iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr Alison Cribb @alisoncribb.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

One week to go! Don't forget to register for what is going to be an excellent day of highlighting early career research and networking. Keep your eyes peeled for the meeting programme and abstract booklet soon!

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

The GRFP announcement from NSF cuts out an entire cohort of 2nd year students from consideration, without warning. This is so deeply unfair that it warrants a formal protest from the scientific community. If someone wants to work with me to craft an open letter and solicit signatures, LMK.

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Dr Alison Cribb @alisoncribb.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

I am immensely proud of this team and happy to have been a part of it. I am even more honored that they trusted me enough to lead a small charge on some of these ideas 🥹 For those of you that find this interesting and not totally esoteric... reach out! I would love to chat ☺️

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Dr Alison Cribb @alisoncribb.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

On a personal note, this paper has been a source of scientific growth and absolute joy to work on. We started working on this when I was still in graduate school, just barely out of my qualifying exams, and it has been a huge source of inspiration for my work since we started.

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Dr Alison Cribb @alisoncribb.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

abundance, and last on geologic timescales. In the paper, we provide a number of case studies of our favorite examples, but we aren't all encompassing. There are a ton of Earth system engineers out there for us to study. 🦠🌱🌆🌍

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Dr Alison Cribb @alisoncribb.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

So, here we present a new term and framework: Earth system engineers. This describes organisms that do fall under the umbrella of ecosystem engineers, but have completely outsized impacts on their environments. Their influences are geographically widespread, often surprisingly decoupled from

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Dr Alison Cribb @alisoncribb.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

and anthropologist (no small feat!) we realized we needed something... new. Something to reflect the profound, permanent, step-change impacts on the planet that we observe from some ecosystem engineers in the rock record – and, of course, that we can directly watch among humans today.

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Dr Alison Cribb @alisoncribb.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Over the last four years, this team has been getting together to talk about ecosystem engineers on the ancient, present, and future Earth. Early on in our discussions to agree on a definition of ecosystem engineering that fit this group of palaeontologists, ecologists, geochemists,

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Prof Ian Hall @ianhall.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

🌊 >70% of W. Atlantic coral reefs will transition into net erosional states by 2040. If warming >2°C (SSP2–4.5+), 99% eroding by 2100. Sea level will rise 0.3–0.5 m above reefs by 2060, 0.7–1.2 m by 2100, boosting coastal flood risk www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Reduced Atlantic reef growth past 2 °C warming amplifies sea-level impacts - Nature

An analysis of coral reefs in the tropical western Atlantic suggests that nearly all will be eroding by 2100 if global warming exceeds 2 °C, which will worsen the effects of sea-level rise.

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Joel Pick @joelpick.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Interested in simulating the kind of data that you might commonly find in evolutionary and ecological studies? Then we have the R package for you - squidSim!! Check our new preprint: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

ecoevorxiv.org

squidSim: a flexible R package for structured and reproducible simulations in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

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Kristy Ferraro @kristymferraro.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

The bottom line: zoogeochemical niche construction offers a way to understand how animals, through their elemental legacies, can influence not just ecosystems—but their own evolutionary trajectories.

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Dr Alison Cribb @alisoncribb.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

🤩🤩🤩🤩 Absolutely cannot wait to read this!!

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Kristy Ferraro @kristymferraro.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Animals don’t just live in their environments—they transform them. And in doing so, they may also shape their own evolutionary trajectories. Our new paper in Trends in Ecology & Evolution introduces a framework for zoogeochemical niche construction. A thread 👇

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Rebecca Cooper @rebeccasaurus.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

Really happy to see chapter 2 of my PhD published today in @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social. DeepDiveR is an R package to assist with deep learning inference of biodiversity change through time 🤿🦊 Thanks to @bethanyjallen.bsky.social & Daniele Silvestro for the collaboration doi.org/10.1111/2041...

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Dr. Bethany Allen @bethanyjallen.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Ever wanted to infer a morphological or total-evidence phylogeny in BEAST2? It’s long overdue, but we now have a tutorial on Taming the BEAST to talk you through the process 💻🌳⚙️ Thanks to Joëlle Barido-Sottani for helping me pull this together! taming-the-beast.org/tutorials/To...

taming-the-beast.org

Total Evidence Tutorial

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

The #SCIMaP team announces a major update: an analysis of the economic impacts of the White House's NIH FY26 budget. Bottom-line, we estimate $46B in total economic loss, 202K lost jobs, and impacts in communities nationwide. Interactive map and shareable report: scienceimpacts.org/fy26 a 🧵

Economic loss due to NIH budget cuts by congressional district, scienceimpacts.org/fy26

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Benjamin J. Wallis @benjaminjwallis.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

This is also totally inconsistent with action on EDI issues. The more that funding for ECRs is an inconsistent boom and bust, the more it harms those without the opportunities and external resources to ride out the droughts. Lots of my peers are less fortunate than me in this regard.

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Benjamin J. Wallis @benjaminjwallis.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

The early career researchers who apply for fellowships like these are usually working on fixed term contracts without much job security. We need consistent, plannable fellowship opportunities, not mixed messages wasting our time. It shouldn't be a big ask.

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Benjamin J. Wallis @benjaminjwallis.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

So NERC have quietly announced this afternoon that they're delaying/cancelling/suspending, whatever 'not launched at this time' means, their 2025 Independent Research Fellowship round. After announcing it 34 days ago. Flip-flopping like this is really detrimental to early career researchers.

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Dr. Davey F. Wright ⛏️🦕🧬 @daveyfwright.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

Very sad to learn Richard Bambach has passed away. In addition to his significant contributions to science and the 'paleobiological revolution', I will mostly remember him as a warm and wonderful presence in our paleobiology journal club when I was a postdoc at the Smithsonian

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Dr Alison Cribb @alisoncribb.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

To be clear, as STEM educators, this is so much deeper than recruiting a diverse workforce. Having ample resources to combat this gap is key to gender equality. This, the viral “girl math” trend, trad wife and manosphere content, and financial coercion are all tightly linked

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Dr Alison Cribb @alisoncribb.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

The mathematics gender gap has incredibly damaging consequences down the line for women’s rights re financial literacy and independence. For example, you’re more likely to give control of your finances to someone else if you genuinely believe you can’t and never will understand compound interest.

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Kelly Tingle @kellyetingle.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

✨ Excited to share our new paper! ✨ Sustained shift in the morphology of organic-walled microfossils over the Ediacaran–Cambrian transition doi.org/10.1098/rsos... @royalsocietypublishing.org @rosspanderson.bsky.social @kelleypaleolab.bsky.social

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Life and Planet 2025 @lifeandplanet.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Registration for Life and Planet is now open on lifeandplanet.com! Keep an eye on your inboxes if you submitted an abstract, and watch the website for the program of talks. We are excited to see you in July!

lifeandplanet.com

Life and Planet

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James Bradley @drbradbrad.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

How can zombie microbes interact with the Earth system? 🦠🧟🌎 Microbes, even when dormant, play a massive role in shaping Earth's ecosystems & biogeochemistry 🌎 In @natcomms.nature.com I explore dormancy in the context of Earth’s geosphere-biosphere co-evolution 🧵👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Microbial dormancy as an ecological and biogeochemical regulator on Earth - Nature Communications

Dormancy enables microbes to withstand periods of environmental harshness. It occurs throughout diverse ecosystems and spans vast timescales, and could play an important role in shaping the co-ev...

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Life and Planet 2025 @lifeandplanet.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

Today is the last day to submit an abstract under the extended deadline. Don't forget! lifeandplanet.com

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Palaeoverse @palaeoverse.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

🚨Palaeoverse Lecture Series🚨 🗓️24th April 2025, 16:00 UTC🗓️ Next week’s talk is from Dr Richard Stockey @richardstockey.bsky.social from University of Southampton, on “Modelling ancient animal habitats in space and time: linking fossils and Earth system models” Register here: bit.ly/palaeoverse-...

A flyer for the Palaeoverse lecture series, featuring a cartoon geology toolkit and a photo of Dr Stockey in a brown hat and dark fleece

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

No Paris-Roubaix without a geology story! Marjolein Naudé explains in this clip how the Hell of the North froze over and made the muddy, dusty mess we all love so much! And read more in our blog: www.geo-sports.org/2024/geology... youtu.be/R00JSTLw-f0?...

youtu.be

Geology of Paris-Roubaix - When did the Hell of the North break loose?

YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events

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Life and Planet 2025 @lifeandplanet.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Missed getting your Life and Planet abstract in? Good news! The deadline is now extended up 16 April, so there’s still time to submit your abstract!

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Dr. Davey F. Wright ⛏️🦕🧬 @daveyfwright.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Speaking as a paleontologist, we don't need to bring back species long lost to extinction. Modern ecosystems are already stressed without introducing bioengineered monstrosities. Celebrate biodiversity by appreciating & conserving the endless forms most beautiful & wonderful alive in the world today

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Dr Alison Cribb @alisoncribb.bsky.social · 06/04/2025

✅ 13.1 to finish off The Big Week Of Scaries

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Life and Planet 2025 @lifeandplanet.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Your friendly Friday reminder that abstracts for Life and Planet 2025 are open until Wednesday April 9th. Abstract submission is FREE! Submit your abstracts here: lifeandplanet.com 🌍🦠🌱🐚🧪🧑‍💻🧬👽🌏

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Dr Alison Cribb @alisoncribb.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

We’ve moved abstract submission to earlier in the year so that we can be more ahead of schedule with things like highlight talks and travel grants, so keep your eyes peeled for more meeting info soon!

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Dr Alison Cribb @alisoncribb.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

🌎🦠🐚🧪🌏🧬🌳👽🌍 Interested in the co-evolution of life and our planet? Life and Planet 2025 abstracts are still open until 9 April! The meeting this year will be 14-16 July. Students and early career researchers especially encouraged! lifeandplanet.com @lifeandplanet.bsky.social

An advertisement for the Life and Planet meeting with text reading: “Life and Planet 2025. London. 14-16 July. Co-evolution of life and the Earth. lifeandplanet.com” over a blue, purple, and pink cartoon of the London skyline in front of the Earth. On the right, addition text reads: “Abstract submissions open until April 9th! Life and Planet is a meeting for researchers exploring the co-evolution of life and the Earth over geologic time. We are interested in all work that examines how life impacts the Earth, and how the global environment influences life. We welcome research from all time periods, at all scales, from the oceans to the land, and beyond! Life and Planet is Early Career Researcher (ECR) focused. Keynotes are chosen from ECR abstract submissions”

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Emma Dunne @emmadnn.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Global North-based researchers publish more on Latin American fossils—and receive more citations—than their Latin American counterparts 🌎 This is an important and thoughtful case study of systematic inequalities in #palaeontology - well worth your time to read 🧪👩🏻‍🔬 www.nature.com/articles/s42...

nature.com

Historical and ongoing inequities shape research visibility in Latin American aquatic mammal paleontology - Communications Biology

Analysis shows that Latin American researchers and women published less on fossil mammals from Latin America than Global North researchers and male counterparts. Papers with more Latin American author...

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Lewis A. Jones (he/him) @lewisajones.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

Happy #FossilFriday! We’re excited to share our new preprint from the @palaeoverse.bsky.social team “Ten simple rules to follow when cleaning occurrence data in palaeobiology”, available now from EcoEvoRXiv: doi.org/10.32942/X2F... With a bonus accompanying vignette! tenrules.palaeoverse.org

tenrules.palaeoverse.org

Ten simple rules to follow when cleaning occurrence data in palaeobiology

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British Antarctic Survey 🐧 @bas.ac.uk · 14/03/2025

We’ve just published the most detailed map yet of the landscape beneath Antarctica’s ice sheet (called Bedmap3), and we learnt some pretty cool facts about Antarctica that you can use to impress your pals. Ready? Graphic: Hamish Pritchard et al

A map showing the topography of Antarctica, without ice

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Jeff Thompson @echinerd.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Like morphometrics, micro-CT scanning, and morphological evolution? Then please consider applying for our 18 month postdoc position at the university of Southampton! Details here: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMF402/r...

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Neil Gostling/EvoPalaeoLab @neilgostling.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

We have a rich fossil heritage on the south coast, marine reptiles, dinosaurs, the first humans on these islands... And everything in between. Come and find out about it at our new exhibition, running from April 4th to June 1st. godshousetower.org.uk/eventer/exhi... @unisouthampton.bsky.social

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Adriana Guatame-García @adriguatame.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

A friend included this anti-acknowledgement section on her PhD thesis. She also added the proposition: “Systematic bullying and undermining of girls and women in STEM starts early on and is the reason why they do not stay in science and related fields.” Absurd we still need to go through this 🧪👩‍🔬

There have been people less than helpful in my journey here. I wanted to acknowledge those too, bc I know I am not unique in this experience.
No thank you to the physics study assoc that made me sing songs about how women couldn't study physics without sleeping with the professor, the day I stepped into university life. No thank you to the 5th year physics student that decided to assign me a stripper name within the first minute of meeting me in the physics coffee corner in my first year. No thank you to the technician that was responsible for onboarding me on the use of the cluster in my third year who raised his eyebrows and asked me if that meant I was some sort of computer girl. No thank you to the senior researcher that sent me utterly inappropriate texts after a conference, then proceeded to apologise months later by telling me they had not been meant for me anyway so no hard feelings remain hopefully And no thank you to him for attending every conference I've been to since. No thank you to the people who told me that it was surprising that I was doing a PhD since I was a girl. No thank you to the man who mistook me for a coffee lady at a conference, and after having to correct him two times that I did not work there, responded with you should consider it. No thank you to the researcher that asked me what I was wearing underneath my outfit during a conference. No thank you to the physicist who declared to a room full of other physicists that biologists don't know how to design an experiment. No thank you to the people who have called me scary instead of strong and intimidating instead of intelligent.
And finally, no thank you to the exec board of the TU Delft, whose knee-jerk reaction to being held up a mirror about the social safety at the university, was to sue the party holding up the mirror instead of looking at the problems they highlighted.
... You have made me feel like I do not belong in science & I cannot forgive you for that.

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Dr Alison Cribb @alisoncribb.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Loch Lomond is lovely and an amazing place to see the Highland Boundary Fault! Definitely recommend staying in Luss

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University of Southampton @unisouthampton.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Fall in love with science this Valentine’s! 💙 Our biggest-ever Southampton Science and Engineering Festival launches today - a great lead-up to us hosting the British Science Festival 2026! 🗓️ Join us 7 - 16 March. Find out more and book your tickets 👉 sotsef.co.uk

A young child wearing a red hoodie and white gloves points at a glowing object inside a glass enclosure, with another child watching closely behind them. The background features a high-tech laboratory or exhibit setting, with blurred figures of adults observing from a distance.

Two individuals are engaged in a flight simulation experience. One person is seated at the controls of a simulated aircraft cockpit with multiple screens displaying flight instruments and an aerial view of a landscape. The other person is providing guidance.

A child in a red hoodie is examining fossil replicas on a blue tablecloth labelled "University of Southampton." A woman in a white T-shirt is explaining the artefacts.

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Dr Alison Cribb @alisoncribb.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

🤩🪸 Congratulations Amanda!!! So excited to see this out and can’t wait to read

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