iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I love rocks so much, my excitement is unberylable

Portrait photo of Katie standing looking super stoked while holding a large crystal of blue-green beryl like it’s a wain. She’s dressed all in black, wearing sunglasses with green and black hair and lots of tattoos. Beryl from norway held in the Hunterian collections

Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

As the roots undo.. 🖤 Desperately needed some self-care after this last year so obviously got my throat tattooed, thank you always kingofbones/paul 🔥

Mirror selfie of Katie with green and black hair. She is heavily tattooed and her throat has new black work freehand root like structures extending up under her chin, originating from an existing rose tattoo on her chest.

Front camera selfie of Katie with green and black hair. She is heavily tattooed and has her left hand beside her face. Her throat has new black work freehand root like structures extending up under her chin, originating from an existing rose tattoo on her chest.

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Spent my summer pure wrecked after coming down with pneumonia (do not recommend 😭). But at least I managed to see some good rocks in between the 41 degree fevers and whole lack of oxygen / being unable to breathe thing lol

Close up of two fingers holding a beach worn agate. The agate displays angular concentric (fortification) banding ranging in colour through orange in the centre portion, to pale pink, white, red and violet. There are small red speckles in some of the layers (caused by Fe inclusions). Berwickshire, Scotland.

Close up of a finger holding a small beach worn agate. The agate displays detailed fine angular concentric (fortification) banding ranging in colour through shades of orange, red and yellow. Berwickshire, Scotland.

Close up of a hand holding a beach worn agate. The agate displays angular concentric (fortification) banding, and the top section resembles a heart shape. Banding ranges in colour through shades of orange to white. Berwickshire, Scotland.

Close up of two fingers holding a beach worn jasp-agate pebble. The pebble has patches of vibrant red and yellow mossy/plumey jasper in a pale grey to white porcelain chalcedony matrix. Berwickshire, Scotland.

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Hello, my hair is now matching this solidified chunk of the earth’s upper mantle (spinel lherzolite, Lanzarote) from the Hunterian collections 💚🖤 #DyingMyHairToMatchRocks

Hand holding a specimen of spinel iherzolite from the collections of The Hunterian, University of Glasgow.The rock is composed of bright green olivine (forsterite) with black spinel.

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Hello, my hair is now matching this Australian rhodonite from the Hunterian collections 💕🖤 #DyingMyHairToMatchRocks

Mirror selfie of Katie with pink and black hair

Cut and polished slice of rhodonite (manganese silicate) with black manganese oxide staining throughout. From Tamworth, NSW, Australia. Held in the hunterian collections, university of Glasgow.

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Reposted by Dr Katie Strang

GHOULology Johnson @geologyjohnson.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

This robot was also based on a thicc crinoid columnal that @palaeokatie.bsky.social found aaaaaaaaages ago. #SciArt #Robot

Digital painting of a blue robot with a single green eye and lots of tube arms ending in little claws. One clawed hand is holding a steaming cup of oil.

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

And so I must bear to you a heart of stone.. 🖤

Image of a holding beach worn lump of igneous rock (andesite) which is shaped like a heart. The rock is weathered to a brownish-very dark red colour and contains holes (vesicles) that have been infilled with pale coloured calcite and quartz (amygdales). The background is an out of focus rocky pebbly beach on the Berwickshire coast. Caption is lyrics from deadspace “heart of stone”.

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

Love these weird mossy agates 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🖤

Two fingers holding a piece of beach worn moss jasp-agate from Scotland. There are deep red jasper inclusions throughout the agate and some areas contain a white surface patina. Within the agate there are tube structures which can be seen cut at various orientations, creating interesting concentric circles and swirling patterns. Colour varies from blue to red, orange, yellow pinkish and blue chalcedony. Many of the red inclusions are thin and wispy and tend to exhibit a dendritic swirly pattern. Found on the Berwickshire coast, possibly from near(ish) Devonian volcanics, but looks more similar to the weird agates you find in the ORS conglomerates.

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

rock and a hard place wait for me between the devil and the deep blue sea everything I ever did right or wrong hid out of sight where I belong happy winter solstice (and the promise of longer rock hunting days) x

Picture looking south on the Berwickshire coast showing a section of Carboniferous cliffs. Rocks are sandstones belonging to the Fell Sandstone Formation. They are composed of fluvial (river) sandstones with interbedded mudstones, deposited in a floodplain setting. The rocks are now dipping almost vertically due to tectonic activity associated with the variscan orogeny (mountain building event).

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

Giving a talk in Yorkshire so I got to spend a few days catching up with auld pals at @scarbsmuseums.bsky.social, like this absolute belter of a Middle Jurassic theropod dinosaur footprint (Megalosauripus - Hudson et al, 2023) from Yorkshire 🦖 (equally lovely to see some of my fav human pals too 🖤)

Image of Katie in part of the Scarborough museums store, crouched next to a large piece of sandstone wrapped in a white plaster jacket. In the middle of the block of sandstone there’s a fossilised footprint of a three-toed dinosaur, the print is 80cm in length and 41cm wide. The specimen is assigned to the ichnogenus Megalosauripus, and may have been made by a Megalosaurus-like theropod (described by Hudson et al 2023). The sandstone is pale brownish - cream in colour and the fossil is preserved as a positive impression on what the underside of the sandstone bed. The footprint is slightly paler and cream in colour than the surrounding matrix. The dinosaur would have stepped into wet sand leaving an impression, and the impression was then filled in by overlying sediments (so you’re looking at it upside down now). From the Long Nab Member of the Scalby formation, Cleveden Basin, Yorkshire.

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Reposted by Dr Katie Strang

EcoMuseum of Scottish Mining Landscapes @mininglandscapes.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

A busy weekend #MiningLandscapes and @palaeokatie.bsky.social joined the #BridgeofAllan #Stirling WellHouse Restoration team and welcomed around 50 visitors for #DoorsOpen #coppermining #mineralspa

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Hello my hair is now matching this calcite on sphalerite from Wanlockhead, held in The Hunterian collections 🖤🤍🖤 #DyingMyHairloMatchRocks

Selfie of Katie wearing an ipecac records T-shirt and sunglasses. The T-shirt is black with “ipecac” in white font. Her hair is dyed black underneath and white blonde on the top. The background is fuzzy and out of focus.

Sample of whitish grey calcite on black sphalerite from Wanlockhead. The calcite crystals are shaped like elongated points aka “dog tooth” (scalenohedral) crystals. The sphalerite is a black mass underneath and doesn’t show obvious crystal structure. Specimen is held in the collections of The Hunterian, University of Glasgow.

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Reposted by Dr Katie Strang

Scottish Geology Trust @scottishgeology.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

🎉 We're LIVE ✨ The Scottish Geology Festival 2025 programme is now live! We have 70+ exciting events across the country, celebrating Scotland's amazing geology. Check out the full list and find the event for you! 🔗 www.scottishgeologytrust.org/festival

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

The latest reincarnation did not run according to plan.. Finally got my absolute favourite vegetarian vampire duck tattooed on me 🔥🖤

Photo of the back of Katie’s leg showing a tattoo of count duckula in black and grey. By @kingofbones (instagram) at Momento Mori, Glasgow.

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Reposted by Dr Katie Strang

Scottish Geology Trust @scottishgeology.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

Congratulations to Arran Geopark on being awarded 🗻 UNESCO Global Geopark 🏔️status! It’s fab to see Arran being recognised for its unique geological heritage, rich biodiversity, and commitment to protecting their natural heritage.

Drumadoon Sill exposed as a cliff on the Arran shore

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Reposted by Dr Katie Strang

Aline Ghilardi @alinemghilardi.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

🌍 Anyone, from anywhere in the world, can sign our petition to support the repatriation of the Irritator fossil to Brazil. Let’s unite against colonial science. Your support matters! ✊🦖 #IrritatorBelongstoBR #DecolonizeScience ⚒️🧪 chng.it/Jm99Rsrw44

chng.it

Faça a diferença. Assine essa petição.

Restituir o fóssil "Irritator" ao Brasil!

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

Taps aff in Glasgow today! Head along to Stockingfield & visit our free Make It Glasgow pop up exhibition “Fired Up”! Here until 4pm today & 10-4 Monday (31st). Discover Glasgow’s ghost industry & see the shipwreck plate, recently recovered from the bottom of the sea off the coast of Arran! 🖤

Showing shipping container where the temporary pop up exhibition is being held at Stockingfield. The bridge can be seen in the background.

Image showing the back wall of the container in previous photo, with the text “whits hidden in yir midden?”

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

Had an awesome Saturday looking at some gloriously messy 450 million year old Ordovician sediments around Girvan in preparation for an upcoming Geological Society of Glasgow field trip (Dr Jurassic Clark for scale!)

Photo taken on the beach south of girvan, looking out towards the sea. An outcrop of cascade folded sediments comprised of interbedded sandstones/wacke, shales and siltstones belonging to the Ardwell Farm Formation, deposited around 450 million years ago can be seen in the foreground. The folding is interpreted as cascade folding due to penecontemporaneous (I.e. soon after deposition) slumping of partly lithified sediments from the NW. Neil in the background for scale.

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Been crawling about the river Kelvin exploring 330 million years of Glasgow's heritage. Looked up and realised I had attracted a group of very confused spectators, so they got treated to an impromptu geology lesson (apologies for ruining your Sunday with my rock patter 😂)

Photo of two fingers holding a small fragment of black coloured Carboniferous shale. There are small circular dimples on the rock - this is the impression of stigmaria, the root system of a Carboniferous lycopod. One of the kelvinbridge arches can be seen in the background.

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

I'm gonna suffer for the rest of my life But I will always find a way to survive I'm not a failure but know what it's like I can take it or leave it or die Stay, you don't always know where you stand 'Til you know you won't run away There's something inside me that feels LIKE BREATHING IN SULPHUR 🔥

Photo of a hand palm side up holding a sample of bright yellow native sulphur crystals on greyish coloured calcite. Specimen held in the collections of The Hunterian, University of Glasgow.

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Tasty looking prehnite from Old Kilpatrick, West Dunbartonshire for #MineralMonday 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Photo of a hand palm side up holding a specimen of prehnite against a plain white background. The sample shows a mass of pale yellow coloured spherical crystals with a bubbly grape like (botryoidal) texture. Held in the collections of The Hunterian - GLAHM:M6229. The palm has a tattoo of an ammonite in cross section on it.

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

Watch the white Turn to red It fills up the hole but it grows somewhere else instead All my life Yeah yeah yeah yeah, but it just left me dead The world is over and I realise it was all in my head

Photo of two fingers holding a cut and polished agate half from Montrose against a plain white background. Caption is lyrics from Nine Inch Nails song “please”. The agate displays concentric angular banding which resembles the fortification of a castle viewed from above. The bands show high contrast and range in colour from red to white, orange and brown. Held in the collections of The Hunterian.

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Pretty wild how a worker from the Bothwell Park Brickworks put their finger in this brick, which was destined for Kelvin Hall.. and now, almost 100 years later, some wee goth is stood admiring it

Photo showing a close up of a red clay brick from bothwell park brickworks used to build the kelvin hall in Glasgow. On the brick there is a thumb and a fingerprint where the ridges can be made out. Around the brick is a grey coloured repair cement mortar. There’s an index finger at the bottom with a tattooed scale, lines and dots 5mm apart.

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

Baryte and calcite on quartz from Tyndrum 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🖤

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

Dreamy goth smoky quartz from Glen Rosa, Arran 🖤

Image of a hand holding a large rectanglular shaped specimen of black to dark brown smoky quartz crystals on pale yellow to whitish microcline feldspar. From Glen Rosa, Arran. Held in the collections of The Hunterian, University of Glasgow.

Close up of the sample in previous photo with black to dark brown smoky quartz crystals on pale yellow to whitish microcline feldspar. From Glen Rosa, Arran. Held in the collections of The Hunterian, University of Glasgow.

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

Pure stoater of an agate from Angus 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Photo of a two finger holding a polished agate half against a plain white background. The agate displays angular concentric (fortification) banding around the outer edges, and banding ranges in colour through red, brown, grey, white, orange and pale blue. There’s also an eye on the right hand edge where there’s banding forming in a concentric circle. The centre exhibits a small vug with white to clear/colourless crystalline quartz and small quartz crystals which point inwards. From south of Arbroath, Angus. Held in the Hunterian Collections, University of Glasgow.

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Reposted by Dr Katie Strang

EcoMuseum of Scottish Mining Landscapes @mininglandscapes.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Returning to #MiningLandscapes #Ecomuseum walks of the week: Minto (Brighills) Colliery #Fife one our new routes (and the shortest at 1 mile) created by the #Cardenden History Group and brought to life by the daughter of the former under-manager. See 👉https://www.mining-landscapes.org/route/49

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

Hello, my hair is now matching this pretty wee amethyst and calcite cluster from Guanajuato, Mexico 💜 #DyingMyHairToMatchRocks

Selfie of Katie with pale violet to white coloured hair, wearing a cut up black satanic planet band shirt with lots of tattoos. The background is her out of focus bedroom.

Photo of a hand holding a small palm sized cluster of pale purple coloured amethyst and white calcite from Guanajuato, Mexico. Specimen held in the collections of The Hunterian, University of Glasgow - GLAHM:M7864.

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

Here’s some gloriously garnetiferous pegmatite from near Loch Garve (Ross-shire) for #MineralMonday 🖤

Photo of a hand holding a hand specimen of Precambrian garnet pegmatite from near Loch Garve, Strathpeffer, Ross-shire against a plain white background. The garnets are abundant throughout the rock and exhibit a deep purplish red colour (almandine), in a white to grey coloured quartz and muscovite matrix. Held in the collections of The Hunterian, University of Glasgow - GLAHM:100448.

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

These greywacke pebbles were deposited as lapetus Ocean sediments & spent the next 420+ million years getting caught up in catastrophic continental collisions, undergoing deformation & succumbing to erosion. Pretty wild how every vein & fracture is like a wee glimpse into the abyss of deep time 🖤

$Portrait photo of a hand palm side up holding a selection of sea-worn pebbles from Partanhall shore, Berwickshire. The pebbles are Silurian greywackes that vary in colour from dark grey through to an olive green. They each have lines running through them that differ in thickness and orientation, with some crosscutting others. The fractures have been infilled with white to pale pink coloured calcite. The palm has a tattoo of an ammonite in cross section on it and the background is an out of focus beach.$

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

Had some much needed downtime the other day and got my stomach tattooed. Adorable wee goth bat with an ammonite on its chest (obviously) 🖤

Selfie of Katie taken in a mirror showing a goth bat tattoo on her tummy. There’s an ammonite on the bats chest. Artist is @ kingofbones on instagram. The background is Katie’s room. My stomach is basically one giant bruise right now lol

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

Last minute change of plans meant I was able to go to the opening of ‘Outside In’ at Maryhill Burgh Halls on Fri. This new exhibition tells the stories of how migrants bring the world to Scotland, contributing to a more diverse, dynamic & inclusive country. On until 21st Feb ‘25 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🖤

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

KoRn x A.D.I.D.A.S 🔥 Mosher level up.

Photo of Katie standing in front of a wall (made of blonde Carboniferous sandstone) wearing a black sequin and blue coloured tracksuit from the recent adidas x korn collab.

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Dr Katie Strang @palaeokatie.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

Excellent goth venue for my talk today ☠️

Photo taken from the kirkyard of the church of the Holy rude in Stirling city.

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