Michael E Smith

This company claimed to ‘de-extinct’ dire wolves. Then the fighting started. Colossal’s bold announcements have drawn criticism from many scientists, but the billion-dollar firm is not backing down.

“The dire wolf fits the Jurassic Park model of de-extinction beautifully. It is clearly for spectacle”

Colossal’s bold de-extinction claims have drawn criticism from many scientists, but the billion-dollar firm is not backing down
go.nature.com/458Q4L2

Kino had fun at Camp Bow Wow today.

Well, it’s boring and I get more out of the other place

It didn't occur to me till just how much Kino looks like our excavation pup in Yautepec in 1993.

There is a story here about the prosperity of the Tlahuica peoples of Morelos: how we found the evidence and how I used concepts from Amartya Sen and others to turn the archaeological evidence into measures of quality of life for the rural and urban commoners in an Aztec provincial area.

Here are polychrome bowls, goblets, and pitchers as found in my excavations. If anyone tries to tell you that only Aztec nobles drank cacao, ask them why most of the the trash heaps outside commoner houses in Yautepec had sherds from these cacao vessels (and other fancy stuff). 2/2

Working on a ceramic report from my early research on Aztec-Period Morelos. Here is a polychrome serving bowl (Xochicalco) a cacao goblet (Coatetelco) and a pulque pitcher fr an undetermined site. Most of my work is with fragmentary sherds, and these whole vessels help identify the sherds. 1/

You’ll all have seen the many announcements and PR pieces from #ColossalBiosciences. There are reasons to be concerned about the general message promoted by CB, one being that it is seen >by some< (US politicians in particular) as meaning that we can devalue conservation. A 🧵 1/n

More problems with Frontiers journals. I’ve stopped publishing or reviewing for them.

Yeah, that's a great one! I know someyellow labs who will dive to the bottom of the pool and pick something up. But Kino won't put his head in the water for a ball more than an inch or two.

Yuki is not impressed

Kino’s bedtime in Arizona

People don’t like to think about these issues of access and quality. Witnessing the fluourishing of predatory journals, with many authors who are seasoned professionals (that is, not young scholars desperate to publish)

Kino is enjoying the morning sun

Nah, this is happening in all fields. I can't figure out how these expensive volumes make sense, although Springer and others much be making money on them.

Wait, isn't that Emil Bove?

Constraining the population size estimates of the pre-Columbian Casarabe Culture of Amazonian Bolivia The capacity of Amazonian environments to support large indigenous societies prior to European Contact has long been a contentious area of debate, particularly in regions where pre-Columbian cultures ...

Another use of the phrase "low-density urbanism" without calculating a density! Aargh!
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti.... This is an excellent paper about REGIONAL population. There are no data on the population density of individual settlements. So, why do they say this is "low-density urbanism"?

“Red before black, back on track.
Black before red, end up dead.”

Hope that helps 👍🏻

I thought we were doing it for the birds, not the turtles. But, yes, been doing this for years.

He's 4 and a half.

This is Kino, named after padre Eusebio Kino.

This short video by @weatherwest.bsky.social provides a clear explanation of the meteorological factors contributing to this heartbreaking disaster and how climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of heavy rain.

For me bsky is boring. There are a couple of archaeologists I find interesting. I've made several tests - posted the same query on x and bsky - and I get feedback and interaction on the former but not the latter.

A meme. In the first frame there is a T-Rex from Jurassic Park pictured with the words "DEMOCRATS FIGHTING ZOHRAN MAMDANI." In the second frame there is an image of Barney the Dinosaur shrugging along with text that reads "DEMOCRATS FIGHTING DONALD TRUMP."

True story.

Opinion | The Bluesky bubble hurts liberals and their causes The social media network was doomed to fail as progressives tried to re-create old Twitter.

One of the reasons im getting bored with Bluesky www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Helen was someone I really looked up to, for her insights, for her ethics and humanity, and for her old lute music. Wow, what a great all-around person, who will be missed by many!

I'm assembling examples of urban relocation in the past. Turns out there are far more examples than I realized when I wrote this magazine article last year:
www.zocalopublicsquare.org/move-climate.... One site I excavated-Calixtlahuaca-was cleared out by Spanish friars who moved people to Toluca.

My dad was in officer training in Los Angeles (Ww2) and then war ended. He did get to be in a program where handsome Navy officers went on dates with Hollywood stars- he dated Doris Day. Then he was called up from Navy reserves for the Korean War, and I was born at Subic Bay, Naval hospital.