It's that time of year again.

The flounder effect: disparities in taxonomic and ecological study intensity across extant and fossil marine organisms hamper conservation - npj Biodiversity npj Biodiversity - The flounder effect: disparities in taxonomic and ecological study intensity across extant and fossil marine organisms hamper conservation

Excited to present the flounder effect - how our biases in sampling and worker effort impact our view of organisms.

A long term collaboration with @fossilsndcoffee.bsky.social, @bigfacecats.bsky.social, Jon Hendricks, and Curtis Congreve!

#FossilFriday ⚒️🧪

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

A drawing of a tulip. It has been labeled petunia, but that’s been crossed out and “tulip” written under it.

I fixed it

A picture of a tulip. It is labeled petunia.

Who put this here this is a biology program.

Augh I was wrong, and that’s why I deleted my previous comment. I have info on Rhizoprionodon. Still—I can help. Still PM me if you’d like and we can put our heads together.

Orange Boy, a large orange tabby cat, looms over the camera. His green eyes are wide and vacant and his mouth is faintly agape, giving him a particularly derpy expression. He is blurry because he was coming to doof the camera.

To reiterate: OB has no brain at all.

I should add that there was also a sticker that said “Our lord and savior Jesus Chris”, which made me absolutely cackle.

A sticker with pretty flowers that says “You need simply watch the punishment of the wicked you will see. Psalm 91.8.” It feels like a threat.

I have a colleague who mentors the catholic club on our campus and they ordered some cheap stickers for an event. They got what they paid for. This feels like a threat… maybe I should go through them with her at some point and look for more bible stickers with threatening auras.

Orange boy sometimes likes to creep me out by sleeping with his eyes open. And snoring. On top of Big Boy’s head, too, because why not.

Big Boy, a black and white tuxedo cat, is asleep (probably) next to Orange Boy, an orange tabby cat, who is looking at the camera with an absolutely vacant expression. There is clearly not a brain cell to be had in his sweet big head.

I haven’t posted anything for a while sorry guys yes my cats are still big and in love with each other.

A view of a fossil horseshoe crab preserving the entire animal in a cream-coloured rock. The head is unusually long and has a dark stain running around its edge. Closeup views of the dark stain show little round eggs preserved inside it.

New paper out online in Geology @geosociety.bsky.social for #FossilFriday with @bigfacecats.bsky.social, @thomashegna.bsky.social and Ron Meyer. We describe an unusual horseshoe crab from the Ordovician of Michigan which preserves the ovaries with developing eggs! 🧪⚒️ 🧵[1/7]

doi.org/10.1130/G533...

Alt text (because it posted it before I could add alt text?!): Big Boy, a black and white tuxedo cat with a big head and a small face, blinks his yellow-amber eyes slowly at the camera and purrs loudly as a disembodied hand pets him once or twice.

Enjoy ten seconds of Big Boy purring. #purring

Update: we have successfully put out the tree with more fire.

An image of David's "The Death of Socrates", over which is emblasoned the caption "What is the charge? Eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal?"

Is this anything?

Just heard the news that Richard Fortey has passed away.

As well as his science he did a lot for popukarising arthropod research in his books. Reading his autobiography (A Curious Boy) really made me reflect on my own pathway into science and highlighted the different opportunities people get.

I want to make it clear that I have liked this just for the alt text.

Orange Boy is an orange tabby. He is staring directly at the camera. His right ear is damaged in a way that makes the top half of it flip backwards, and his left ear has a TNR tip in it. His nose his pink. His eyes are green-gold and completely blank. He has no brain. His face is SO ROUND.

R O U N D

Ichnntaxonomy is a fuck, and I’m really glad someone is tackling the behavioral interpretation as well as the meat of the taxonomy!

This paper is really a great paper for a number of reasons but one of the big ones *is* this figure.

A screenshot of a comment in a word document by a reviewer, which just says "what is a mech?".

This might be the best reviewer comment I have ever received. 🧪

Orange Boy, a large orange tabby cat, is snuggled against Big Boy, a large black and white tuxedo cat. OB has his head against Big Boy’s side, and Big Boy has his against one of OB’s paws. It looks like they’re holding hands. They are so in love.

They love each other so very much.

A syllabus for a class titled “Natural History of the Vertebrates”, only it overprinted a handout titled “The Selfishness of Self-Care”, from a publication with the title “Self-care for Department Chairs and Faculty Members”. The overplay of words from the syllabus and handout makes it impossible to read and gives a subtly disturbing “House of Leaves” or Zalgo impression…

Y’all I think God is trying to tell me something.

Orange Boy, a large orange tabby, is lying on someone’s chest, facing the camera.

Important update re: OB’s dental. I am forgiven.

A couple years back OB had to get 3/4 canines removed all at once. The fourth one’s getting really worn down, but not bad enough to extract yet…

OB, bless his heart, cannot figure out churu. He bites the sides of the package XD I put it on a little plate for him.

I’ll add that my vet is extremely good about trying not to stress my boys out when they visit. Typically OB gets gabapentin before his visits to help calm him down before routine visits but, given that he was getting sedated, I didn’t want to go that route this time.

I should add that OB was especially spicy at the vet. He let them do the pre-anesthesia bloodwork and x-rays OK, but when it came time to shave him for the IV catheter, he got so spicy that they had to put him in the special chill-out box. lol so orange.

Orange Boy, a big orange tabby, sits with a vacant stare and his tongue sticking out. He can see time, thanks to the drugs the vet gave him for his dental. There is also some junk around him because I haven’t been able to be arsed to clean my living room and get rid of Christmas packing stuff. (Also the box in the foreground is for the cats.)

I’ve been avoiding social media except to post daily cat timeline cleanses, I should start doing that here. OB had a tooth extracted yesterday and ended up sitting like this in my living room for upwards of 20 minutes last night. He was still very stoned.

You know what they say, "Never going in against a caecilian when milk is on the line" or ... something like that