Dr Amber Wood-Bailey

Had lots of fun delivering the @sicb-dcb-dvm.bsky.social Carl Gans award lecture yesterday at @sicb.bsky.social #SICB2026! Grateful to have the support of so many incredible colleagues in comparative biomechanics.

Annotated mallard head muscle diagram in front of a landmarked 3d model of a duck skull

I'll never bitch about mammals again ever.

A 1672 bunny rabbit from St Isidore’s #Rome - symbolising the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception (JMcC)

Today 8 Dec is the feast.

During the earliest stages of domestication, dogs in archaeological sites would be indistinguishable from wolves.

Unless you find them on a small island where no wolves would survive on their own, eating things wolves normally don’t eat.

Such as here:
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Deadline next week! Don't forget to nominate! (and if you have problems, get in touch with us directly via our website)

The poster for the Marsh Palaeoart Award IT reads: marsh palaeoart award this award recognises talent in the depiction of fossil fauna and flora from the british isles winning prize: £500 + 1 year PalSoc membership art can be in any medium judging panel of palaeoartists and scientists, incl. last years's winner, MAtt Humpage submissions open:20th October, 2025 submissions close: 25th November, 2025 for full details and entry requirements visit: www.palaeosoc.org this award is supported by the Marsh charitable Trust

A reminder to all #palaeoartists; the deadline for the Marsh Palaeoart Award is fast approaching!
If you want to submit I'd recommend doing it ASAP as, while it says 25th Nov here, the webpage specifies the 21st (I'm glad I checked😅).
Anyway, good luck to y'all!
#paleoart @palaeontosoc.bsky.social

Nice 3-year teaching+research postdoc at NYIT!
careers-nyit.icims.com/jobs/4126/po...
The human anatomy teaching experience is tremendously valuable; for people in our fields (e.g., morphology, biomechanics, palaeontology) it opens up great faculty job opportunities! And the NYIT faculty are great.

Interested in implants and dental rehabilitation?

I have a fully funded PhD available on modelling mandibular implants after oral cancer.
Apply now or email me 🙂
🔗 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

📣Another exciting PhD available!

Partnered with @nottswildlife.bsky.social and fully funded by the ACCE+ NERC Doctoral Landscape Award.

We will look at morphological trait evolution, isolation and environment change, and rewilding of large herbivores.

#evolution #WilderFuture #rewilding #PhD

📣 Funded PhD combining anatomy, surgery and engineering!

💀 This project aims to characterise the biomechanical behaviour of jaw implants following mandibulectomy.

📍@livuni-ilcams.bsky.social Liverpool, UK
🥼@ukshaq.bsky.social @clairebrockett.bsky.social and me!

(BBSRC NWD CASE) Selective breeding vs natural selection: how does body shape influence locomotor biomechanics in domesticated dogs and other mammals? at University of Liverpool on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - (BBSRC NWD CASE) Selective breeding vs natural selection: how does body shape influence locomotor biomechanics in domesticated dogs and other mammals? at University of Liverpool, listed ...

and another one! join us!

BBSRC PhD studentship investigating how different anatomy and locomotor patterns affect joint loading in domestic dogs and other mammals 🐩🦴🐎

The project will involve a variety of biomechanics techniques including finite element analysis and MDA modelling - info below

📣 📃 New paper out in press!

🦷 We look at the biomechanical impact of #tooth root morphology to inform #dental implant design.

👩‍💻We use finite element modelling to compare single vs. multiple roots on strain across the mandible.

@apwoodbailey.bsky.social @livevobiomech.bsky.social

🚨Our next Marsh Palaeoart Award launches next week! 🚨Recognising talent in the depiction of fossil fauna, this award is judged by a panel of artists and scientists, and has a cash prize of £500 💰 Check our website for more info: palaeosoc.org/grants.../th...

I’m very excited to welcome @lucyhholmes.bsky.social to the lab! Lucy will be working on Building Giants, funded by @leverhulme.ac.uk to investigate cranial sinuses in large mammals 🦓🐘🦛🦏🐪🦒🦬🐂🦌
This project is something I’ve been wanting to do for over a decade …

One week left to apply for our postdoc position on Deep-Time Small Rodent Palaeogenomics!

This is a 2-year full-time position that includes Swedish employment benefits, as well as funding for research expenses and work-related travel.

More info and application link:
su.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

What makes the skulls of rabbits and hares so special? Find out in this new paper from our very own @apwoodbailey.bsky.social @acsharp.bsky.social & others! 💀🐇📝

Oh so it does have phd level intelligence

New paper where we look at complexity of the intracranial joint in rabbits and hares.
Second paper from @apwoodbailey.bsky.social PhD work 🎉🐇

Wearyingly frequently necessary reminder that "social darwinism" or anything else that equates notions of intelligence with "fitness to live" is just ableist eugenicist bullshit derived from a fascist-minded misapplication of darwinism, no matter how clever and snarky and cool you think you're being

Factors impacting the complexity of the leporid intracranial joint Anatomy of the intracranial joint and the 2D semi-landmarks used to capture complexity in the intracranial joint. (a) The intracranial joint can be seen here (in red) between the parietal and occipit....

Check out our new paper in @journalofanatomy.bsky.social!

🐇💀

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Screenshots from The Man from Uncle, which ran from 1964-1968. Napoleon Solo talks into a speaker and asks his partner, Ilya Kuryakin: Ilya? We're in need of your special talents. Are you free? Through the speaker, Ilya responds: No man is free who has to work for a living, but I'm available.

The sort of energy I bring to the workplace:

Critics of #ColosalBiosciences, including myself, are not angry, or getting meaner and meaner, we are being intellectual honest about what Colossal is up to 1/n

Critics of de-extinction research hit by mystery smear campaign Several researchers who have been critical of Colossal Biosciences’ plans to revive extinct animals say they have been targeted by online articles trying to discredit them

In far less pleasant news -- it turns out that @devoevomed.bsky.social, @nicrawlencenz.bsky.social & I have all been targets of on-line smear articles, all in reference to our public criticisms of de-extinction.

www.newscientist.com/article/2490...

📣I’m hiring!
Two weeks to apply for an October start.
Start date is also flexible.
#PhD #Morphology #evolution

Interested in the functional morphology of mammal heads and want to come join us in Liverpool? Apply for this exciting new PhD project with Alana!

Amber with EMB lab

Amber with supervisors, Alana and Nathan

Amber with Caroline (wife)

Amber with pint

Teamwork makes the dream work. Officially PhDone 🎓

Thanks to the lovely lot at @livevobiomech.bsky.social, my supervisors @acsharp.bsky.social, @drphilcox.bsky.social and @nathanj.bsky.social and my awesome wife @naturecaroline.bsky.social.

We're not done here 👀 Watch this space 💀🧠🐴🦍🦁🐂🐅🐫🦌🦏🦒🫎

Graduation day!! 🎉🎉Congratulations @apwoodbailey.bsky.social and thank you @nathanj.bsky.social. Can’t wait for the next chapter 👀

Brood of the parasitic wasp Cotesia

@naturecaroline.bsky.social grew some nasturtium from seed but the caterpillars came and decimated them. The plant put out a chemical, which attracted a parasitic wasp. Which laid its eggs in the caterpillars. The larvae hatched and built cocoons and in 7-10 days they will emerge as adult wasps.

A while back I finished my first needle felting project. A gift for my PhD supervisor. I think it represents my thesis pretty well! 🐇💀

Check out our new paper on leporid lagomorph cranial fenestrations! 🐇