iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Brilliant first day for our University of Birmingham field course to Dinosaur Provincial Park 🇨🇦.

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Riley Black 🏳️‍⚧️ 🦕 @restingdinoface.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

genAI cannot ever do what paleoart does. Want to envision the ancient past? Read a book, use your imagination, pick up a pencil, or just look at all the amazing ways people have wondered about the deep past. It's a human thing. My latest, on Buttondown. 🧪 buttondown.com/restingdinof...

buttondown.com

I Want My DinoTV: Keep AI Away From My Dinosaurs

A machine can’t feel how you do about dinosaurs.

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Thomas Cullen @thomascullen.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Now out in Cretaceous Research, 2 collaborative papers using isotopes to investigate vertebrate palaeoecology & anomalous d13C patterns via a combo of amber & enamel geochem from Saskatchewan. Great work by Ben in leading these for his MSc! More research to come on this topic soon, so stay tuned.

image of cover page of 1st new paper, link doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2026.106427

image of cover page of 2nd new paper, link doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2026.106446

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Brigid Christison @brigidomorpha.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

inspired to participate in my first #makeaterriblecomicday by @pseudonymjones.bsky.social. happy #makeaterriblecomicday2026 to all who celebrate ❤️

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Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 09/06/2026

Bowing down to federal pressure and echoing the ex-gay movement, the Cleveland Clinic is establishing a detransition center for trans people, the second of its kind nationwide. Our writer S. Baum reports on the deal struck with Trump's government. www.erininthemorning.com/p/cleveland-...

erininthemorning.com

Cleveland Clinic Establishes Second “Detransition” Center in the Country After DOJ Settlement

“There continues to be no increased need, and it is a bigoted, sad performative farce the Clinic is choosing to promote.”

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Mira Thompson @wensthomp.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Perks to being sick at home: sometimes you see 10 species of warbler in just under 30 ish minutes while having your morning coffee! Including my fav the Blackburnian Warbler!

List of bird species Mira saw form her apartment balcony this morning. List is as follows: 3 Chimeny Swifts, 1 Gray Catbird, 2 Swainsons thrushes, 1 American Robin, 5 House Sparrows, 3 Chipping Sparrows, 4 Tennessee warblers, 2 Nashville Warblers, 1 Magnolia Warbler, 1 Bay-breasted warbler, 1 Blackburnian warbler, 1 Northern Yellow Warbler, 2 Chestnut Sided warblers, 4 Blackpoll warblers, 1 Palm Warbler, 1 yellow rumped warbler, and 1 Rose Breasted Grosbeak.

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Mira Thompson @wensthomp.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Beautiful Chestnut Sided Warbler posing for me today!

Chestnut Sided Warbler sitting on a wooded deck. It's mouth is agape for some reason.

Side view of Chestnut Sided Warbler on wooden deck.

Another side view of Chestnut Sided Warbler on wooden deck.

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Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. @arctomet.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Ben Egan, Thomas M. Cullen, Maria I. Velez, Seyed Hesam-Aldin Samaei, Jinkai Xue & Ryan C. McKellar (2026) A Campanian ecosystem reconstruction through the geochemistry of enamel and amber Cretaceous Research 106427 doi: doi.org/10.1016/j.cr... www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

doi.org

Redirecting

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Mira Thompson @wensthomp.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Incredibly proud to share that I won the Carroll Prize for best presentation at CSVP 2026! Thank you to everyone who helped along the way! Looking forward to publishing this amazing research. For anyone not there, turns out Centrosaurus and Styracosaurus were buddies and many other new finds!

Mira standing to the left of CSVP president Dr. Danielle Fraser from the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa.

Mira on stage presenting her CSVP talk. Behind her is a projector screen and the slide is showing information about how well resolved stratigraphy is needed to resolve evolutionary theories

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J Pardo @jdpardo.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Looking for an international earth sci or palaeo conference outside the US in 2028? Consider IGC 2028 in Calgary. We're soliciting proposals for vertebrate palaeontology sessions....get in touch with us if you have some great ideas!

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Asher Elbein @asherelbein.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

This is wild: the authors find evidence for giant, macro-predatory octopuses in Late Cretaceous oceans that might max out at *62 feet long,* comfortably large enough to attack, kill and eat mosasaurs

science.org

Earliest octopuses were giant top predators in Cretaceous oceans

Top predators drive changes in ecosystem structure. For the last ~370 million years, large-sized vertebrates have dominated the apex of the marine food chain, while invertebrates have served as smalle...

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Riley Black 🏳️‍⚧️ 🦕 @restingdinoface.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

This week's new article is out! Honestly, I can't gush about these fossils enough. Three protomammal embryos, all from a species that survived one of the worst mass extinctions of all time? It's amazing.

buttondown.com

The Most Precious Protomammal

A stunning find, three protomammal embryos reveal how our distant relatives reproduced and grew up.

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Mira Thompson @wensthomp.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

The abstract volume for CSVP 2026 is now available. Check it out to see the amazing research that will be presented! journals.library.ualberta.ca/vamp/index.p...

journals.library.ualberta.ca

View of Canadian Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology Annual Meeting Abstracts 2026

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Mira Thompson @wensthomp.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

For #FossilFriday, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who shared my letter. Ultimately I hoped to have many people read it and get people thinking and talking about these issues that effect many in our field. Had lots of constructive conversations and will continue to push for safety for all!

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Krista Koeller @kristalerista.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

I’d love to have some sort of virtual option. Right now I’m mostly inspired by what sicb is doing: having a brown bag talk once a month. I’d love to keep the SVP community connected all year round and allow everyone to participate. I’d also love to hear other ideas.

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David Levering @biogeoverse.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Regarding potential virtual paleontology meetings. (I built and ran the 2023 SVP virtual meeting.)

If there’s a desire for an online-based robust virtual paleontology “meeting”, my honest best advice is the folks that really really want this to happen aggregate a leadership team and make it happen. This isn’t a dig (🥁) at all, but it’s not going to happen through SVP this year. I ran the 2023 virtual meeting and promise there just isn’t enough time on the calendar to go the SVP route.

If a team of 8-12 highly motivated, reliable individuals can be brought together on this and establish 10-point lists of benefits, challenges, and deliverable targets, I will enthusiastically help however I can in a consulting capacity. Please understand though that however much work you think this will be, double that and you might be close. Not trying to discourage anyone, but that’s the reality of these things. That said, accessibility is crucial and this overall concept is definitely worth pursuing.

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Anthony of the Badlands @mosasaurologist.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

It was pretty amazing hearing all the meaningless platitudes from the SVP president of only holding meetings where their membership can feel safe, then turn around and host it in fucking Ohio.

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Dr. Rich B @morphometrich.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Hey @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social This letter here fully articulates the major problems with the annual meeting right now (there are others to be sure; but these are the big ones now). I would urge you all to consider this proposal. And think about the anecdotes presented; they were not cool…

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Benji Paysnoe @benj-art-min.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

A succinct and important message to the 2026 SVP Meeting this year! The United States has created dangerous environments for the LGBTQIA+ community, foreign travel, and Science in general. Not everyone has a safety net - Let's work to ensure that everyone has a safe way to continue participating!

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Brigid Christison @brigidomorpha.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

No one should have to compromise their safety for their career, and vice versa. @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social needs to add an online option.

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PalaeoPoems @palaeopoems.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Mira is one of the founders of PalaeoPoems. We presented at @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social years ago in Toronto and it gave us a real platform to talk about the project. An online option will give that chance to even more early career researchers!

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Mira Thompson @wensthomp.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Today, for the safety of all SVP members, I request with this open letter that the @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social provides an online option for this year's annual meeting. Myself and many others no longer feel it is safe to travel to and within the USA. Please share the letter everywhere you can!

Letter to the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology advocating that their annual meeting have an online option in addition to the in person meeting in Cleveland. Unfortunately, alt text cannot have all of the letter text but the reasoning involves threatof violence to at risk groups in the US as well as issues related to contracting dangerous diseases and other safety threats.

Continuation of letter. Please read previous alt text for summary.

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Riley Black 🏳️‍⚧️ 🦕 @restingdinoface.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

A few weeks ago CBC reporter Sheena Goodyear reached out to me for comment on the new Spinosaurus paper. I said I couldn’t, because of Epstein connection Nathan Myhrvold’s involvement with it. We got to talking about how paleontology - especially dinosaur research- remains hostile to women. 🧪

cbc.ca

Paleontology has an Epstein problem. Women in the field say it's a symptom of a deeper misogyny | CBC Radio

The names of hundreds of scientists have appeared in the Epstein files, including prominent dinosaur researchers. As the paleontology community reckons with the fallout of these revelations, women in ...

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Mira Thompson @wensthomp.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

TMP 1980.023.0004, a Corythosaurus intermedius skeleton left in the ground in Dinosaur Provincial Park. Despite being seen by thousands of visitors to the Park, this specimen and the rocks that preserve it have some surprising secrets to tell still. Stay tuned! #FossilFriday

A skeleton of the Dinosaur Corythosaurus intermedius, left in the rocks it was found in. The photo views it from the spine. The head and neck are tucked and twisted under the body. The bones are a brown colour, contrasting with the pale gray sandstone. A white plastic cut out of the skull leans against the wall of the building the skeleton is found in.

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Dr. Joe Moysiuk @cambrojoe.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

New records of osteolepiforms, dipnoans (lungfish), onychodonts, and placoderms from Manitoba. #ManitobaFossils #CanadaFossils cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/...

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J Pardo @jdpardo.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

New paper! How weird could Permian animals get? Turns out, pretty weird. Meet the stem tetrapod Tanyka amnicola from the Pedra de Fogo Formation of northeast Brazil royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

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Mira Thompson @wensthomp.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Proof of my precognition, my guess last night for the next fire starter was "dog". Lo and behold.

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Joschua Knüppe @joschuaknuppe.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Result from the Joggins Formation #paleostream! This Canadian site is an absolute classic and even if you are not familiar with its name you probably know at least one of its major players...

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Bryan Gee @koskinonodon.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

I have nothing of substance to add re: the condemnation of paleo associations with Epstein, but as the initiator of one of the more recent high-profile SVP ethics cases who spent months going through their process, I have some thoughts re: SVP's handling of ethics cases/reports. A thread 🧵:

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Skye McDavid @skyemcdavid.com · 04/02/2026

Is @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social being serious here? No, the presence of a name on an email doesn't establish wrongdoing. But the *content* of those emails is what so many members, including myself, are outraged about. This response does nothing but further degrade my confidence in SVP leadership

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Riley Black 🏳️‍⚧️ 🦕 @restingdinoface.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

It’s tangential to his relationship with Epstein, but remember Jack Horner rose to fame by claim jumping Marion Brandvold. She found Egg Mountain and the baby Maiasaura, loaned them to Jack, and had to sue to get them back - returned in 2004.

bozemandailychronicle.com

Dinosaur dispute settled; bones returned to woman who found them

LIVINGSTON - The brown cardboard carton in the corner of Fred Paoli's law office has an unusual marking on its side.

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Skye McDavid @skyemcdavid.com · 01/02/2026

Jack Horner being in the Epstein files is not something I had on my bingo card for 2026.... Horner seemingly visited Epstein's ranch multiple times, including apparently with a student.

Email from Leslie Groff to Jeffrey Epstein
Subject: Jack Horner to Ranch
"Jack Horner says to please tell you he would love to see your ranch and he would be abailable to come any day after July 25th."

Email from Lesley Groff to Jeffrey Epsetin
Should I check in with Jack Horner? He believes hens to leave for the ranch on July 26 (2 weeks from today). Do I need to tell him plans are in a holding pattern?

Jeffery Epstein responds:
delay him one day

Lesley Groff responds:
Another tid bit! JE is asking me to delay jack horner one day! So this would be an arrival of July 27 depart 29... I have emailed Jack to aske if this would work with his schedule.... :)

Email from John Horner to Jeffrey Epstein 6/29/2012

Hi [redacted] Since i don't really know how long it would take to get from Albuquerque to the ranch and visa versa [sic], and don't know how I'm to get there (would someone be picking me up or should I rent a car) it would probably be best if you just booked the flight for me. Delta Airlines connecting through Salt Lake is the most convenient for me. My official name and frequent number [sic] is:
John Robert Horner
Delta # [REDACTED]
The geology maps are perfect.
Jack

email from Lesley Groff to Jeffrey Epstein
"Reminder: John Horner and student to visit ranch today... [redacted] =ill [sic] be taking care of them...

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Mira Thompson @wensthomp.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

A rare view of the charming, crooked smile of Black Beauty's original skull at the Tyrrell Museum. #FossilFriday

Picture of the front of a Tyrannosaur rex skull. Specifically, the skull of the Black Beauty specimen at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, named so because the fossils have a unique black colour. The skull is held up by steel bars. The left side of the skull (right side of the photo) is more flat than the other side due to the fossil being compressed in one direction after burial. This makes the skull have a bit of a crooked smile.

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Mira Thompson @wensthomp.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Gotta say this whole sand thing is pretty funny. One thing Plait was adamant on is he thinks lay folks don't define sand as a size category. But they do! Regular people will tell you if a beach is sandy or gravely, because they see and feel the different grain size.

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Manitoba Museum @manitobamuseum.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

When you think of fossils you probably think of dinosaur bones, mammoth tusks, or corals and shells. You probably don't think of eyes, guts, and nervous systems, but in some rare cases these soft tissues have been fossilized too! Check out some examples in this video with Dr. Joe Moysiuk.

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Laura Cooper @transitionalform.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below! Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage

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Mira Thompson @wensthomp.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Proud to announce two models I painted went on display at the Manitoba Museum for their "Weird Wonders" from the dawn of complex life display! I got to paint Stanleycaris and Cambroraster. Sadly forgot to take close ups of the finished models, so the close ups are WIPs. Go see them at the museum!

Museum display showing a model of the Cambria marine arthropod Stanleycaris to the left of the original fossil. The fossil is in a slab of flat tan mudstone. The model is sandy coloured with large sphere shaped black eyes and two strange clawed mouth parts. The display is set up on terraced pale coliured plywood.

The exhibit text reads as follows:
Stanleycaris hirpex had a third eye in the middle of its head. Similar to modern dragonflies, this extra eye may have helped it to stay oriented while swimming fast, while the pair of stalked, multi-faceted eyes provided a more detailed view of the surroundings. ROMIP 68665. 3D model artists: Sabrina Cappelli/Mira Thompson.

Stanleycaris model. The colour of it is sandy tans and browns. Dark coloured splotches run the length of the body, which is flanked by a dozen or so fin like appendages. Its face has one black sphere shaped eye on an eyeshadow and another oval shaped one at the front centre of the head. Underneath the head are curled and clawed mouth parts.

Display showing a fossil and model of the Cambrian marine arthropod Cambroraster on the right and left respectively. The fossil is in a square grey slab of shale and is of the "millennium falcon" shaped carapace. The model is about 1/3 the size of the fossil, is tan coloured and the carapce is covered in a lattice/fish net like pattern of dark cracks.

The exhibit text reads as follows:
Cambroraster falcatus had a tiny body and a shell covering its head which resembled the Millenium Falcon spaceship from Star Wars, inspiring its name. This enabled it to plough through the mud in search of buried prey. ROMIP 66030. 3D model artists: Lars Fields/Mira Thompson.

WIP picture of Cambroraster falcatus model. The model is overall a tan to yellow colour. The prominent carapace is featured near the camera and is covered in a dark brown lattice of cracks. Its two eyes are black and rice grain shaped, sitting atop eye stalks at the back of the carapace. The "fins" on the sides of the body behind the carapace are subtly covered in brown, vein like patterns.

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Mira Thompson @wensthomp.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Proud to say I won the T.E. Bolton Award for best student presentation at the Canadian Paleontological Conference tonight!

Picture of Mira's smiling face when she won her award.

Screen capture of Mira giving a PowerPoint presentation. The slide shows grey rock outcrops of the Dinosaur Park Formation and its stratigraphic context in a simple block diagram. It is listed as 76.7 to 74.2 million years old.

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Manitoba Museum @manitobamuseum.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Manitoba Museum Student Associate and Mitacs Fellow Urgon Snider’s Master’s thesis research is on microfossils. He’ll be working dissolving ancient rocks, extracting tiny fossils, and mounting them for our collections, expanding our understanding of 450-million-year-old ecosystems! #FossilFriday

Urgon with some fossils collected on Lake Winnipeg this summer, where further fieldwork will be continued this fall.

The moon-like landscape of the Alberta badlands, taken during fieldwork this summer in Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta.

An exciting discovery! Urgon found and collected this large specimen while doing fieldwork in southern Alberta this summer.

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Anthony (Tony) J. Martin @ichnologist.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

Did ceratopsian (horned) & ankylosaur (armored) dinosaurs walk together? Newly discovered dinosaur tracksite in Dinosaur Provincial Park (Alberta CA) suggests they did, similar to modern multi-species herds. News item includes comments by Yours Truly. 🧪🦖🐾 P.S. Quite a day for cool fossil finds!

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Mira Thompson @wensthomp.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

New research that Dr. Paul Durkin, one of my supervisors, worked on!

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Gabriel Ugueto @serpenillus.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

Here it is! Please welcome the AMAZING Mirasaura grauvogeli, a NEW MARVELOUS Drepanosaur published in NATURE today! This astonishing reptile lived during the Middle Triassic in Europe and it possessed an amazing crest made of plume-like structures! I was commissioned to bring it to life #paleoart

Illustration showing a pair of Mirasaura perched on fern fronds. The green animals show their tall orange, brown and white crests while a small beetle flies over one of them

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Riley Black 🏳️‍⚧️ 🦕 @restingdinoface.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

Look at this perfect Triassic friend. Mirasaura was a "monkey lizard" with a prominent sail on its back that wasn't really like scales or feathers. Studying these fossils also revealed that the enigma Longisquama is a drepanosaur with a fan, too. I'll tell you more at @smithsonianmag.bsky.social

smithsonianmag.com

This Surprising Ancient Reptile Had a Colorful, Corrugated Sail on Its Back. New Research Suggests It Was Used to Communicate

A 247-million-year-old fossil from a German natural history museum reveals the secrets of Mirasaura

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Mira Thompson @wensthomp.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

Really cool stuff, and I'm not just saying that because it shares my name!

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Scott Forbes🇨🇦 @theecologyprof.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

This is very cool! A new placoderm (armoured) fish from the Devonian, the age of fishes: Elmosteus lundarensis. It was found in the Interlake region of Manitoba. And no, it's not named for Elmo. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

cbc.ca

Move over, Jurassic Park. Manitoba was home to newly discovered 390-million-year-old extinct fish | CBC News

A research team from the University of Manitoba has discovered a new genus of placoderm fish, named Elmosteus lundarensis, one of the earliest fish to develop bones, a jaw and teeth.

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Journal of Systematic Palaeontology @journalsystpal.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

#FossilFriday - explore the stunning armoured plates of a 390-million-year-old placoderm fish fossil from Manitoba! 🐟 Image shows the central and postorbital plates of Elmosteus lundarensis gen. et comb. nov. Read the full study by Jobbins et al. (2025): buff.ly/g6sEO4A #PaleoSky #Fossils #NHM

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