Professor Anjali Goswami FRS

image of four people sat at a table in suits. One person is speaking

Image of seven people standing in front of a large Defra logo

We were delighted that our Chief Scientist Dave Stone was invited to take part in a Parliamentary Roundtable exploring the latest science on climate & nature.

The roundtable was chaired by @evoswami.bsky.social Defra Chief Scientific Adviser & hosted by Minister @marycreagh.bsky.social

Ego Nwodim talks Poker Face and how to get an SNL crowd to swear in unison : Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! This week, special guest Ego Nwodim joins panelists Tom Papa, Dulceé Sloan, and Hari Kondabolu

Fun! @evoswami.bsky.social is quoted from the interview on @sciam.bsky.social by @katewong.bsky.social on "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me" from @npr.org! (min 34:50)

www.npr.org/2025/05/24/1...

Can’t believe this interview made it onto Wait, wait. Also can’t believe that my half awake tweet from several years ago (though I stand by it) has gotten this much attention. Definitely regretting using the phrase “yeah, they suck” to describe all other animals…

My beloved cat, Chairman Meow, perfectly cool even as my old dog Eli chews on his head. Amongst a perfect species, Chairman was the most perfect specimen, ergo the most perfect being ever to exist.

Thank you! The saddest thing is I don’t even have a cat now, ever since my beloved Chairman Meow (Figure 1) passed away. Family allergies mean we couldn’t get another one so I’m stuck with a dog, who is lovely but so evolutionary pliable that it’s frankly embarrassing.

Love that this interview is making people laugh! Of course as a scientist, I don’t think perfection is a biologically realistic concept, but, if it were, surely cats are our best example of it. Not least because cats couldn’t care less if we think they are perfect or not & I worship them for it!

“Cats have nailed one thing so well that they all do it and just come up with slightly different sizes. They're not jacks-of-all-trades; they're masters of one.”

Evolutionary biologist @evoswami.bsky.social explains why 🐈‍⬛ 🐈 are perfect evolutionarily:

buff.ly/qMc1Ql6

One fine day in the Los Alamitos Formation!

I’ve asked my colleagues here who are far more knowledgeable than I. They say that Patagotitan is far more complete and has a better size estimation than Argentinasaurus, and that estimate suggests that it is bigger (and longer)

Hello from Patagonia and Patagotitan!

From balmy Brazil to a much chillier Patagonia…

That’s right! And Brasilodon next to it. Amazing preservation- they look better than a lot of modern skulls!

Catching up with our Triassic kin in Porto Alegre

Assessing the application of landmark-free morphometrics to macroevolutionary analyses - BMC Ecology and Evolution The study of phenotypic evolution has been transformed in recent decades by methods allowing precise quantification of anatomical shape, in particular 3D geometric morphometrics. While this effectiven...

Thrilled to share my second PhD paper with @tomezard.bsky.social & @evoswami.bsky.social focused on the application of landmark-free geometric morphometrics! 🎉 Excited to contribute to advancing shape analysis techniques in biology. Check it out here: doi.org/10.1186/s128...

#globalindian #anjaligoswami #womeninstem #scienceforchange… | Global Indian What started with a childhood tiger sighting in India has now led her to the UK govt as Chief Scientific Adviser at Defra. From decoding the past to guiding climate action, she’s bringing deep-time th...

I absolutely love that this new article about my appointment as DEFRA chief science adviser managed to squeeze in my obsession with Zelda! 🧝‍♀️🗡️🎮

www.linkedin.com/posts/global...

Thanks, Nick!

New Chief Scientific Adviser appointed Professor Anjali Goswami becomes Defra’s new Chief Scientist

Exciting times ahead!

www.gov.uk/government/n...

How Genetics Explain Tigers and Secure Their Future How cutting edge genomics is being applied to one of the most charismatic carnivores on earth.

Come join us @linneansociety.bsky.social Monday, April 7 at 6pm for a fascinating talk by world-renowned tiger expert Prof Uma Ramakrishnan from @ncbsbangalore.bsky.social as she tells us about how cutting-edge genomics is helping to save wild tigers in India!

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-geneti...

A very mature sourdough starter

When 100 years old you reach, look this good you will not

My single favourite wildlife photo from our trip to Galápagos has to be this marine iguana sneezing out salt - such an elegant and glamorous adaptation to their unusual lifestyle!

I had the immense privilege to visit the Galápagos Islands last summer and see thousands of marine and land iguanas up close, even swimming with some and watching them feed underwater.

A specimen of a Galápagos marine iguana ready to be CT scanned

We’re micro-CT scanning iguanas today to better understand the evolution of the incredible adaptations of the Galapagos marine iguanas. Some of the specimens in our collection were collected by Darwin himself! 150 years later, they are still contributing new knowledge about the natural world.

So excited to see this paper finally out! Part of the Paleobiology 50th anniversary issue, we cover the history of the field, morphometrics, morphospaces, new approaches to evolutionary models & disparity, incorporating climate, the importance of fossils & more. Check it out! doi.org/10.1017/pab....

Fantastic thread pulling the very standard, well-established mouse science out from behind the PR curtain of mammoth de-extinction.

My so cool kid, immersed in a random sci-fi book plucked off the shelf in a lovely wine and cheese bar in Ghent

How is my 8yo already cooler than I ever will be?

My kid on a climbing wall in an old church

Brussels sure has some pretty impressive climbing gyms

Congratulations to @jimalkhalili.bsky.social for receiving the #DarwinDayLecture Medal! @evoswami.bsky.social awarded Jim for 'Transforming our understanding of unusual atomic nuclei with groundbreaking theoretical models, shedding light on the complex structures of matter...'

Nerd joke. Mini crossword with “what U stands for in OU” hint

Does anyone know how to abbreviate Uhlenbeck to 5 letters for today’s @nytimes.com mini crossword?

#nerdjokes

The story of the human brain, with Jim Al-Khalili | The Darwin Day Lecture 2025

This Friday evening, join @jimalkhalili.bsky.social and
@evoswami.bsky.social for the #DarwinDayLecture 2025, on the 700-million-year story of the human brain – the most remarkable and mysterious object in the cosmos! humanists.uk/events/darwi...

Our inspiring authors roadshow started last week at Southmead Primary School with the incredible palaeontologist and author Anjali Goswami @evoswami.bsky.social This would not be possible without the support of @JuliaRTrust

#everychildareader #author #authorvisit #literacy #lovereading #lovebooks