Natalie Cooper

Imagine a human being sitting on their ass with their arms on their hips such that their fingers are facing each other near their crotch. Now cover it with cream fur, change the arms and feet into pink and then nails about 3 inches long and sharp. Make two holes for the nose, and put a literal msmiley on its face. The text above it reads: drawing of a three tote sloth by English naturalist and more mythologist George Edwards 1709 to 1773. Below is the curator's comments from the British Museum: This drawing is probably related to the etching (dated October 2nd 1758) made by George Edwards in his ‘Gleanings of Natural History’, volume II, plate 310, where he wrote: “The specimen from which I drew [this likeness] was a stuffed skin, set up in the attitude represented by the figure. [...] This animal was brought from Honduras in America, and I believe is found all over those parts of South America, that are not many degrees distant from the equinoctial line. It was the property of the late Lord Peter [i.e. Petre].” It is also probable that the naturalist Peter Collinson refers to this drawing in a letter to Sir Hans Sloane dated 20 June 1734, which Sloane received in his capacity as President of the Royal Society, and in which Collinson wrote: “I Presum’d It might not be unacceptable to You & the Rest of the Gent[leme]n [i.e. of the Royal Society] to see a Sloth. It is well preserv’d. It came last from Jamaica but I conclude it is no Native of that Island because not mentioned in yr Natural History. Mr Edwards has taken a Draught of it.” [This letter is referenced in Arthur MacGregor, ‘The natural history correspondence of Sir Hans Sloane’, Archives of Natural History 22 (1995), p87, however MacGregor gives no indication in which manuscript of Sloane’s correspondence in the British Library the letter is contained.] Source: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_SL-5261-28

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YouTube video by Natural History Museum Josh quizzes us on the colours of nature | The 'Perfect' Specimen Ep21

New episode today is COLOURFUL! With apologies from @nhcooper123.bsky.social that since recording this one of the papers she talked about has been retracted! Sponge wars continues m.youtube.com/watch?v=O_DN... 🧽 📕 🐸 🪸

I also remember this talk and it was indeed excellent!

Doctor Strangelove now reads like a subdued masterpiece of the subtle mimetic.

International Women’s Day: Activism in Action This International Women’s Day, join Amnesty Feminists (Amnesty UK) for an energising, practical, and community-driven afternoon.

I will be taking part in this event on 7th March with @amnestyfeminist.bsky.social - tickets here

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/internatio...

In the Aftermath of Empire In the Aftermath of Empire - Coloniality, Gender, and Sexuality; In the Aftermath of Empire explores the impact of colonial law on gendered subjects in Ireland, India, and Pakistan, focusing on queer ...

Coming in November from @brisunipress.bsky.social, In the Aftermath of Empire explores the impact of British imperialism on gender and sexuality law in four jurisdictions.

Please tell your libraries to pre-order!

bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/in-the-after...

Thanks Mike! It’s all thanks to the very talented ECRs who wrote the sections :)

A novel approach to quantifying mammal locomotor repertoires using scoring and cluster analysis Abstract. Describing behaviour using qualitative categories is a staple of studies on tetrapod functional morphology, ecology and evolution. However, such

New paper out! The first from @osteosophia.bsky.social 's PhD - a new (hopefully more objective) way for categorising locomotor repertoires. With @eloygl.bsky.social @livevobiomech.bsky.social and Laura Fitton: royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

#notallseaotters

lol yeah. Though all the galleries are getting a refresh over the next 10 years so enjoy it while you can!

Haha sorry about that!

I believe papers about extinct charismatic vertebrates should be held to the same publishing standards and norms as other taxonomic groups. It's objectively bizarre that papers describing a single species gets published in Science/Nature as if that's considered of broad paleobiological significance

I have since learned it should be hackathon as all one word. Tune in for more pearls of wisdom like this 🤣

If you're in Oxford, come along!
If you're not, tune in!

In defence of this, we don’t usually use common names in species rich stuff like bats so I’ve never called it this (they were part of my PhD thesis). But, the genus it belongs to is commonly called tailless bats, but this species has a tail. Hence the name. It’s not trying to be annoying. Poor 🦇😂

I just did the dumbest thing of my entire career to prove a much more serious point.

I tricked ChatGPT and Google, and made them tell other users I’m a competitive hot-dog-eating world champion

People are using this trick on a massive scale to make AI tell you lies. I’ll explain how I did it

This was so much fun, thanks again for doing it!

Timeline cleanse: Scruffers is off meth, out of rehab, and ready to start a new life!

Henbane. A dried plant specimen with pale whitish flowers and green spiky leaves, flattened and stuck to card

Small firefly beetle pinned in a box with a label underneath it with information about the species and location it was found. Beetle has a brown body, yellow head and long antennae.

A shiny bee. Bee is iridescent blue and pinned in a drawer. Wings are sticking out and are brown.

Close up of two very flat flatworms in a jar. They are dark on top and light brown underneath and about 3mm thick.

Specimens for this week!

Should have said the word was SEDUCTIVE! 🥰

YouTube video by Natural History Museum Did witches ride broomsticks? Our guest explains why we might think so | The 'Perfect' Specimen Ep20

A belated Valentines themed podcast which was so much fun with the inimitable @nhcooper123.bsky.social and @joshlukedavis.com m.youtube.com/watch?v=2qNL... 🧙‍♀️ 🧹 Caution: do not take lessons in seduction from a scientist 🤓

Wishing everyone a propitious start into a prosperous, successful and happy year of the horse!

A picture of Worf from TNG with a canary’s head. There’s a space background.

Canary Worf.

Coral background with faint heart illustrations. A glossy male Blackbird with a bright yellow bill faces left. Large title reads: “Birds as bad exes*” Smaller text reads: “*Yes, you read that right.”

Happy Valentine’s Day, from us to you. Tag your exes. Xoxox

Happy birthday to Charles Darwin,
patron saint of tired scientists, grumpy fieldworkers, and hating your own manuscript.

🤔Looking to make your #code more #reproducible? Check out our new and improved guide to Reproducible Code! 🧪🌍️

Find it here👇️
buff.ly/10TeNok

@nhcooper123.bsky.social
@britishecologicalsociety.org

I am however brutally honest about the success rates and time required to put one together. Moving forwards I might have to be more selective (likely based on research fit rather than a guess about success likelihood) as helping with 4 really killed my ability to do anything much else last August.

Good Qs. Honestly no filtering. I’ve been really lucky to be approached by people with great research ideas. Massively variable CVs. I’d be wary if people contacted me less than 2 months to the deadline as it’s a long, involved application. But if they have time and a good idea I’m happy to try.

Haha no it’s NHM for sure, our success rate is generally higher than average. It’s easy to justify why people need to be here if they want to use collections. Also helps that I can train taxon experts in quantitative skills and they can provide taxon specific expertise so skill exchange is clear.