Ferwen

The Cretaceous Dinosaur Record from Normandy (NW France): A Review. Fossil Studies, 4(1), 5. doi.org/10.3390/foss...

www.mdpi.com/3745578

www.legacy.com/us/obituarie...

On February 28, 1878, several dozen Iguanodon fossils were discovered at Bernissart, Belgium. Louis Dollo devoted himself to the study of the Iguanodons. 
wp.me/p3ihHu-10W #OTD #histsci #sciart

War Pigs

open.spotify.com/track/6MiMM2...

#FossilFriday
Mongolian alvarezsaurid, Jaculinykus showing a resting posture, which is probably similar to that of an novel specimen of Alnasherti, published in this week!

US-Israeli strike on girls' school kills at least 85 students, Iran's judiciary says At least 85 students have been killed in US-Israeli strikes that hit an Iranian girls' school in Hormozgan province, Iran's judiciary said on Saturday. Washington has not commented on the reported str...

We killed 85 schoolgirls. We are not the good guys.

I can proudly say that I never had a ChatGPT account and that I find Sam Altam as pathetic as Elon Musk.

What the hell is in Epstein's files? #StopTrump

Also, you’d think the person who could threaten Europe is Putin, and if he cared about Europe, that’s who he’d target.

Silicon Valley Rallies Behind Anthropic in A.I. Clash With Trump

Our story on how the Pentagon misread the situation with Anthropic. They thought they would fold under the strong-arm tactic. Instead, Anthropic is seeing a boom of support from other AI companies and their own employees.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/t...

White House stalls release of approved US science budgets The US Congress rejected sweeping cuts to science agencies. But the NIH, the NSF and NASA have had their spending slowed.

In our latest coverage of the Trump administration and federal science budgets, @maxkozlov.bsky.social @dangaristo.bsky.social & I wrote about how the White House is stalling the release of monies approved by Congress. TLDR: it's not how things normally work. 🧪

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Me on day 58 of 2026

Happy #FossilFriday! 🦴

This week we’re travelling to the wide, windswept exposures of Punta Peligro in Patagonia, Argentina, where researchers scour the Paleocene strata for fossil vertebrates.

📷 Thank you to Francisco Barrios for capturing this moment in the field!

#Patagonia #Argentina

Square slab with sprawled, partially disarticulated bird skeleton. Feather outlines on tail and wings. No skull.

Closer look at same under raking light. Deep gouges dug around the bones.

A more complete bird skeleton, including skull. Under mostly flat light. Fine detail around fingers, claws, ribs, but the matrix is prepped very shallowly

Closer look at same. Very fine detail, including teeth, visible on skull and vertebrae.

No shade on 19th century preparators doing their best, but it’s very striking how chunky the London Archaeopteryx looks compared to the recently-prepped Chicago specimen.

Imagine all the data that was lost on old specimens, and what future preparators will think of today’s work. #FossilFriday

#FossilFriday The tale of Alnashetri cerropoliciensis and body size evolution in alvarezsaurids (Image credit: Gabriel Díaz Yantén) 🧪⚒️
paleonerdish.wordpress.com/2026/02/26/t...

Galápagos tortoise once believed extinct is now roaming free The release of 158 specially bred Floreana giant tortoises is a win for both the animal and its long-lost island ecosystem

The release of 158 specially bred Floreana giant tortoises is a win for both the animal and its long-lost island ecosystem

Skeleton in right lateral view of the early Late Jurassic metriacanthosaurid dinosaur Sinraptor dongi

#FossilFriday The metriacanthosaurid Sinraptor dongi

The tale of Alnashetri cerropoliciensis and body size evolution in alvarezsaurids Alvarezsauridae represents a distinctive lineage of small-bodied theropod dinosaurs, mainly known from the Jurassic to Cretaceous period of Asia and South America. Initially interpreted as flightle…

The tale of Alnashetri cerropoliciensis and body size evolution in alvarezsaurids paleonerdish.wordpress.com/2026/02/26/t...

Line graph time series of 2026's daily Antarctic sea-ice area compared to each year from 1979 to 2025. Lines are colored from purple in 1979 to white in 2025. 2026 is shown in red, and 2023 is shown in yellow. There are no statistically significant long-term trends visible in this graph for the month of February to April. Data are smoothed using a 5-day running mean from the Sea Ice Index v4.

The annual sea-ice extent minimum is getting close in the #Antarctic (austral summer). This year will not set any new record lows, though still below the long-term median.

Graphic from zacklabe.com/antarctic-se.... Data from @nsidc.bsky.social Sea Ice Index v4.

re-upping this one here

"Histological analyses indicate that the specimen was at least 4 yrs old when it died, with a slowed growth rate suggesting that it was nearly adult. Additionally, the presence of medullary bone around the medullary cavity...suggests that the new Alnashetri specimen was female." @ferwen.bsky.social

Birds Aren’t Just Declining. They’re Declining Faster, a New Study Finds.

"Birds in the United States are not only declining, but they are declining faster, especially in areas with intensive agriculture...Overall drops in bird population, measured from 1987 to 2021, were sharpest in warm and warming areas, suggesting that climate change may play a role."

Gift link

The tale of Alnashetri cerropoliciensis and body size evolution in alvarezsaurids Alvarezsauridae represents a distinctive lineage of small-bodied theropod dinosaurs, mainly known from the Jurassic to Cretaceous period of Asia and South America. Initially interpreted as flightle…

The tale of Alnashetri cerropoliciensis and body size evolution in alvarezsaurids paleonerdish.wordpress.com/2026/02/26/t...

Evidence of bird-like foot function in Tyrannosaurus Abstract. The movement of extinct animals has been of long-standing interest, with Tyrannosaurus rex being a locus for this fascination. Foot-fall kinemati

Evidence of bird-like foot function in Tyrannosaurus
royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article...

The tale of Alnashetri cerropoliciensis and body size evolution in alvarezsaurids (Video credit: Gabriel Díaz Yantén) 🧪⚒️
wp.me/p3ihHu-5u8

Scientists face fallout for past associations with Epstein Jack Horner, who was a consultant for the Jurassic Park films, is among the researchers whose work or careers have been affected because of revelations from newly released documents.

Scientists face fallout for past associations with Epstein www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Brazil’s Supreme Court imposes steep sentences for Marielle Franco murder

Brazil’s Supreme Court imposes steep sentences for Marielle Franco murder https://aje.news/73cv60

I had a tough conversation with my mentees a few months ago about crossing out states for grad school apps.

It was a group of about 25 and I think 3 were nonbinary.

folks shared where they were applying and then we talked about how some of those places were off limits to some in the group.

These are dark times. I'm sending you a hug from afar 🫂

Heptasteornis, My Beloved; Alvarezsaurids in Europe, the Backstory — Tetrapod Zoology Among the most fascinating of Mesozoic theropods are the alvarezsaurids, a mostly small-bodied group of maniraptoran coelurosaurs characterized by modified, ‘pick-like’ forelimbs, a lightly built, sha...

Also honorary mention of Romanian Heptasteornis as a possible alvarezsaurid, a hypothesis that still requires support through better specimens. A 2025 overview of the 'European alvarezsaurid' situation... tetzoo.com/blog/2025/1/...