New research out today! Some lizards lose their ears over the course of evolutionary history. This isn’t uncommon for fossorial species, like snakes and other limbless lizards. But, other instances often go without explanation. We look at one such instance, in a group known as the “sand lizards.”

My fellow naturalists, I figured out how to break google AI.

Idk about you, but the this is my favorite stage of writing a manuscript.

Who’s going to #SICB2026? Hope to see many of you there!

Surprise, there's a fourth paper! Just out today, we segmented the skull of the Permian stem reptile Protorothyris, so you don't have to! Work done with Adam Behlke and @hanssues.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... All meshes also available on Morphosource.

Post your last photo of DC to show what a hell-hole it is. That’s one green hell-hole. Taken from the top of the National Cathedral.

Learning about third eyes at the Smithsonian today!

How’s your research going today? Because I’ve been oscillating between these two extremes.

I’ve been waiting so long to share the most beautiful dinosaur display I’ve ever seen for #FossilFriday - spotted in downtown DC 😍

I was too lost in the scientific sauce to #FossilFriday today, so please enjoy an old pic from the Dr. Seuss gallery in New Orleans. What kind of creature even is this?

This week I played among the Carboniferous floras and found these beauties for #FossilFriday 🌱 These aren’t flowering plants, and there wouldn’t be flowers for hundreds of millions more years. But they’re no less stunning imo. Housed at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Giving the invertebrates some love today for #FossilFriday Gorgeous eurypterid from New York, on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

New Year, New #FossilFriday! Nothing as classic as a T-Rex chomping on a Triceratops. Visitors flock to this display, but I love how no one in the museum ever questions a predator biting into a massive boney plate. On display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

#FossilFriday You want terror birds? I’LL GIVE YOU TERROR BIRDS 🦅

I’m no mineralogist, but I’d regret not showing off this incredible copper sheet for #MineralMonday. Weighing in at 324 lbs from Michigan, it’s one of the largest copper sheets in the world. It’s enough to coat ~2.5 million pennies! On display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Trilophosaurus is reaching for you this #FossilFriday On display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

(2/2) Scales can be different shapes and sizes across the body. When a bone forms inside the scale, it's called an osteoderm - which is what you're seeing in the fossil. Check out this iguana for example. Just across the head are scales of lots of different sizes! CC License: tinyurl.com/5n99yu6e

You're correct that the head is top left. At the bottom is the hind limb, and top right is the tail. Check out this diagram from Nesbitt et al. (2009). Let's talk about scales...(1/2) Link to paper: academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...

Vancleavea campi, a Late Triassic archosauriform preserved with some of the most incredible osteoderms I’ve ever seen. Cast on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. #FossilFriday

Photo of me singing “All I want for Christmas is you” as mouse on display at the NMNH 🐭 🎄

This is actually the best way to look at fossils. Why would I zoom in on a pdf and protect my posture when I can just place my face mere inches from the computer screen???

DC’s Chinatown is sprinkled with zodiac animals on the walkways. What animals are in your city/town? #citywildlife

Since we’re all a bit new here, a little more on me. When I’m not scoring fossils and running analyses, you can find me creating something new in the kitchen. If you’re planning fieldwork, I’m the gal you want in cook tent ❤️⛺️⚒️🦴 You can follow these culinary experiments on my insta below 😉

Walking into work today like…