Michael Skvarla

Bony fish discovery‼️ During my class field (Paleontology & Society) trip this Pachyrhizodus caninus jaw of 11" (28 cm) was found. Upper Cretaceous (lower Campanian, ~82 Ma) Mooreville Chalk, central Alabama. Discovered by George Martin. #FossilFriday!!

Closeup Bony fish discovery‼️

Field photo

🐟 Bony fish discovery‼️ During my class field (Paleontology & Society) trip this Pachyrhizodus caninus jaw of 11" (28 cm) was found. Upper Cretaceous (lower Campanian, ~82 Ma) Mooreville Chalk, central Alabama. Discovered by George Martin. University of Alabama Museums paleo coll. #FossilFriday!!

Inside the Department of War are two wolves:

"We've shut down the Colleges of War because book learnings are woke, gay, and irrelevant to war fighting."

"How come no one told us the Strait is important, there are different kinds of Kurds, Iran is big, and air power historically doesn't win wars?"

Extreme macro photo of a tiny reddish brown oribatid mite standing on the broken edge of pale, crumbly bark over dark rotting wood. The mite has a rounded, glossy, dome like body that looks almost translucent in the light, with short legs tucked underneath and tiny bristles visible near the front. The background is softly blurred in warm tan and gold tones, making the mite look jewel like against the rough texture of the log.

Close macro image of the same tiny oribatid mite on a flat piece of bark. Its body is smooth, oval, and highly polished, glowing amber brown with a glassy sheen. The mite is viewed from the side, showing its small head and legs tucked low beneath the body. The bark surface is cracked and speckled in cream, tan, and brown, with the shallow depth of field fading everything beyond the mite into a soft blur.

Another scale comparison photo of the oribatid mite on the surface of a British 5 pence coin. The coin is photographed at an angle, with raised lettering and the portrait design visible in soft focus. Near the lower left area of the coin, the mite appears as a very small amber brown dot with a rounded glossy body and tiny legs. Fine scratches and wear marks on the metal surface make the mite’s size even more striking.

Macro comparison photo showing the minute size of the oribatid mite next to a small splinter of dark wood on a British 5 pence coin. The coin fills most of the frame, with part of the lettering visible upside down. The mite appears incredibly small, only a tiny reddish brown speck with legs beside the wood fragment. The image emphasizes scale, showing that the animal is only a fraction of the width of a single letter on the coin.

An oribatid mite from the woods today. I photographed it on a log, then on a 5 pence coin to show just how tiny it is. Mites like these are the tiny machines helping decompose organic material in our ecosystems. It still boggles the mind most people don't know they exist.
🌿 #bugsky #invert #nature

Futabasaurus suzukii – Sachs Vertebrate Palaeontology Research Genus Futabasaurus Sato, Hasegawa & Manabe, 2006 Type species: Futabasaurus suzukii Sato, Hasegawa & Manabe, 2006Diagnosis: An elasmosaurid plesiosaurian with the following potential autapomorphis: A ...

In time for #FossilFriday, @miguelpmarx.bsky.social and I prepared the page on Futabasaurus suzukii for the plesiosaur database. Futabasaurus is the only plesiosaur currently named from Japan and one of the most complete specimens known from Asia. 1/2
#paleontology
www.sachspal.de/taxa/plesios...

This is absolutely bonkers and infuriating.

Must-read reporting by ProPublica.

I washed the mixer out between loads, so underneath it was muddy mix of mostly dirt with a bit on concrete. So it was probably entirely or mostly dirt, but they were definately collecting mud from the area

it's good we have a thoughtful, reflective president surrounded by wise and experienced advisors, all totally capable of admitting errors in judgment

There must be an absolute federal prohibition on law enforcement using facial recognition to make arrests.

A few years ago, there was an internet project to find your “twin,” where people could locate unrelated doppelgängers. Facial recognition alone does not identify an individual person.

I've seen mud daubers harvest mud while I mix concrete, so conceviably they could use a mud/concrete mix. But would it feel right to them? Seems like a good undergrad project to mix up different proportions and watch wasps.

Lumpy brown mite with thick black legs, the 1st pair of which has tiny spikes like a metal rake on the interior edge. He's roaming the white sand

The creature at rest in the sand, awaiting snacks

Rake-legged mite! Rake-legged mite! Rake-legged mite!
Caeculidae

Every day reveals a new post-Dobbs horror.

South Side. South 11th Street. Caller says that there are multiple loud parties in the area. Caller doesn't like a single one of them. Happy St. Patrick's Day weekend.

Human West Nile virus infection: a meta-analysis of recent global data (2019–24) West Nile virus (WNV), an arbovirus of significant public health concern, is widely distributed across various regions, especially in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. However, the current global prevalence is unknown. We aim to provide an ...

47/250 is Human West Nile virus infection: a metaanalysis of recent global data (2019–24)

I'm a little concerned by the finding that prevalence was highest in healthy blood donors and lower in clinical cases. Also not sure the global prevalence means anything with 13 studies of <1m total people

'It was a shock': Nevada water regulator speaks on why he was fired - The Nevada Independent Former state engineer Adam Sullivan, who was terminated amid a water rights struggle in an overtapped basin, said he "faced pressure" to change decisions.

Aside: Nevada's state engineer (head water manager, basically) actually managed to win a victory in state court that let him manage groundwater along with surface water in 2024.

He started telling people No because groundwater levels have been falling for decades.

He was fired in January.

Aedes albopictus with attached harmonic radar tags. Mosquitoes are shown with painted tags.

Track mosquitoes in real time with harmonic radar technology. The tiny tags (50–135 μg) precisely tracked individual Aedes albopictus mosquitoes through coffee fields and parkland, revealing daily dispersal ranges of 25–52 m. In PNAS Nexus: https://ow.ly/aINb50Ytt8R

BuzzFeed Nearing Bankruptcy After Disastrous Turn Toward AI Three years after its pivot to AI, the writing is on the wall for BuzzFeed. The company said there's "substantial doubt" it can keep going.

Can't AI replace their readers?

🤖🫧💥

futurism.com/artificial-i...

Sleeping Wizards is 💥90% FUNDED!!!!💥

We're in the HOME STRECH!

Grab yourself a copy, this sword-and-sorcery adventure has only FOUR DAYS left to fund!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/iro...

White-tailed deer up to 150 lbs.

If I could jump down on top of a bigger deer I might have a chance, but facing off with a 200 lb rutting buck with no advantage would probably get me hurt even if I won

On today’s episode of Cartoonishly Overt Sign We’re the Baddies: they’re taking the olive branch off the dime because it presents peace

Someone at the NYT asked me a couple years ago for an opinion piece on "how to solve the Colorado River water crisis."

So I made a nice little writeup on the most obvious answer: charging for water.

Once the editorial board saw it, they freaked out & cancelled the piece.

Polycotylus latipinnis in the jaws of Xiphactinus

Sea dragon in the jaws of a fish:
"Finding embedded teeth, while rare, removes this ambiguity. Here we describe a tooth embedded in a mid-cervical vertebra of a subadult plesiosaur, Polycotylus latipinnis"
🧪 ⚒️ #Geology #Paleobio
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Two long-lost episodes of 'Doctor Who' have been found. Fans will soon be able to watch them A film charity has uncovered two episodes of sci-fi series “Doctor Who” that were long believed lost.

A film charity has uncovered two episodes of sci-fi series “Doctor Who” that were long believed lost. The charity Film is Fabulous found the 1960s episodes in the belongings of a deceased collector.

As time goes on, Jewish anti-Zionism reveals itself not only as solidarity with Palestinians but also as an anti-antisemitism strategy. We want out of this toxic dialectic, this terrible feedback loop between Israeli belligerence and the Jewish precarity it incessantly engenders

Take a closer look at this branch, and you'll notice something special ... this is the first iNaturalist observation of a Solomon Island Spiny Monitor (Varanus spinulosus)!

My son and I watched Stop Making Sense a few years ago. He asked if I had any of their albums. This gave me the opportunity to recreate a classic Onion article.

Mar Espinar criticized Isabel Diaz Ayuso for her alignment with Trump during a government hearing: (English translation in the post) “Cójase al mafioso de su jefe de Gabinete, tire para Mar-a-Lago y déjenos aquí — que somos más de los valientes de Minnesota”

Mar Espinar, Spain’s PSOE deputy, on Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s support for Trump:

“Take your mafioso chief of staff, go to Mar-a-Lago, and leave us here — because we are more like the brave ones from Minnesota”

Trump has always been a eugenicist, obsessed with "good" and "bad" genes, but the media largely ignores or sanewashes it.

This looks like a fun story, and I want to get the copy I backed, so you should back the project and see it across the finish line

I will say one thing: nothing demonstrates the value of military history, the staff and war colleges, and reading military theory like watching a war conducted by a bunch of guys who skipped all of that in favor of 'manliness' and push-ups.