MSU Department of Anthropology < ANTHROPOLOGY • Follow 2h • 0 ... The Department of Anthropology is saddened to announce that former anthropology department chair Lynne Goldstein passed away yesterday. Goldstein (PhD Northwestern 1976) moved to MSU from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. She served as MSU department chair from fall 1996 through summer 2006 and retired in August 2018. Lynne was founding director of the Campus Archaeology Program (CAP), which was named one of the winners of the 2017 Governor's Awards for Historic Preservation in recognition of people and organizations who have preserved Michigan's vital historic and cultural resources. She served as the editor of American Antiquity, the journal published by the Society for American Archaeology, and received numerous awards from that organization, including the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. Lynne was also a 1992 recipient of a President's Award for Exceptional Service to the Profession by the American Anthropological Association. She is best known for her contributions to mortuary studies, as well as her work in Illinois, Wisconsin and in the Great Lakes region, particularly at the Aztalan site. The department sends its heartfelt condolences to Lynne's family and those who knew her best.

Photo of Lynne Goldstein

This is sad. Lynne Goldstein was an amazing archaeologist and formidable mentor. RIP 🏺🧪

Excited to attend the ribbon-cutting for the next segment of California’s solar canal initiative later this month in Hickman. Imagine generating solar power over 4,000 miles or so canals across the state. A lot of Sierra and Colorado River water to save via avoided evaporation.

Sitting here crying while after getting WhatsApped the photo on the right, so let me tell you a little story about how we got here from the photo on the left and why repatriation research matters!

I want a "conference" where every academic cooks a dish for everyone and we all talk about our work casually while cooking. People can sous chef for each other. We eat and talk about our work in progress. You submit an abstract and a recipe.

My husband found a "Flight of the Navigator" dvd in a little free library, so that's what's on, this Saturday night.

I loved that movie as a kid. Our neighbors had it on vhs and we watched it all the time 💙

There’s also one in Eugene, Oregon! 1:1 billion scale and three miles long. I think it’s the largest model on the west coast. 🪐

"History will judge-" let me stop you right fucking there, history doesn't do fucking shit, I'm a historian, let's be clear here: elected officials need to do their fucking jobs, right now, before it happens, or future historians will judge THEM. Everyone knows and knew who Trump was.

A botanist searches for the seeds of the rare Death Valley Sage For more than 15 years, botanist Naomi Fraga has been trying to collect seeds from the rare Death Valley sage, for safekeeping in a vault of native California seeds.

I have been hiding in the desert, clamoring on rocks while taking tips from lizards on the best way to collect seeds from the Death Valley Sage. @npr.org came along for the ride and it was amazing.

www.npr.org/sections/the...

A few have suggested that some aspects of this mission--joy, international teamwork, diversity--are being played up to stick it to the hateful attitude of the administration. But I don't think it's that. I think it's just that those things are essential to and inseparable from a mission like this.

Crescent view of Earth. NASA/Artemis II/Kevin M. Gill

Crescent Earth as viewed by the Artemis II crew yesterday (April 4th).

flic.kr/p/2s5Z9yc

It feels weird when I promote my stuff but here we go

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Last vacation
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For all of anthropology

It’s amazing though how many people underestimate the a) size and dryness of JTNP; b) how much water each person actually needs; and c) there really are ZERO services/stores

A deadly bacterial disease is returning, doctors warn, as vaccination rates fall Hib once killed 1,000 children a year, permanently disabling many more. Doctors who've never seen the disease say the comeback is changing the way they practice medicine.

“The last night I was a pediatric resident, a child came in with Hib and promptly died by the next day. I didn’t work for 50 years to have everything destroyed by one man.”

-Dr. Kathryn Edwards, Vanderbilt University

This is what RFK Jr. and the anti-vaxxers have wrought.

I invite everyone to take a stroll through any historic cemetery and read the headstones. Many include their age and cause of death, and you’ll see waves of outbreaks of measles/influenza/diphtheria written in stone (for the wealthy). For the poor, unmarked graves of potter’s fields silent underfoot

This is a list of (some) locations that tied or broke their all-time *April* monthly temperature record in March 2026 during the record-shattering heatwave. Statistically and meteorologically, that is extraordinarily hard to achieve locally--let alone across such a vast region.

It brings me some solace to know that whatever's happening down here, there are still some absolutely incredible human-made and human-driven robots wandering around Mars, looking at cool rocks and dirt and sending us pictures just because we're curious about planets and our own origins in the cosmos

Official map from NOAA depicting the relative rank of winter 2025-2026 temperatures at a county level across the contiguous U.S. Many counties in the western and central U.S. are depicted in dark red color, signifying record-warmest winter. All other counties in the west and central U.S. are depicted in dark orange colors, signifying a "near record warm" rank.

The official NOAA stats out this week confirm that winter 2025-26 was the warmest on record across a huge portion of the western and central U.S., which has contributed to extremely low mountain snowpack & worsened the CO River crisis. Meanwhile, record March heat is in forecast.

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Thanks! I asked because the fruit looks like a cute lil chili pepper but nope. 🤔 Beautiful!

I’m curious, do you know what fruit/flower is depicted in this stunning mosaic?

Not yet!! But I remain hopeful! It’s in its second spring so we’ll see 🌼

Yellow flower of a gum plant (in the sunflower family) with two native bees in the center. The bees have tiny hairs making them look fuzzy, and are covered in pollen.

Purple clusters of flowers of a Santa Cruz Island blue dicks, with a native fly dining on nectar. The fly is black with yellow stripes making it look almost like a wasp.

Image of Santa Cruz Island blue dicks plant in a planter box with a purple flower head at the top. A monarch butterfly is sipping nectar on the left side and a honey bee approaches from the right. An old 5 gallon bucket is in the background, beautiful!

Here’s some native bee/fly pics being supported by native plants: Santa Cruz Island blue dicks (Dipterostemon capitatus) flower supporting an endangered monarch and honeybee at the same time, a native fly (hence the Diptero!), and native bees on a gum plant.

A great way to support native bees and pollinators is by planting native plants. No yard? Try pots/planters! Even California natives (which can be picky about water) can work well!! I’m particularly fond of native geophytes paired with native succulents or other perennial for year-round color. 🌼

Did you know that the bees that need saving are NOT honeybees?

Honeybees are the dairy cows of bees. People brought them over from Europe to make us honey.

The problem with honeybees, esp in resource-limited ecosystems (like hey! cities!) is that they compete with our native bees for food.

NSF officials break silence on how AI and quantum now drive agency grantmaking Leaders acknowledge White House role in controversial moves

The National Science Foundation is systematically being converted to the National AI and Quantum Research Foundation.

“I see it as the administration exerting political control over what has traditionally been NSF’s ability to fund the best science.”

A sphinx moth came to slurp at a desert lily as we were watching the sunset over the Anza Borrego badlands.

In early college I would just eat off a tub (like 3 lbs) of red vines for a week or so. The texture as they “aged” just got better. So gross and so good 😂