Stephanie Drumheller

That bucket had some mid-sized theropod bits in it. So yeah, the day started with babying along a big honking chunk of rock. We're now on to other, smaller things now, whew.

Apparently you need to remember to remove the metal handle, but yes!

Also no, those wispy distortions in the lower left hand corner aren't the ghosts of dinosaurs, protesting being scanned, but they ARE called x-ray ghosts, because apparently the camera output and x-rays don't always play well together.

Hanging out at @vtgeosciences.bsky.social with Michelle Stocker today, CT scanning a variety of fossils.

Close up of a pile of alligator osteoderms with twigs and leaves on top.

With the understanding that I'm a taphonomist, so my worldview is a little bent with regards to such things, I think my decomposing alligators are actually kind of beautiful at this stage of things:

Earliest direct evidence of trophic interactions between terrestrial apex predators and large herbivores - Scientific Reports Trophic interactions between large predators and herbivores are unknown in the fossil record of Permo-Carboniferous tetrapods at a time when these members of the terrestrial vertebrate communities mak...

Young, J.M., Maho, T. & Reisz, R.R. Earliest direct evidence of trophic interactions between terrestrial apex predators and large herbivores. Sci Rep 16, 6977 (2026). doi.org/10.1038/s415...

These videos are all so funny. I rewatched this one today and just about spat out my drink at his dinosaur sounds response.

YouTube video by The Dr. Is In The Doctor Is In | Episode 1 | What sound dinosaurs really made?

I was actually reminiscing about Hans Sues' "The Doctor Is In" series on YouTube a couple of weeks ago, and this morning, I found out he had passed away unexpectedly. My impression of him is that he was a rare blend of highly intelligent and also profoundly kind. He will be greatly missed.

This is just awful news.

Just saw the incredibly sad news that Hans-Dieter Sues has passed away. Beyond his major contributions to paleontology, in all my interactions with him over the years, he was a stellar human being. He took great joy in life and in being a paleontologist. I learned so much from him.

Yeah, I wasn't in the room when it happened, but I was at that conference.

A chunk of fossil hash rich limestone with a few identifiable bits (brachiopod crinoids, etc)

It's science fair time again, and my yougest wanted to do "fossils." He is now identifying and counting everything he found from 2 Ordovician sites, so he can do a little compare and contrast project. I'm mostly here as a safety net when he gets stuck.

PeerJ Digesting an ancient ecosystem: coprolites from the Grippia bonebed, Lower Triassic, Svalbard peerj.com/articles/207... @peerj.bsky.social

The Paleontological Society statement on recent events.

Take care. This whole situation is dredging up a lot of bad memories for many of us. Hopefully we can translate it into some real change.

It was not a great welcome to the wider academic community. We need to do better.

Happy #FossilFriday! Over 66 million years ago this duck-billed #Edmontosaurus (MOR 1627) came face to face with #Tyrannosaurus. Today, the tooth embedded in its snout tells the tale of this Cretaceous encounter. Specimen from lands managed by by Bureau of Land Management.

I have never taken a student to a conference without my cell number programmed into their phone and a solemn oath from them to text me if anything started to get weird or uncomfortable. And maybe that's indictment enough of the culture.

I had one incident happen at my very first conference (SVP) as an undergrad, but none since. I know of a lot more, which have happened to various friends and colleagues. Even with that context, this was a grim breakdown of the wider problems in the field.

Google map screen shot of a portion of UT campus including sorority village and the UT Creamery.

It used to be here, but apparently it's the site of the UT Creamery now.

Speaking of which, I should really visit it. I could really use sone oce cream rhis week.

The Epstein Files and Paleontology | Weird and Dead Podcast Get more from Weird and Dead Podcast on Patreon

I carved out some time to check this out. It's a hard listen because 1) yes, me too, but also 2) I know I've had fewer issues in the field than many, and it's given me blind spots I'm trying to learn to cover, especially with regards to protecting my own students.

there is a very clean fossil of a turtle shell next to a clean fossil skull of a crocodile that is equal in length sitting on a clean white background

Online Exhibit 🐊🐢 Rare, Beautiful & Fascinating

Feature: Albury’s Tortoise and Cuban Crocodile

These fossils were discovered by scuba diver Brian Kakuk about 60-70 feet deep in a blue hole in the Bahamas.

🎧 Story and more with David Steadman: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/100-years/ob...

The lingering effects of my October flu vaccine, squaring up against a massive Flu B outbreak at my kids' school:

Gross.

Spiderman meme, image 1: Mary Jane says "Tell me the truth. I'm... I'm ready to hear it." Image 2: Peter Parker says "You can't analyse data forever. At some point you have to write the paper." Image 3, Mary Jane cries.

I did not need to be attacked like this first thing in the morning.

Oh gosh no, that's a Triebold skeletal mount: www.trieboldpaleontology.com

YouTube video by Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology How to Make a Dinosaur Mummy

Looks like my talk for the Royal Tyrrell Museum was also posted today. This one is about our ongoing research on dinosaur mummies. 🧪 youtu.be/FM5ei-1znaQ?...

Ah! I didn't know it was posted yet. Thanks!

Ha!

I have been told it is unprofessional to call them "giant freaking murder fish," which is disappointing.