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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD

@elizabethsibert.bsky.social
240 followers 206 following 46 posts

Paleobiologist/oceanographer; Assistant Scientist at WHOI; Fish teeth and ancient marine ecosystems; circus artist 🌈 She/her

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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This paper took over 10 years to get across the finish line. Not because we weren't working on it, but because to do it right, we needed to look at a *huge* diversity of teeth, and we kept having to re-do it - again, but better. Love this. Tag yourself, and I'll share a picture of your tooth :)
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Every day I'm filled with gratitude that I have the opportunity to run a lab, to do my research, and to support an enthusiastic, creative, wonderful group of people who show up every day and share this adventure. And sometimes they come up with delightful things, like this ridiculous birthday card.
The image shows the front of a handmade greeting card has a head shot of Elizabeth (me) wearing a blazer and standing with crossed arms, photoshopped onto on a blue ocean background and surrounded by pictures of microfossil fish teeth. The words "Tooth be told, you are the most Jaw-some PI" are written on the front. Elizabeth's name tag reads "Hello, my name is Ancient Fish Dentist"
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Reposted by Elizabeth Sibert, PhD
Matt Friedman @friedmanlab.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Led by the incomparable Sanaa El-Sayed, a study out today in Science Advances throws open an important new window on marine fish diversity during the critical few million years following the K-Pg mass extinction. Below: artistic vision of the new fauna by Ian Baylatry.
Illustration of many fishes swimming in sunlit blue water.
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Riley Black 🏳️‍⚧️ 🦕 @restingdinoface.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
A stunning fossil site full of fish uncovered in Egypt reveals how oceans began to bounce back after the devastating mass extinction that closed the Cretaceous. I’ll tell you more in my latest for National Geographic! 🐠 🧪
nationalgeographic.com
Scientists unearth a ‘petrified aquarium’ of 62-million-year-old fish fossils
An unexpected haul of nearly 500 fossilized fish in Egypt provides an unprecedented picture of how sea life rebounded from the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
New paper out today with Karinne Tennenbaum, @karlycohen.bsky.social, and Chas Bissell! We show that Cyclothone (most abundant fish in the sea) have unique teeth & they appear in the Earliest Eocene >40 million years earlier than their oldest body fossils. royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...
This image shows high resolution microscopic images of four separate teeth. The teeth are conical in shape, with a slight curve to them, and have deep spiraling grooves around them. The first two teeth are fossils, while the second two teeth are from living fish. They are virtually indistinguishable. A scale bar indicates that the teeth are approximately 50 microns in diameter and approximately 200 microns in length.A phylogenetic tree of fish from the order Stomiiformes with approximately 30 species included. Different colored circles indicating the observed tooth texture for each species as well as the hypothesized ancestral state reconstructions for their common ancestors. The figure demonstrates that there is significant phylogenetic constraints on tooth texture, with all species in the genus Cyclothone having one texture, and other lineages having different textures.
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Reminder that applications for this unique summer undergraduate research internship are due tomorrow (Feb 13)! Learn more and apply here: www2.whoi.edu/site/paleofishes/accessible-ichthyoliths-internship/ Lets continue to work towards building a better tomorrow, together.
Large text reads "Undergraduate summer internship opportunity in the PaleoFISHES Lab!". Below is a flow chart showing the components of the Accessible Ichthyoliths Internship program, with four groups of bubbles surrounding and pointing to a central bubble labeled “Accessible Ichthyoliths Internship Program”. The bubbles include Student-focused research (student-centered research project and integration into broader project), Accessible communications (development of accessible research-based communication products, highlight personal narrative in STEM), Professional Development (WHOI undergrad professional development programs and disability-specific mentoring and networking opportunities), and disability/accessibility (universal accommodations and policies and individual-specific accommodations). The lab logo and a text link to https://www2.whoi.edu/site/paleofishes/accessible-ichthyoliths-internship/ are below the flow chart. Applications due February 13, 2026
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
**Undergraduate Summer Internship Opportunity! I'm excited to launch the Accessible Ichthyoliths Internship Program starting summer 2026! Seeking undergraduates interested in contributing to accessible paleo research and communication. More info here: www2.whoi.edu/site/paleofi... Please share!
www2.whoi.edu
Accessible Ichthyoliths Internship - Paleo-FISHES
Accessible Ichthyoliths Internship Program Ichthyoliths (ick-thee-oh-liths), or "fish-stones", are microfossil remains of fish and sharks, primarily in the form of teeth from both fish and sharks and ...
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
This paper has been nearly a decade in the making. HUGE congratulations to Leah and the rest of Team Denticles for getting this herculean effort out into the world!
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SICB journals @sicbjournals.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
IOB - Fresh Ink! Quantifying the #Denticle Multiverse: A Standardized Coding System to Capture Three Dimensional #Morphological Variations for Quantitative #Evolutionary & #Ecological Studies of #Elasmobranch #Denticles Rubin, @garethjfraser.bsky.social , et al doi.org/10.1093/iob/...
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
So excited to participate in this panel discussing the history and future of #PalaeoPERCS and the amazing, inclusive, and absolutely brilliant international community of early career pal(a)eo scientists! Please join us at 15:00 UTC today for this really important discussion!
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dr. rehemat 👩🏽‍💻👩🏽‍🔬 @rehemat24.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
3pm UTC today! Time has gone so unbelievably quickly and I can’t believe it’s been five years since PERCS launched. Feels like yesterday. Come and join in the fun later today! 💜
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
What a loss to the community. Markus was one of the first people who treated me as an equal colleague *very* early in my career, and was the PI on the first major grant that I contributed to outside of my PhD. He was always enthusiastic, kind, and exceptionally fun to work with. He'll be missed.
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
One of my greatest joys is watching the next generation of the @palaeopercs.bsky.social steering committee bring so much to our paleo-ECR community. Check out this incredible panel on science communication they hosted last week. Definitely worth the watch! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Paj6...
youtube.com
PERCSpectives Special Seminar Series: Communicating Geoscience in a Changing Climate
YouTube video by Pal(a)eoPERCS
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
We knew it would be bad, but this table, of the impacts of people involved in NSF research straight from the 2026 Request to Congress, is absolutely insane. This is a complete decimation of science and research across all levels. The 66% reduction in funds would yield a >75% reduction in people.
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
I'm honored to be part of the Scientific Ocean Drilling story archive. Laura is an incredible interviewer and this archive of stories provides incredible insight into all the very different ways that Scientific Ocean Drilling and its invaluable archives impacts our lives and our planet.
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
I spoke with an ECR yesterday who was feeling helpless with everything going on, and want to share what I told them: We can choose to build and contribute towards the future we want. Even if ultimately things go awful, we'll have done some good with good people along the way. And that matters.
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
The world is burning, but I have the honor of giving my "Outgoing Committee Member" talk at Pal(a)eoPERCS tomorrow. We founded Pal(a)eoPERCS in 2020 to be a place to uplift and support each other in an interdisciplinary global research community. Its even more important today than it was then.
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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 10/05/2025
HAPPY 75th, NSF! We’re celebrating this milestone by highlighting some of NSF’s most transformative accomplishments—innovations that have shaped our world and continue to drive progress in health, technology, the environment, and beyond. Read on 🧵(1/11):
A chocolate cake with red and white decorations and lit candles shaped as the number 75. Bold text reads: ‘The NSF Turns 75 Today. What has it done over the past 7 decades?’ The background is a celebratory red with a spray-paint texture.
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Been waiting for this one - Early Miocene was transformative for marine vertebrates (and plankton), and its super cool to see the signal in so many different taxa and using so many wildly different methods. www.science.org/doi/full/10.... Congrats @chasedbrownstein.bsky.social et al!
science.org
Phylogenomics establishes an Early Miocene reconstruction of reef vertebrate diversity
Phylogenomics reveals a younger-than-expected age of reef fish diversification.
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Mary Feeney @mkfeeney.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
For the last 3 yrs, I was the director for the Science of Science program at the NSF. We funded projects on science communication - science communication to the public, communication of public priorities to scientists, citizens engagement & participation in science. 🧵
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Susanne Menden-Deuer @drplankton.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
PANGAEA is rescuing numerous datasets scheduled for decommissioning in May. PANGAEA has opened its archive to help safeguard these valuable resources. If you become aware of other endangered datasets, please contact them. Importantly, let others know where to find the data. www.pangaea.de
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Humphreys, 1908 was onto something... "The teeth of fossil fishes are indestructible, and their structure can be almost as clearly demonstrated as those of fishes of the present day, although they were buried in the mud of primeval oceans, in ages so remote as only to be reckoned by eons of time.
Screenshot of the first few lines of a paper from 1908:
Title: The Teeth of Fossil Fishes
By John Humphreys, M.D.S. (Brim.), L.D.S., F.L.S. 
The teeth of fossil fishes are indestructible, and their structure can be almost as clearly demonstrated as those of fishes of the present day, although they were buried in the mud of primaeval oceans, in ages so remote as only to be reckoned by aeons of time.
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
I'm honored to be named as an Ocean Discovery Lecturer this year. If your institution doesn't have much for seminars, but you want to learn about fish and sharks through time or the awesome work by the other lecturers, this is a great chance to bring someone in! usoceandiscovery.org/lecture-seri...
usoceandiscovery.org
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
I'm seeing a lot of choices being made in the US right now that fall somewhere along the "what is right" vs. "what is easy" continuum. Far too often, we're choosing 'easy'. We need to practice choosing "right", while the choice is still possible. Build those muscles now, before it is too late.
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Sending hugs to everyone at NSF (and all the federal agencies). Y'all are the front lines standing up to this insanity and being mowed down, and we all know we're next. Y'all are wonderful humans who gave so much to supporting the scientific enterprise, and we're not going down without a fight.
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
*Calls reps to leave [more] messages about [waves hands]* *Donates to orgs with real expertise to fight* *Shows up to support local community/safety* Remember, just because someone isn't vocal online doesn't mean they're not doing everything they can. Be kind to each other, we're all we've got.
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
Hi friends! The awesome international, interdisciplinary, ECR-focused, all-things-paleo seminar series that I helped to found, Pal(a)eoPERCS, is now on Bluesky! I'm no longer on the steering committee, but they're doing great work! Check them out and come to the seminars! @palaeopercs.bsky.social
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
Accessible Sharks 2025 is a GO! This unique summer research internship for undergrad students with disabilities has been amazing for the past 2 summers, and we get to run a modified version as a bonus year! Learn more & apply here: accessiblesharks.wordpress.com Deadline Feb 14, 2025. Please share!
accessiblesharks.wordpress.com
Accessible Sharks REU
Interdisciplinary Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates with Disabilities
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
Happy 2025! I'm ringing in the new year by finally putting the wonderful set of DSDP/ODP books on my office shelves. I'm missing a few, which I hope to find with time, but these are precious resources, and I am so happy to have them here. Thanks to my advisor Dick Norris for saving these for me!
A 6-shelf bookshelf holds dozens of deep sea drilling project (DSDP) booksTwo long high up wall-mounted shelves are full of dozens of ocean drilling books. Pink post-it notes in strategic locations denote missing volumesA 6-shelf bookshelf holds dozens of Ocean Drilling Program and Deep Sea Drilling Project books. The middle two shelves hold other miscellaneous books
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
Just got reviews back on a paper that has been nearly 8 years in the making (*cough* 10 years). Shout out to the incredibly kind, generous and thorough anonymous reviewers. I want to thank them for their explicitly supportive and uplifting comments. Sometimes science takes time to get it right.
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
AGU's "custom recommendations" email today was... a little bit too spot on for comfort. I'll be at AGU on Thursday (only), but will also be around Wednesday afternoon and Friday morning. Looking forward to catching up and seeing all the cool work people have been up to recently! See you there!
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Join the Paleo-FISHES Lab team! Seeking applicants for a 1-year in-person research assistant (postbac) position on fish tooth morphology. Must love playing with "fish-in-jars" and tiny details! Please share w/ interested parties! Learn more & apply here: whoi.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/WHOI-E...
whoi.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com
Research Assistant I
Job Summary The Paleo-FISHES Lab in the Geology & Geophysics Department at WHOI is looking for a Research Assistant I to join our team. The research assistant will be brought on to perform imaging...
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Elizabeth Sibert, PhD @elizabethsibert.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Hello, World! Life update: since 2023, I've been an Assistant Scientist at @whoi.bsky.social and my awesome (accessible) lab space opened this summer, beginning of the Paleo-FISHES Lab @ WHOI! Currently seeking enthusiastic folks to join our team. www2.whoi.edu/site/paleofi...
The Paleo-FISHES Lab Logo is a circular logo that reads "Paleo-FISHES Lab" along the top, "Fossil Icthyoliths, Sedimentary History, and Ecological Studies" on the bottom, and has a food web with plankton, fish and a shark in the middle of the circle. Between the sets of words around the edge of the logo are a fossil fish tooth and a fossil denticle. All images are sketches of the organisms and fossils they represent. The logo has a rainbow gradient for a background with white text and the sketches are grayscale.
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