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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc

@skpevsner.bsky.social
1.6K followers 783 following 563 posts

synapsid enthusiast | PhD student at Oxford | UChicago and Bristol alum | half Indian half Jewish progressive paleontologist | he/him spencerpevsner.com spencers-music-lists.ghost.io

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Reposted by Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc
Kiersten Formoso, PhD(epressed) @formorphology.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Got some exciting new mosasaur research out today in Current Biology! How fast could these predators burst? www.cell.com/current-biol...
cell.com
Mosasaur tail morphology reveals burst swimming performance and ecological diversity
Formoso et al. develop a drag-based “slam-start” model to estimate lunge velocity in four mosasaurs from skeletal and muscle reconstructions. Tail curl amplitude mainly drives performance: russellosau...
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April Neander 🏳️‍🌈 @aineander.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Today our paper introducing Megacauda is published in Nature! Which means I can finally share my illustration! Meet this beautifully preserved Jurassic, semi-aquatic swimmer #sciart #paleontology
An illustration of a furry mammaliaform with a long, flattened, scaly tail floating in the greenish water. A salamander looks up from the bottom.
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Accepted!!!
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Received another round of minor edits, but they were all only formatting related! Resubmitted this morning, hopefully for the final time!
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Kiersten Formoso, PhD(epressed) @formorphology.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Hi! My World View in Nature Reviews Biodiversity was published today! Read about my three main aims when educating people about topics in natural history. www.nature.com/articles/s44...
nature.com
Three ideas to inspire curiosity in natural history education
Nature Reviews Biodiversity - Natural history can captivate the minds of all manner of people for a multitude of reasons, but a shifting media landscape demands adaptation from public educators....
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Xavier A. Jenkins @semifossorial.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Out today: We show that Westlothiana lizziae or "Lizzie," described 35 years ago as the world's oldest reptile - is not a stem amniote at all, but a stem tetrapod. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The part and counterpart of the holotype specimen of Westlothiana. Paleoartistic reconstruct of Westlothiana by Jacob Schick based on our new data
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
While this is good news, I still do not understand the need to wait to implement reform until after the next election - seems like an enormous and unnecessary gamble! If the commission you form recommends a move to STV or some other form of PR, do it right away!
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Revisions have been submitted! Here’s hoping that addresses all the concerns
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Happy #FossilFriday! Today we’ve got this cool new mount of Eustreptospondylus on display at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History! The exhibitions team here have outdone themselves with the new displays, including this theropod mounted with real fossils alongside 3D printed elements! 🧪⚒️
A skeletal mount of the theropod Eustreptospondylus on display at the OUMNH. The skeleton is a mix of real fossils and 3D printed elements to create a composite complete skeleton in a dynamic pose.
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Reposted by Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc
Hady George @houdzgeorge.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I found out my paper on Dinodontosaurus was provisionally accepted two days before Spencer’s post, and 6 days after it I got the official acceptance Few #FossilFriday posts have been such a timely surprise
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Lmao that’s incredible!! What perfect timing
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Hady George @houdzgeorge.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Welcome Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda! I'm delighted to introduce you to a new species of protomammal. Hailing from the Triassic of Tanzania, this is the first record of Dinodontosaurus outside of South America, and it informs on the origin of dinosaurs. Here's a thread summarising our findings 🧵
Life reconstruction of two Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda individuals by Gabriel UguetoSkull and jaw of the holotype of Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda. Original photos by Jonathan Jackson
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Society of Vertebrate Paleontology @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology stands with the Academy of Natural Sciences (ANSP) staff, and preservation of the ANSP Museum. SVP urges our member community and anyone who enjoys and supports the natural sciences to speak up on behalf of the ANSP and their staff! #SaveTheAcademy
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Surprising absolutely no one, my accent is closest to NYC, but I always seem to get a bit of California or Hawaii thrown in there whenever I do these things
A heat map showing where in the US my dialect is closest to, with the most similar areas being New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, and the least similar cities being New Orleans, Atlanta, and Nashville
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Reposted by Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc
Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Attention Philadelphia! We're hosting a rally to demand that Drexel University maintain The Academy of Natural Sciences Museum open to the public. Join us on Tuesday morning at 10am in front of the academy. Please spread the word, we need all hands on deck! RSVP here: luma.com/1qwnrqz2
A dinosaur on a white background with the text SAve the academy of Natural sciences museum rally Tuesday Sept 8 10am in front of the academy 1900 ben Franklin Parkway. "Tell Drexel University "Keep the museum open!" with the logos for Philly Science Action, Skype a Scientist, and Green Philly
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Dr. Scott Hartman - but not THAT kind of doctor @skeletaldrawing.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Have you ever wanted to visually compare the size of your favorite extinct animals? Now you can, as I'm launching an interactive size comparison tool on my website. Give it a try and let me know what you think: www.skeletaldrawing.com/compare/
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Getting rid of first past the post is not only the most surefire way to keep Reform out at the next election, but it’s also the democratic thing to do. Waiting for another election for a “mandate” as Burnham says here he wants to do is weak sauce. You have the majority now! Use it!
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Reposted by Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc
Ryan J Hollister @phaneritic.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Really cool 3D models of fossils from La Brea and McKittrick. Buried in the paper are links to college level lessons (UC ACCESS) using the models! Someone else posted this link but when I returned to BlueSky to repost, it had vanished in the timeline. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
Computed tomography datasets and 3D models of California Quaternary tar seep faunas for education and research
The Rancho La Brea and McKittrick asphalt seeps of California have produced exceptionally rich Cenozoic fossil assemblages, preserving late Pleistocene to Holocene fauna from distinct environmental...
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
My IPC abstract was accepted, so I’ve just booked my flights and accommodations - it’s looking like it’ll be a fun conference!
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Reposted by Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc
Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Presenter: [The argument was put that DEI advanced people not on merit] Woolley: "There are 975 Professors at Cambridge. How many do you think are black? Paddy O'Connell: "Its a fair question you're asking me. So I am going to say 30%" Woolley: "I tell you: less than half a per cent"
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Plenty to reflect about re: the Arday affair, but I'm going to repeat this one thing. The playbook the right used here is effective even though it's not especially sophisticated, as it relies on the audience to do the dirty work. I've been calling it "Trojan horse propaganda", let's go with that. 1/
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
And I was getting so excited too!
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
I thought I was going to have just a single full day back in the UK tomorrow that I was going to use to see The Odyssey in IMAX 70mm film, but now instead I am sad
The saddest email informing me that the screening of The Odyssey I had booked a ticket for has been cancelled as a result of high temperatures
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Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
It’s that time again, friends. Time to share the greatest eclipse explainer ever.
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Krista Koeller @kristalerista.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Do you want to go to grad school in #paleontology 🦖, #geology ⚒️, or #biology🧪? Join the @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social Graduate School Application Prep Group! We’ll walk you through the application process in weekly workshops. Sign up with this form! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
A flyer that says "Do you want to be a paleontologist? Join the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Graduate School Application Prep Group. This series of free Zoom workshops will: tell you how the field of paleontology works, guide you through the graduate school application process, connect you with other applicants, give you feedback on your applications. Anyone interested is welcome!
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Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. @arctomet.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Were there tiny dinosaurs? New study explores one of evolution’s biggest mysteries | EurekAlert! www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
eurekalert.org
Were there tiny dinosaurs? New study explores one of evolution’s biggest mysteries
Dinosaurs are famous for being big, from the towering Tyrannosaurus rex to the colossal Apatosaurus. But a new study suggests that one of the greatest mysteries of dinosaur evolution isn’t ...
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Kester Allen @kesterallen.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
I don’t get a lot of opportunity to share the peacock-turkey battle photo I took last year, it looked like a dinosaur showdown:
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
This seems like an insane system with no human oversight whatsoever, as now all my friends that contacted through Facebook messenger are gone to me, friends and family for whom Facebook was the last social media they used are also inaccessible, due to events outside my control in under 24 hours
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
So it seems that my Facebook account was hacked last night and disabled for suspicious activity. I requested an appeal as I went to change my password, found I couldn’t change the password until this morning, at which point my appeal was denied and my account is permanently disabled with no recourse
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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 30/07/2026
'It is generally a mistake, in American politics, to say “let’s wait four years and build.” It is wiser to seize every momentary advantage and push it as hard and as far as you can.' www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/aoc-must-r...
hamiltonnolan.com
AOC Must Run For President
History is calling. Sorry!
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Minor revisions only! A phrase like music to my ears. Time to get to work!
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Electoral reform and proportional representation are the way forward and how Reform gets defanged
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Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 21/07/2026
"There are other capable progressives weighing a run in 2028," writes @sunraysunray.bsky.social. "However, none of them can do the two things AOC can do at once: run a serious national campaign as one of the most recognized figures in the country, and pull an entire movement into being behind it."
theguardian.com
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should run for president | Bhaskar Sunkara
The congresswoman can run a serious national campaign on the left and pull a movement in behind it. She should get in early
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 21/07/2026
i'm sorry, what exactly is the evidence that hanania is a "former" white supremacist?
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Z. Jack Tseng @tsengzj.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Our newest paper on mammalian dental evolution, out today as the cover article in @science.org, lead by @narimanechatar.bsky.social with a team of fantastic early career scientists!!! 🎉🥳 “Performance trade-offs define a fundamental dental dichotomy in mammals” www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Cover image of Science Magazine, with images of carnivore jaws and teeth on black background.
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Ben Miller @extinctmonsters.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Some lukewarm takes about these name-brand dinosaur auctions and how we talk about them: One, every article about the Gus auction quotes a paleontologist explaining why private collectors buying up fossils is a problem for researchers. They used to just copy the press releases. That's progress.
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
I’ll have to check it out! Though I have been through their museum of zoology which I thought was excellently done
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
None of the photos I took of the specimen have a good scale bar, but this is some of the original figuring of the specimen, scale is listed at the bottom of the image!
Original illustration of the dentary that comprises part of the holotype of Megalosaurus bucklandii
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Happy #FossilFriday! I feel very lucky to currently be at the same institution that houses the very first dinosaur fossil ever formally described! This Megalosaurus jaw was named back in 1824, over 200 years ago, and the term “dinosaur” was coined 18 years later 🧪⚒️
A photo of the type specimen of Megalosaurus bucklandii sitting behind a glass case. The fossil is a partial lower jaw with one tooth fully erupted in the middle of the fossil and a number of other teeth just beginning to erupt elsewhere in the jaw. The fossil is housed at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
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Ben Miller @extinctmonsters.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Wait everyone shut up for a second: the discovery of the Brachiosaurus holotype is at the exact midpoint between the founding of the United States and today (July 4, 1901)
Bearded guy in a hat lies next to recently uncovered sauropod humerus that is longer than him
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 29/06/2026
need to start thinking now about a full package of judicial reforms: new justices, new circuits, new district courts, ethics reforms, docket reforms, and transparency reforms.
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Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
I don’t know man, who is “the Democratic Party” if it’s not the voters?Democratic voters choose candidates, not party leaders. And party leaders need to listen to what voters are telling us - and right now they are demanding our party be bolder.
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Happy #FossilFriday! Today we’ve got Dinodontosaurus, a South American dicynodont! This display at the UFRGS in Porto Alegre, Brazil, shows an adult skeletal mount surrounded by numerous juveniles - whether they’re a family or a graveyard resulting from the Great Dying is for you to decide! 🦊⚒️🧪
A skeletal mount of an adult Dinodontosaurus surrounded by skeletons of juveniles of the same species
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
So glad they played my fave song too!
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Warpaint are just too good
Warpaint performing on stage with white lights that look like small circles illuminating themWarpaint performing on stage with a red glow illuminating the stage and purple spotlights streaming in from above and the side of the stageWarpaint performing on stage with lights above them shining large yellow and white circles around them
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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
“In his first column for Zeteo UK, acclaimed journalist and author Owen Jones looks at how the lie about immigrants pushed by British media and political elites is fueling the violence we see today.” 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽
zeteonews.co.uk
The Belfast Riots Are an Anti-Migrant Pogrom - and the British Media Has Serious Questions to Answer
In his first column for Zeteo UK, acclaimed journalist and author Owen Jones looks at how the lie about immigrants pushed by British media and political elites is fueling the violence we see today.
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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 10/06/2026
there are a lot of loathsome politicians but Starmer inspires utter contempt like few others. a cringing worm of a man. a man who, when kicked in the face, apologizes to his assailant and begs for more. Neville Chamberlain was steadfast and farsighted by comparison
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Spencer K. Pevsner, MSc @skpevsner.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
In an alternate universe where Harris won the 2024 election I thought Whitmer would have been a solid heir to the Dem movement but yeah her behavior after the election has had me lose all faith in her as a standard bearer
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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 10/06/2026
that's right www.nytimes.com/2026/06/10/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Supreme Court Doesn’t Own the Constitution
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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
“Court packing is never ever something you should do” is not a tenable position. It’s trivial to imagine a court so extremely anti-constitutional (and yet 34 senators won’t convict) where court packing would be the necessary lesser evil. The only question is if the Roberts Court is that bad. (it is)
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