Made this graph of the high temperature in Chicago over the last 50 days. Mean is 57.3 and the s.d. was 15.4. Not sure how this compares to the usual this time of year, but it the swings feel more extreme than usual.
NSF GRFP awards just announced: www.research.gov/grfp/Awardee....
Nice to see that the overall numbers are back up, but only one award in paleontology (7 honorable mentions). No awards, one honorable mention for sedimentary geology.
Loved the first two
I appreciate the dedication to Joanne Kluessendorf. I let her husband (Don Mikulic) know about it.
Just finished.Excellent paper. Very interested to see the presence of arsenic. Currently working on the Mazon Creek sea cucumber ("Achistrum") and have found arsenic in its preserved body.
Looking forward to reading the paper! Glanced at Pohlsepia when we did our Essexella paper and was confused by it. Did you look at the fossil described by Allison in 1987?
Was approached by "Example 2." Then the alarm bells went off.
Be aware. lits.mtholyoke.edu/news/2026-03...
Eocene belemnites?! *Fascinating* identification of these in Hungarian marine rocks. Would be curious to hear from those who know the clade better than I do.
The are so cute!
Search-and-rescue crews were “flying blind” trying to rescue survivors from deadly tornadoes that hit the Midwest last week.
Why? Because Kristi Noem hadn't approved FEMA’s $200,000 contract with a tornado-tracking tool.
But she had time to spend $220 million on anti-immigrant ads. Priorities.
Will be at the rally on Chicago
Fantastic news
Very proud of the @paleosoc.bsky.social for advocating a safer & more welcoming community for all paleontologists
Looks like a Geological Enterprises label
Limulus and trail. Florida.
Joining the "We're horseposting post your horses."
Limulus and trail. Florida.
Dowding, E.M., Dunne, E.M., Collins, K.S. et al. The billion-dollar case for sustaining palaeontology’s digital databases. Nat Ecol Evol (2026). doi.org/10.1038/s415...
About NSF GRFP's being rejected without peer review:
[from submitted info to Grant Witness]
"12 RWRs as involving ecology, six in cell biology, five in psychology, four in neuroscience, and 14 in other subfields of biology"
www.science.org/content/arti...
True fact: the ice age ended 11,700 years ago. Some people have not gotten the message.
One marched down our Oak Park block at couple of hours ago. In 7 degree weather!!! Good on them,
Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below!
Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage
Otherlands
The concept of "cognition" if fraught for even recent animals. See the 11/25 issues of Natural History on "What's in the Head of Singing Whales."
Same in Illinois
Whatever one thinks of the attack on Venezuela, you have to admire the skill and strategic precision of the military forces that stormed Madura's fortress and so effectively removed the Epstein Files from the headlines.
May his memory be for a blessing
