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David Bapst

@dwbapst.bsky.social
2.7K followers 5.8K following 1.5K posts

Paleontologist, Graptolite Geek, R Programmer, creator of paleotree, Tabletop Roleplaying Game Nerd, Catcher of Pokémon, faculty senator. All comments are my trash opinion alone.

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Reposted by David Bapst
Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 03/10/2026
I have absolutely wondered about this. Amazing.
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Dr Craig R McClain @drcraigmc.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
More geekery tonight. Trying to make sure my code worked as intended and generating Raup's Figure 2 from his 1962 paper "Computer as Aid in Describing Form in Gastropod Shells" #marinelife #SciArt #paleobiology #MolluscMonday #paleontology
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Laura Mulvey @lauramulvey.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
🟢 Great start to the week with an intro into stratigraphy from the one and only Mark Patzkowsky 🪨📉✨ @thepalass.bsky.social @paleosoc.bsky.social @sse-evolution.bsky.social
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Alka Tripathy-Lang @dralkatrip.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
For @highcountrynews.org's latest issue on Deep Time, I reviewed 3 books that help us explore Earth's past in different ways: Basin and Range by John McPhee, Strata by @laurapoppick.bsky.social, and When the Earth was Green by @restingdinoface.bsky.social 🧪⚒️ www.hcn.org/issues/58-1/...
hcn.org
Three books explore deep time and help us look forward - High Country News
Each of these books can, in its own way, teach readers how to think about Earth's history, and how to apply lessons from the past to our future.
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Kristian Svennevig @ksvenenvig.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
3D-print your own landslide! New paper out in @geomorphica.bsky.social "Open access 3D-printable landslide models for outreach and teaching" journals.psu.edu/geomorphica/...
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Gavin Simpson @gsimpson.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
96 little pink pigs, 16 pens, 4 rooms 🐷 Our students used LEGO to explore experimental design: randomising treatments, blocking by room, and asking why six pigs sharing a pen don’t give us six independent replicates. Abstract ideas made tangible, one brick at a time #lego #statistics
Three students work around a table on a LEGO model of a pig facility. One places pink pig bricks on yellow pen plates arranged on blue room plates while the others watch. Handouts and laptops sit nearby.Close-up of a LEGO pig-facility model: four blue room plates each hold four yellow pens with pink pig bricks. Red and green treatment-combination cards cover the four pens in one room, with loose markers beside the model.Three students work on the LEGO experiment at a classroom table. One adjusts pink pig bricks on the model, another writes on a workshop handout, and a third watches with a notebook open. A large animal skeleton stands in the background.
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April Wright @wrightam.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
There not always a huge financial cost to new minors or certificate programs; often pulled together out of extant courses. But there is a cost to serially starving the humanities and communicating a lack of care and respect for those disciplines to students
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April Wright @wrightam.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The highlighted quote is fantastic. There’s a real desire among admin to capitalize on something that is fundamentally very difficult to predict: a future job market Fundamental skills - critical thinking, strong oral and written communication, and ability to learn - are always in style
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James Lamsdell, PhD @fossildetective.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I think it is very telling that we get news of two planned museum closures by university institutions with minimal notice. Clearly they know the moves will be publicly unpopular, and the apparent solution is to give people as little time to organize as possible and set it up as a fait accompli.
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James Lamsdell, PhD @fossildetective.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Great thread discussing museum funding from the inside. The reason some universities are trying to divest from their museums is because they are beginning to treat each unit as an independent revenue generating entity. Museums cost money and therefore they WANT to cut them.
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Z. Jack Tseng @tsengzj.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The university-based UCMP got a nearly 30% budget cut ~15 years ago. Restructuring and reductions changed how the museum functioned, but its mission remained. The road to recovery is long and we still have no fossil preparator, but it is possible to slowly rebuild. ucmp.berkeley.edu/about/ucmpne...
ucmp.berkeley.edu
Letter from the Director, May 2012
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Walter Hickey @walthickey.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
they found a real pokémon www.numlock.com/p/numlock-ne...
Researchers looking for life in the scorching-hot geothermal pools of Lassen Volcanic National Park in California have found a fascinating creature they’re calling Incendiamoeba cascadensis, or “fire amoeba of the Cascades,” which was found in a lake that maintains a temperature of 47 degrees Celsius, or 116 degrees Fahrenheit. In subsequent lab studies, the organism continued to grow even at temperatures of 57 degrees Celsius and continued to reproduce up to 63 degrees Celsius, which are new records for eukaryotes. The study, published in Cell, contends that the amoeba may even be able to tolerate temperatures up to 70 degrees Celsius by morphing into a cyst. Changing form? Extreme, magma-fueled environment? They named it “Incendiamoeba”? My fellow Americans, we’ve done it, we’ve discovered a fire-type Pokémon.
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Paleontological Society @paleosoc.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
If you are a student, why not sign up to the annual Schuchert Lunch at GSA Connects 2026 on 11th October, 12-1pm, and get a free lunch! 🔗Sign up here: forms.gle/Ze97ddbiyE3q... 🚨Only student members are eligible for a free lunch 📆Deadline: 29th September
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Paleontological Society @paleosoc.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
🚨 PS SHORT COURSE ANNOUNCEMENT GSA 2026 October 10th (location TBD) A primer for researchers of all stages interested in trait-based paleoecology and deep time vegetation-climate interactions. Description in comment below!
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Brandon Peecook @gondwannabe.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Tenure-track job in vertebrate paleo! 🦬🦕🦈🦴 This is my former position at the Idaho Museum of Natural History & Biological Sciences. Can confirm that the collections are excellent & understudied; AND that the people at the IMNH and BioSci are wonderful colleagues. APPLY!
isu.csod.com
Curator/Assistant Professor, Idaho Museum of Natural History & Biological Sciences (3756)
Job DescriptionThe Idaho Museum of Natural History and the Department of Biological Sciences at Idaho State University invite applications for a joint...
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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
DAY 466 SPECIES 466 - Bulimina marginata STAGE: Protists MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek Watercolor, Sakura pen B. marginata "the margined one" has a tapering spiral shell with spiney edges. #sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky
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Gulf Coast Repository @gcrepository.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The GCR is available for a wide range of workshops and meetings, including legacy research projects and outreach. Early consultation with the GCR is strongly encouraged, and GCR staff can provide guidance and suggestions prior to funding proposal submission. gcr.tamu.edu/outreach/pla...
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Dr. Davey F. Wright ⛏️🦕🧬 @daveyfwright.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Curator of Marine Invertebrates position at the NHMLA. Great opportunity for marine invertebrate zoologists, especially echinoderm researchers! (see post below)
spnhc.org
Marine Invertebrates Curator | The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County https://nhm.org/ The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHMLAC) seeks a full-time Assistant OR Associate Curator, commensurate with experience…
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Dr. Davey F. Wright ⛏️🦕🧬 @daveyfwright.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Curator job at the ROM for an athropod specialist!
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Palaeoverse @palaeoverse.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
🚨Palaeoverse Lecture Series🚨 🗓️24th September 2026, 15:00 UTC🗓️ Next Thursday, Emilia Jarochowska from Utrecht University will talk about “CarboKitten.jl – stratigraphic forward modeling of marine carbonate rocks and its applications in paleobiology”. Sign up here: palaeoverse.org/training/lec...
A flyer advertising Dr Emilia Jarowchowska and her talk entitled: CarboKitten.jl – stratigraphic forward modeling of marine carbonate rocks and its applications in paleobiology. There is an image of coding on a laptop and Emilia is holding up a fossil.
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Dr. Davey F. Wright ⛏️🦕🧬 @daveyfwright.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Did a brachiopod write this? 😅
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Micah @rincewind.run · 14/09/2026
Discworld QOTD, from Reaper Man
ALL THINGS THAT ARE, ARE OURS. BUT WE MUST CARE. FOR IF WE DO NOT CARE, WE DO NOT EXIST. IF WE DO NOT EXIST, THEN THERE IS NOTHING BUT BLIND OBLIVION. AND EVEN OBLIVION MUST END SOMEDAY. LORD, WILL YOU GRANT ME JUST A LITTLE TIME? FOR THE PROPER BALANCE OF THINGS. TO RETURN WHAT WAS GIVEN. FOR THE SAKE OF PRISONERS AND THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS.

Death took a step backwards.

It was impossible to read expression in Azrael's features.

Death glanced sideways at the servants.

LORD, WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN?
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Christopher B. Cameron @invertevo.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
RT. Join us in Montreal as an Assistant Professor of Evolution of #Fungal Diversity. 🍄 rh-carriere-dmz-eng.synchro.umontreal.ca/psc/rhprpr9_...
rh-carriere-dmz-eng.synchro.umontreal.ca
Careers
Through your undergraduate and graduate-level teaching, and your research activities, you will contribute to the faculty’s pursuit of excellence. Furthermore, you will promote your discipline and actively participate in the daily activities of a renowned institution. As such, you will:
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Richard Fallon @richardfallon.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
I quite like that illustrations of graptolites often look like they're done by someone slowly going mad, like the protagonist of an Edgar Allan Poe story.
G. H. Ford's illustrations of Llandeilo Cladophora (dendroid graptolites), with shapes ranging from spiny forms to bushes and squiggles.
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Pawel Burkhardt @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
A fossil nervous system meets modern neurobiology. We found that a living comb jelly preserves neural architecture remarkably similar to those inferred from Cambrian fossils over 500 million years old 🤩. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Windhorse @windhorse.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Snagged this from FB. This may make some people uncomfortable but I think it highlights just how far we've come from what's natural, from our relationship to the Earth that sustains us and our beautiful relatives we share it with.
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Ctenophores Rock! @ctenophoresrock.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Happy #CtenophoreCtuesday! Have you ever wondered how a comb jelly propels itself in the water? They utilize a metachronal rhythm of beating cilia (located on comb plates), which appear like a moving wave! Credit to @kei-jokura.bsky.social. Read more in this original paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.cu... 🦑
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Farid Saleh | فريد صالح @taphozoan.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
New paper 🧪🪨🦐: We describe the N'kob Biota, a new Middle Ordovician Biota from Morocco that fills a critical gap between the Early Ordovician Fezouata Biota and the Late Ordovician Tafilalt Biota. Out now in Geology: doi.org/10.1130/G546... Art by @joschuaknuppe.bsky.social
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Megan Barkdull @meganbarkdull.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
The Natural History Museum of LA is hiring a Curator of Marine Invertebrates! Come join an amazing team and contribute to stewarding the largest marine invert collection in the Western US. 🐙🪼🦐 workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/defau...
An image of several sea anemones under water.
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Christopher B. Cameron @invertevo.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I love this Saddle Lake #Cree Nation initiative because it clearly demonstrates that #decolonization & #reconciliation benefit non-Native people. Also, it's subversive ✊ & counters the conservative binary narrative. 🤘 globalnews.ca/news/1205333...
globalnews.ca
Alberta First Nation invokes treaty clause to set up gender-affirming care safe haven | Globalnews.ca
Saddle Lake Cree Nation says it aims to defy Premier Danielle Smith’s government by establishing a safe haven for gender-affirming medical care — contrary to provincial law.
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Dr. Davey F. Wright ⛏️🦕🧬 @daveyfwright.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Absolutely incredible opportunity to be a curator of moths and butterflies. The AMNH is an awesome and wonderful institution and NYC is the best 'freakin city in the world
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Christina Belanger, Ph.D @belaforams.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
“Paleontologists believe that this remote corner of southern Utah could be home to the next great undiscovered dinosaur — and the next, and the one after that.”
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Darren Naish @tetzoo.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Ok, time for a thread about what I saw yesterday at #CrystalPalace. As you can see, just about everything has been repaired and re-painted, and in places (like the previously misidentified Xiphodon) re-positioned. It looks fantastic and you have to check it out, even if you've visited before...
View of some of Crystal Palace models from top of the hill.3D print of pterosaur head being held in front of actual models way back in the distance, Iguanodon at left.Darren and Megalosaurus.Local mural on side of building celebrating Crystal Palace prehistoric animals. Art by Nacho Welles.
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Mark Witton @markwitton.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Hey, look: the cover of my next book has been revealed. Looks like it'll be out next March. Details: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
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Christina Belanger, Ph.D @belaforams.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m Eastern Register for the zoom link. I’ve heard they aren’t recording it and want to demonstrate interest via high attendance.
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John Alroy @johnalroy.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The Fossilworks database is now integrated with the Ecological Register and includes growing datasets on Cenozoic and Cretaceous vertebrates including mammals and dinosaurs. All of the 5000+ site inventories include specimen counts used to obtain GW species richness estimates. fossilworks.org
Fossilworks dinosaur map
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Dr. Davey F. Wright ⛏️🦕🧬 @daveyfwright.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
New paper w/ @astigall.bsky.social! 🧪 "Species-level diversity dynamics during the Great Ordovician biodiversification event: a phylodynamic case study of Laurentian brachiopod lineages" Link to paper: authors.elsevier.com/c/1ngnZ73N~L...
Manuscript title of a P^3 paper that says: "Species-level diversity dynamics during the Great Ordovician biodiversification event: a phylodynamic case study of Laurentian brachiopod lineages"
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Alexandra Petri @petridishes.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
the year is 2027. gas costs $83 and lettuce is at war with us. however every location on every map now says AMERICA
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David Bapst @dwbapst.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
the low hanging fruit option
A map of beautiful Lake Poutine
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Jeff Doctor @jeff.doctor · 27/08/2026
I've been staying off Bluesky lately because I'm on a deadline for a project examining the history of colonial map making in the Great Lakes region, so image my reaction when one of the first posts I see when I come back is MapQuest trolling the President of the United States
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Bored Humungus @writtenlow.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
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Palaeoverse @palaeoverse.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Don't forget to come along to our talk today - 15:00 UTC!
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Dr. Davey F. Wright ⛏️🦕🧬 @daveyfwright.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
These data center designs are getting out of hand. One might conclude they're bad for the planet or something
Image of the city of Midgar featuring Mako reactors and Shinra building from Final Fantasy VII
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Christina Belanger, Ph.D @belaforams.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
“Learning how humans affect the atmosphere was a fundamental component of his course which he had been teaching for many years, and the concept that humans can alter Earth’s climate is a plainly established scientific fact,” according to the lawsuit.”
stripes.com
West Point professor fired after pushing back on limitations to teaching climate change, lawsuit says
Adam Kalkstein pushed back after department officials barred faculty from teaching that humans contribute to climate change, the lawsuit says.
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Dr. Davey F. Wright ⛏️🦕🧬 @daveyfwright.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Ever since I was a child, from the very first time I experienced the joy and wonder of dinosaur fossils at a natural history museum, I always knew I wanted to grow up and submit expense reports in Concur for institutionally sponsored travel
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Andrej Spiridonov @andrejpaleo.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
"Falling speciation is consistent with niche-filling following extinction, but increasing extinction may indicate a role for neutral dynamics during radiation. Cryptic diversification may be evidenced by a peak earlier than inferred using phylogenetic estimates." 🧪⚒️ #Geology #Paleobio #PaleoBio
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Anonymous Potato @anonymouspotato.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
EcoEvoJobs 2026-27 just opened for business and we've already got 79 faculty / permanent jobs listed. Please repost! ecoevojobs.net
ecoevojobs.net
ecoevojobs.net 2026-27
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Foraminifera.eu @foram.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Flat as a leaf is this foraminifera from the Rupelian/Oligocene, found in clay clods in a pit in Eastern Germany. foraminifera.eu/loc.php?loca... #foraminifera #microfossils #micropaleontology #Paleogene
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Christina Belanger, Ph.D @belaforams.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Ooo…tutorials on how to find data in LIMS and request samples and use composite depth scales… 🌊 m.youtube.com/@GCRepository
Screenshot showing list of video titles including “How to submit a sample request” and “how to add composite depth scales” and “LIMS-how to find samples”
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