Matt Sponheimer

Eighteen million years of diverse enamel proteomes from the East African Rift - Nature The isolation of dental proteins from fossils deposited 1.5 million to 18 million years ago in the Turkana Basin in Kenya, a tropical region, demonstrate the promise of dental enamel for palaeoproteom...

Two great new studies out in @nature.com today, pushing back the recovery of dental enamel proteins to 21+ million years in the Arctic (www.nature.com/articles/s41...) and 18+ million years in East Africa (www.nature.com/articles/s41...).

Dinner with Lucy: what does Paranthropus boisei bring to the table? Les découvertes récentes ont conduit à une transformation de notre réflexion sur les régimes alimentaires des premiers hominines. Plus particulièrement, l’étude de l’usure dentaire microsc...

This was fun to write. People will probably hate it! sciencepress.mnhn.fr/fr/periodiqu...

I live rent free in Joe Rogan's head. Today marks the 10th JRE episode he's mentioned me on. But he won't have me back on. He's allergic to real evidence

The Aftermath of Speaking to Graham Hancock on Joe Rogan has now been ported over to Spotify. open.spotify.com/episode/7rMV...

A male Denisovan mandible from Pleistocene Taiwan Denisovans are an extinct hominin group defined by ancient genomes of Middle to Late Pleistocene fossils from southern Siberia. Although genomic evidence suggests their widespread distribution through...

Incredibly proud that our paper on the #palaeoproteomics analysis of the Penghu mandible, led by @tsutatsuta.bsky.social and in collaboration with Chun-Hsiang Chang, Enrico Cappellini and co, is out now in
@science.org! doi.org/10.1126/scie...

Wild how the minute the “liberal arts degrees are a waste of time” people get a hold of the government they immediately start doing the stuff a liberal arts degree teaches you not to do because it ruins civilization.

A blue Tesla Model 3 has been crushed by an Olmec statue. A man with long black braids leans against the hood of the car with his arms crossed, staring down the camera.

Tesla Model 3 crushed by an Olmec statue
By Mexican sculptor @chavismarmol.bsky.social

The Brains Blog By Jonathan Birch (See the other posts in this series here!) Part I: Cognitive neuroscience as usual?  In politics, the ‘Overton window’ is the range of positions that can safely r…

I feel like my 2023 blog posts on this have aged well. The debate has got a lot angrier since then but the underlying issues haven't really changed. philosophyofbrains.com/2023/09/11/c...

Summary of methodological and analytical variables applied to the three different sets of sample material discussed. Each coloured background represents differences in variables: in green, sampling; blue, acid etching approach; yellow, MS instrument; purple, timsTOF run length.

So pleased to see Charlotte Blacka's first 1st author paper: innovation was to use tims-TOF #MS for rapid sex estimation method based on amelogenin #palaeoproteomics. At <20min per sample (including prep all the way to data processing), this enables far higher sample numbers: doi.org/10.1002/rcm....

It’s amazing to find out at this late date how much the rule of law depended on people simply deciding, on a voluntary, daily basis, not to break the law.

“Of Health Care, Birthright Citizenship, and the New Politics of Legal Scholarship,” with @anthonymkreis.bsky.social.
www.dorfonlaw.org/2025/03/of-h...

His seminal work on oxygen isotopes in calcified tissues alone was impressive, but he did much more. While v genial, he was not afraid to speak his mind. Some of us vividly recall him banging the desk at a meeting in Paris & proclaiming “This is notta science, its‘a fairy story”

For isotope geochemists out there-

Just heard the sad news that Professor Antonio Longinelli, one of THE great 20th C isotope geochemists passed away yesterday. He was almost 95 and still on the button.

Genetically engineered woolly mouse is a step toward resurrecting extinct mammoth, company says | CNN Scientists working to bring back the woolly mammoth have created genetically engineered mice that they say have several features of the extinct ice age giant.

I expected this CNN article would be sensationalistic. I appreciate the range of experts quoted with different views.

“you are only ever going to create a crude approximation of any extinct creature, based on an incomplete idea of what it should look like”

edition.cnn.com/2025/03/04/s...

This week's seminar: Matt Sponheimer ( @msponheimer.bsky.social
) on "“Dinner with Lucy: what does Paranthropus boisei bring to the table” Thurs Feb 6th 3:30 pm PST, SWH9152 SFU Burnaby, or online on zoom:https://buff.ly/3EqamGs .

Yep. Just enjoying the vibes.

Jeff Bezos never wanted this cartoon to become public.

He killed it, and as a result, pulitzer prize editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes quit.

Make sure everyone sees this cartoon.

If you're putting together new Biological Anthropology courses this year, help yourself to my syllabuses so you don't have to reinvent the wheel. They're textbook-free and link to many assignments lawnchairanthropology.com/teaching/

www.salon.com/2024/11/29/c...