Niels de Winter

Hominins on Sulawesi during the Early Pleistocene - Nature Early Pleistocene artefacts at Calio suggest that Sulawesi was populated by hominins at around the same time as Flores, if not earlier.

Wow! I wonder how much more we can learn about our collective human journey in this wildly interesting part of the world.
doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Fate of the last female great auk is finally solved DNA and historical sleuthing have traced the extinct bird’s remains to a museum in Ohio

Such a sad story, but good that it can be told in full in museums now.
doi.org/10.1126/scie...

Recent and early 20th century destabilization of the subpolar North Atlantic recorded in bivalves Clams reveal North Atlantic destabilization in the early 20th century and at present.

Clam shells as indicators of Atlantic Ocean stability: Very interesting study using growth increment width and isotopic composition in long-living shells to document changes in the AMOC and North Atlantic circulation over the last 150 years. doi.org/10.1126/scia...

How to find the papers you need to read — and avoid the ones you don’t With thousands of papers being published everyday, it can be a task working out which matter. Here are some tips to help you decide.

Loved this article with tips on how to stay up to date on the scientific literature. I, myself, am still an avid user of e-mail alerts (first option discussed), which is how I found this one ;)
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

Make trains great again — for the sake of people and the planet As railways enter their third century of service, research must support their renaissance for more-sustainable travel that supports human development.

Yes, this! We need more affordable and denser railway networks! The true costs of building these (when taking into account all the benefits, not just direct ones) easily make it worth the investment.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Classic Maya response to multiyear seasonal droughts in Northwest Yucatán, Mexico Stalagmite record reveals 1- to 13-year droughts in NW Yucatán from 871 to 1021 CE, a time of profound Maya cultural change.

Very nice high-resolution #paleoclimate reconstruction study showing climate impact on ancient Mayan civilization.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Mammoths in Mexico? Huge bone trove reveals giant beasts thrived in warmth, too Fossils found while building airport contain first mammoth DNA from tropical location

Mammoths in Mexico! How did I not hear about this amazing locality before?
www.science.org/content/arti...

Two-billion-year transitional oxygenation of the Earth’s surface - Nature A 2.5-billion-year record of oxygen isotopes in sedimentary sulfate reveals the transitional oxygenation of the Earth’s surface and provides constraints on the dynamic, lengthy co-oxygenation of Earth...

Amazing study showing how Earth's oceans and atmosphere become (more) oxygenated over a timespan of 2 billion years by analyzing ancient sulphur isotope ratios in sediments!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Southern Hemisphere tree rings as proxies to reconstruct Southern Ocean upwelling Abstract. The Southern Ocean plays a key role in regulating global climate and acting as a carbon sink. This region, defined as south of 35° S, is accountable for 40 % of all oceanic anthropogenic CO2...

Lovely new paper in @egubg.bsky.social on the use of tree rings in the southern hemisphere as proxy records for Southern Ocean upwelling: bg.copernicus.org/articles/22/...

Proud to be on this publication in GCA by Barbora Krizova et al. We show #clumped #isotope reordering in #Cretaceous rudist bivalves is location-specific. Understanding burial history is essential for selecting shell material for #paleoclimate #reconstructions. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Very cool study documenting global #sealevel fluctuations over the past ~550 million years based on #ice sheet #models, #astronomical forcing and #geological evidence
doi.org/10.1016/j.ep...

Working from home is great in moderation. Doing so as we speak and it does wonders for your productivity if you can be efficient with "time blocking".
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Onset of extensive human fire use 50,000 y ago | PNAS Fire is a pivotal aspect of human involvement in the carbon cycle. However, the precise timing of the large-scale human fire use remains uncertain....

Cool study dating the onset of widespread use of #fire by human cultures in east Asia
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Ancient wooden tools show human ancestors ate their veggies Found in China, 300,000-year-old digging sticks reveal a lost technology

“Our narratives about past diets focus really heavily on stories about hunting and meat-eating. It’s nice to get more and more archaeological data to push back against the ‘man the hunter’ narrative.”
www.science.org/content/arti...

Should grant applicants judge competitors’ proposals? Unorthodox approach gets two real-world tests Distributed peer review enlists more researchers in the process, but some may lack expertise

Our funding organization in the Netherlands #NWO uses Distributed Peer Review for one of its smaller schemes and I am enthusiastic! It is quite motivating to be part of the review process and the use of two proposal groups means you don't judge direct competitors.
www.science.org/content/arti...

Phylogeochemistry: exploring evolutionary constraints on belemnite rostrum element composition Abstract. The biogenic carbonate hard parts of a large range of marine organisms are among the most important geochemical archives of Earth's climate dynamics through time and the evolution of life. T...

Please check out this exciting innovative contribution @egubg.bsky.social by Alexander Pohle and co-authors using the #chemical composition of the rostra (internal skeletons) of #belemnites to reconstruct taxonomic relationships and #evolution.
bg.copernicus.org/articles/22/...

Corals feel the water chemistry: trace elements in coral skeletons reflect accurately their seawater chemistry, biological and geochemical implications The incorporation of trace and minor elements into coral skeletons and the underlying chemical and biological processes that govern them, are highly r…

Pretty neat study by Ram and Erez using culturing experiments to show linear growth rate dependences of #trace #element partitioning into #coral skeletons with interesting recommendations for applications of trace element #proxies
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Detection of dietary stress and geophagic behaviour forced by dry seasons in Miocene Gomphotherium Abstract. To access the impact of anthropogenic emissions and land use change on Earth’s climate and biodiversity, studies into the environment and ecology of natural ecosystems during past warm perio...

Check out our nice new #preprint @egubg.bsky.social about using #trace #element records through #gomphothere and #elephant teeth to reconstruct dietary patterns and identify geophagy (eating of soil) behavior in the geological past.
egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/20...

Effects of mineralogy on Δ47 and Δ48 of carbonate-derived CO2 below analytical resolution Due to the lack of direct methods capable of determining the abundance of isotopologues containing multiple heavy isotopes within the crystal lattice,…

The #clumped #isotope paleo temperature proxy is one of the most reliable means of temperature reconstruction in #geology. This new study shows that it can be applied equally on various carbonate minerals (calcite, aragonite, dolomite, witherite and siderite).

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Extremely positive δ13C and subsurface CO2 phase separation isotope fractionation Extremely positive δ13C is found in calcite veins for the first time in the Huangqiao CO2-gas reservoir, eastern China, with 13C-enriched values as hi…

Interesting study describing the process of CO2 gas-liquid separation as a mechanism for carbon isotope fractionation in mature carbonates:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Living on the edge: Response of rudist bivalves (Hippuritida) to hot and highly seasonal climate in the low-latitude Saiwan site, Oman Abstract. Earth’s climate history serves as a natural laboratory for testing the effect of warm climates on the biosphere. The Cretaceous period featured a prolonged greenhouse climate characterized b...

Check out our latest #preprint in which we use a combination of #clumped and #oxygen #isotope measurements to reconstruct extreme summer temperatures experienced by #fossil #rudist bivalves from the Late #Cretaceous in Oman. All feedback is welcome!
egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/20...

Miocene marine vertebrate trophic ecology reveals megatooth sharks as opportunistic supercarnivores Trophic interactions play pivotal roles in marine vertebrate ecology and evolution. Yet, these parameters are especially difficult to determine in fos…

I remember Jeremy McCormack presenting this nice #zinc #isotope dataset @egu.eu this year showing how #Miocene sharks had diverse roles in the marine foodweb. Great study, glad to see it found a nice home in EPSL!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Yeah me too, although the animals are more "complex", meaning the climate/environmental signal can be harder to extract (if that's the goal). Also, vertebrate teeth are of course harder to work on for destructive analysis and harder to sample (this study used SIMS, which is not available everywhere)

Primate teeth are good proxies for understanding past water inputs and seasonality How the isotopic composition of the teeth of slow-growing primates (including humans) reflects the environmental water supply is still poorly understo…

Pretty cool study showing that #isotope #analyses in #primate #teeth can be used to reconstruct the #season of birth and changes in the #hydrology in the animal's environment.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Science’s ‘Gollum effect’: PhDs bear brunt of territorial behaviour Survey respondents at all career stages report colleagues engaging in territorial and possessive behaviours — but early-career researchers are most often affected.

New study in #Nature reveals the 'Gollum effect': nearly half of surveyed scientists report territorial behaviors—data hoarding, gatekeeping—mostly during #PhD. Early-career researchers bear the brunt; 1 in 5 left academia as a result.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
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Spatial biases in oxygen-based Phanerozoic seawater temperature reconstructions Stable oxygen isotopes (δ18O) are routinely used to reconstruct sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) in the geological past, with mineral δ18O values refle…

This phenomenal study by Alexandre Pohl and colleagues investigates in a very comprehensive way how estimates of the #oxygen #isotope composition of seawater bias our #climate reconstructions, one of the most important uncertainties in #paleoclimate research.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New model for estimating trophic position in mammalian carnivores based on bone collagen individual amino acids nitrogen stable isotopes Trophic position, or the level occupied by an organism in the food chain, is a key characteristic for understanding its role in the recent or past eco…

Amino acid-specific #isotope analysis is really shaping up like a very promising tool for #paleo #ecology and #environmental studies!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Ten years of Tridacna sclerochemistry at up to daily resolution from a controlled aquarium environment – Records of habitat change, induced seasonality and growth variability Giant clams such as Tridacna sp., with their rapid shell accretion (mm-cm/year), decade-long lifespans and aragonitic shells, are invaluable (palaeo)e…

Fascinating study on a #giantclam that was kept in the Dutch @burgerszoo.bsky.social aquarium for a decade and recorded changes in it's (semi)controlled environment in its shell. These types of growth experiments allow us to use shells as archives of past change
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A key to seasonal shellfish exploitation: Elemental mapping of Mg/Ca ratios in Lutruwita (Tasmania) Cellana limpets The littoral environment has considerable influence on life history traits and patterns of growth in marine molluscs due to changes in water temperatu…

More cool #proxy development enabling the use of #limpet #shells as #archives for #climate, #environmental and human behavioral change on #archaeology timescales
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...