Chris Widga

VOLUNTEER ON A DINOSAUR DIG: We run one of the only free dinosaur digs in the USA. We work public land and the fossils go in our public museum, forever. It's hard work, but we find some cool things. If this sounds like you, we're taking applications. Link in comms. #dinosaurs

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Illustration titled "Mastodon Giganteus" from 1852, showing detailed black-and-white drawings of several fossilized mastodon bones. The bones, labeled Fig. 1 to Fig. 6, include long limb bones and joint fragments with rough textures and surface irregularities. Each bone is displayed with anatomical accuracy, highlighting their size and structure. The top of the page states "Plate XXV" with a scale indicating one inch to a foot. The illustration provides a scientific view of the extinct North American mastodon's skeletal features for study.

🦣 The Mastodon giganteus of North America /.
Boston: J. Wilson, 1852..

[Source]

🚨Our new study is out! We've put AI to good use, to classify and identify dinosaur footprints!

Dinosaur footprints are more common than bones. But to figure out which dinosaur made a track, we need to do the Cinderella thing, and match a footprint to a foot. And that's hard.

Excited to be part of this cool new theory paper exploring how lagged ecological responses at the species and community level can lead to reduced ecosystem function and often seemingly paradoxical responses at different timescales. Nice work by @mishastemkovski.bsky.social leading this one!

Whale fall mug. Incredibly time consuming and meticulous work, but stunning results

Strange, Shovel-Tusked Elephants Puzzled Paleontologists, Until Experts Took a Closer Look at Their Teeth The animals' extended lower jaws were seemingly made for scooping, but research over the past few decades has found they could do a lot more than initially expected

Shovel-tuskers! Ancient elephants like Amebelodon are an evolutionary success story, and we’re only just starting to understand how they used their exceptional jaws. I’ll tell you more at Smithsonian. 🧪

Strange, Shovel-Tusked Elephants Puzzled Paleontologists, Until Experts Took a Closer Look at Their Teeth The animals' extended lower jaws were seemingly made for scooping, but research over the past few decades has found they could do a lot more than initially expected

share.google/juKL6Jtf8b0E...

The beauty of slag Maybe it’s not just a brownfield or a wastescape. Maybe it’s a novel ecosystem.

palate cleanser: read about curious nerds, slow science, and the Chicago slag barrens among gorgeous photos in the golden hour at #MarianByrnesPark.

#WildCalumet #GreatNearby

mag.uchicago.edu/science-medi...

Wait. It's possible to have some sort of balance? Clearly I'm doing something wrong! Must try harder.

A Deinotherium tooth from the Pliocene of western Kenya, along with a reconstruction of these giants by Mauricio Antón
#FossilFriday

Scientists in the Parks positions now up! 🧵1/n

Dinosaur National Monument
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/099ae6a935...

Montezuma Castle National Monument, AZ
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/9d3abc1c9e...

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, NE
conservation-legacy.breezy.hr/p/7a746df3f5...

Frontiers | Significant northwest shift in suitable climate expected for North American bison by the year 2100 IntroductionMany species are shifting their geographic ranges in response to changing climate, and identifying climate impacts on future species distribution...

As a paleontologist, I'm not usually invested in any particular outcome of research, except to learn new things. However, I was saddened by the results of this one. Great work by Alex, but it doesn't look good for bison in the lower 48 over the next 75 years. www.frontiersin.org/journals/eco...

How scientists can contribute to the social movements essential to protecting climate and nature - npj Climate Action Scientists have much to contribute to the growing social movements pushing for urgent and transformative change to address the climate and biodiversity crises. Depending on their skills, interests and...

There is much to be done, at all levels.

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

We are now accepting applications for #IsoCamp2026! Join us in beautiful New Mexico June 15th-26th to learn about stable isotopes from expert instructors and get hands-on instrument training. The application deadline is February 28th. For more information, or to apply, go to isocamp.org. Pls share!

This is appropriate. I feel like rivers are the soul of all the places I've lived.
Close to Susquehanna/Juniata now, but lived on the Watauga (2016-2023), the Sangamon (2007-2016), the Wakarusa (2000-2005ish). Home river however, will always be the Platte.

Greenland is rich in natural resources – a geologist explains why Greenland’s rare earth element deposits may be among the world’s largest by volume.

I appreciate this from @us.theconversation.com by Jonathan Paul.

However, I think it’s making a mistake I commonly hear geologists make with regards to current events.

I have a hunch that this mistake is one of the reasons geology programs are struggling 🧵🛠️🪨🧪

theconversation.com/greenland-is...

Front view of a Columbian mammoth fossil skull displayed in a museum case, showing the massive domed cranium, large nasal opening, and a long, curved tusk resting in front of the skull.

Happy #FossilFriday! The Columbian #Mammoth was one of the largest species of mammoth to walk the Earth and roamed North America until ~11,000 years ago. The skull of one of these giants (#MOR604) is on display in the #Cenozoic Corridor at #MOR.

Only 7 more days to apply for an NMNH Research Undergrad internship/experience! naturalhistory.si.edu/research/nat...

Image of an Alaskan bog with water and red moss in the foreground and trees in the background.

Let’s make 2026 the year of the bog. The world’s most unique and interesting plants, clean water, cooler climate. Bogs deserve our thanks, care, and deep respect. Please join me and love a bog today.

After reviewing nearly 200 applications from prospective grad students and postdocs over the past few months for a couple different 🧪⚒️ postings, here are some tips, at least as they apply to North American positions. I hope they help future applicants. Share with your networks. 🧵

Black-and-white photograph of a group of schoolchildren sitting in front of a Corythosaurus skeleton (in classic mid-20th century kangaroo pose), with a mural of Cretaceous life behind it.

Kenneth Carpenter's notes of that same Corythosaurus skeleton, written up during the creation/renovation of the Academy's new dinosaur exhibit for the 1980s

A T. rex skeleton standing proud in the Academy's finished exhibit, titled Discovering Dinosaurs, circa 1986. Some miscellanea: an Allosaurus skull under glass (no longer on exhibit), a Torosaurus skull behind the T. rex, and the leg of "Ultrasauros" to the left (since moved to the opposite end of the hall)

Screencap from a 1986 commercial advertising the new exhibit, showcasing a group of schoolchildren surrounding a model nest of hatching Maisaura eggs.

Closing out the year with some images of the Academy of Natural Sciences's various dinosaur exhibits through the ages. Someone should really write up a proper history of them one of these days.......(details in alt text)

Beaver ponds quietly reorganize microbial worlds in water and mud In Polish forest valleys, a beaver pond can appear overnight in the way a new room appears in an old house: a door where there used to be a wall, a quiet basin where there used to be a corridor of mov...

Our latest post to Substack. 🌐🧪

Bioerosive ichnofossils in the holotype of Trachycalyptoides achirense (Glyptodontidae, Cingulata) from the Late Miocene Altiplano of Bolivia The Late Miocene locality of Achiri from the Bolivian Altiplano preserves a diverse mammalian fauna, of which the glyptodontids are represented by Trachycalyptoides achirense. Glyptodontids and oth...

Full article: Bioerosive ichnofossils in the holotype of Trachycalyptoides achirense (Glyptodontidae, Cingulata) from the Late Miocene Altiplano of Bolivia www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

A picture of fossils in a display case

Great surprise today at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History today. Unbeknownst to me, a Diplichnites trackway I collected from my backyard when I was 12 and donated when I was 19 is now on display in the new Stories Week Keep gallery. What an honor.

Mazon Monday #302: The Wreck of the 5560 This is Mazon Monday post #302.  What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. The Marion Power Shovel Company was an American company that designed, manufactured, and built steam shovels, power shovels, blast hole drills, excavators, and dragline excavators. The company was headquartered in Marion, Ohio and operated from 1884 to 1997, when it was acquired by its competitor…

Mazon Monday #302: The Wreck of the 5560 #fossils #paleontology #MazonCreek #MazonMonday #history #coalmining #coal #powershovel

The BGS national geological repository. The view is the walkway between two huge racks, which are filled floor to ceiling with core boxes.

Geological core stored in the BGS National Geological Repository

With space at a premium and the advance of new digitisation techniques, why does retaining over 600 km of physical rock core remain of national importance?

Follow the link to find out: www.bgs.ac.uk/news/why-do-...

Latest paper: Boxgrove is a key European site dating to 480,000 years ago. At GTP17, hominins knapped handaxes and then butchered an adult female horse. A fragment of the horse's scapula appeared to have evidence of impact from a wooden spear.....
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...