research conducted with fossils from this locality by international scholars who are utilizing new technology like 3D scanning which allows us to work with fossils in new ways and have a digital record that increases accessibility to these fossils.

Skull of a squirrel relative, skull of beaver, and a dramatic black and white photo of an oreodont. Check out more UCMP fossils on Calphotos tinyurl.com/UCMPJODA

See the diversity of flora and fauna in the UCMP collections from the John Day Basin for #nationalfossilday

Unidentified leaf in Clarno Fm, Coleoptera (beetle) fossil, lower jaw bone of alligator.

Also featured is a glass negative of John Day Basin and of a student at Turtle Cove in the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument from our 2022 Field Methods in Paleobiology course field trip.

Check out more UCMP fossils on Calphotos tinyurl.com/UCMPJODA and read more about UCMP history in the John Day Basin at ucmp.berkeley.edu/science/park... and National Fossil Day at www.nps.gov/articles/000... #nationalfossilday (3/3)

Fossil no. 20 in our paleobotany collection is leaf of a fern Pteris silvicola (2/3)

Happy National Fossil Day featuring fossils from the John Day Basin! UCMP holds more than 7,000 plant and vertebrate specimens collected there, including some of the first fossils cataloged at the UCMP! Fossil no. 13 in our vertebrate collection is a cervical vertebrae of an oreodont (1/3)

The @paleosoc.bsky.social Collections Committee is gathering responses from anyone who works in a paleontological/geological collection in the US about the current state of funding. It can be submitted in as little as 5 minutes (but the more detail the better)! Link here: forms.gle/6C5E5GS4MZ58....

New species alert!

Join @ucmpberkeley.bsky.social Undergraduate PaleoClub @paleoberkeley seminar series on Friday 10/3 with a talk by UCMP Assistant Director Lisa White on education and outreach. UCMP Director Charles Marshall will speak on 10/10. Interested students can join on Fridays, 5:30-6:30 pm, in VLSB 3059!

What did T. rex taste like? Find out in our updated interactive module that teaches middle and high school students about phylogenetics, the study of evolutionary relationships. We’ve cooked up a modernized version of this teacher-favorite classroom activity! 🔗 ucmp.berkeley.edu/trex-module/ #STEMed

Could hummingbird evolution be happening in your backyard? We’ve got a real humdinger of a story in our latest Evo in the News! Read more here: evolution.berkeley.edu/evo-news/hum...
#STEMed #evolution #humminbirds

Also in the news, checkout this interview with Lisa White, our Director of Education and Outreach on Tavis Smiley KBLA where they chat about dinosaurs, science education and outreach (students in the field), and diversity in STEM. 🦖

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiys...

A T. rex with feathers? Scientists say dinosaurs were likely different from what most of us picture - Berkeley News UC Berkeley paleontologist Jack Tseng explains how new discoveries challenge our long-held beliefs about the world of paleontology.

Our facultyJack Tseng @tsengzj.bsky.social was featured in @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social news again discussing our evolving idea of dinosaurs 🦖https://news.berkeley.edu/2025/06/26/a-t-rex-with-feathers-scientists-say-dinosaurs-were-likely-different-from-what-most-of-us-picture/

Antibiotic resistance lingers long after the meds are finished. Learn more in the latest Evo in the News!

evolution.berkeley.edu/evo-news/ant...

It's the last day of classes! Congratulations to all those graduating and good luck on your exams. Go Bears! 🐻🐻🐻🦖🐻🐻🐻

Apply for Senior Museum Scientist in Paleobotany at the UCMP. Learn more:
ucmp.berkeley.edu/2025/04/appl...

Congrats to Dr. Diane Erwin who was selected as a recipient of a 2025 Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Award! This is presented to staff who demonstrate excellence in their job duties and make significant contributions to campus. It is among the highest honors bestowed upon staff by the Chancellor.

🦎Iguana tell you something: new research shows species of iguanas in tropical Fiji are related to those in the deserts of North America! Check out the latest Evo in the News to learn more! evolution.berkeley.edu/evo-news/how...