www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
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A day late for National Fossil Day, but here's a new publication on some fossil salamanders! Did you know we used to have TIGER salamanders all across Central Texas? Why did they dissappear? Read on to see what we think happened and what that may mean for future salamanders of Texas.
leaf-tailed gecko camouflaged on a tree
Rainbow ameiva in leaf litter
Happy WORLD LIZARD DAY!
There are over 7,000 species of lizards in the world! Each represents a monument showcasing the magnificent diversity of life on earth. Here are some nice photos I took of two.
Central Texas flooding:
Kerr County has had multiple fatalities. There were a lot of people camping along the Guadalupe River.
Children’s summer camps have been flooded.
They had inadequate warnings, and a warning system was not in place that would let people know ahead of time.
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Inside me there are two wolves. One of them has a 15 genome edits the other 20 genome edits. Neither of them is a dire wolf.
Free workshop for science teachers! Addressing Climate Misinformation and Misconceptions. College Station, Texas, April 4-5
Teachers of #Texas, we're headed your way! We are partnering with Texas A&M College of Education & Human Development to offer a free climate change workshop on April 4-5 in College Station. Please join us! There is still time to register - forms.gle/Axkv8UW7CNNq... #EduSky #TeacherSky #TeachClimate
A mammoth circus of macabre fantasy and moral bankruptcy.
I got my views on mammoths down. Enjoy.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The front end of a vehicle stopped at an intersection, held up by a salamander in a tiny safety vest and stop sign. Behind it is a large group of yellow spotted salamanders crossing the road.
Amphibian migration season is coming this spring. Remember to drive slow!
There have been people less than helpful in my journey here. I wanted to acknowledge those too, bc I know I am not unique in this experience. No thank you to the physics study assoc that made me sing songs about how women couldn't study physics without sleeping with the professor, the day I stepped into university life. No thank you to the 5th year physics student that decided to assign me a stripper name within the first minute of meeting me in the physics coffee corner in my first year. No thank you to the technician that was responsible for onboarding me on the use of the cluster in my third year who raised his eyebrows and asked me if that meant I was some sort of computer girl. No thank you to the senior researcher that sent me utterly inappropriate texts after a conference, then proceeded to apologise months later by telling me they had not been meant for me anyway so no hard feelings remain hopefully And no thank you to him for attending every conference I've been to since. No thank you to the people who told me that it was surprising that I was doing a PhD since I was a girl. No thank you to the man who mistook me for a coffee lady at a conference, and after having to correct him two times that I did not work there, responded with you should consider it. No thank you to the researcher that asked me what I was wearing underneath my outfit during a conference. No thank you to the physicist who declared to a room full of other physicists that biologists don't know how to design an experiment. No thank you to the people who have called me scary instead of strong and intimidating instead of intelligent. And finally, no thank you to the exec board of the TU Delft, whose knee-jerk reaction to being held up a mirror about the social safety at the university, was to sue the party holding up the mirror instead of looking at the problems they highlighted. ... You have made me feel like I do not belong in science & I cannot forgive you for that.
A friend included this anti-acknowledgement section on her PhD thesis. She also added the proposition: “Systematic bullying and undermining of girls and women in STEM starts early on and is the reason why they do not stay in science and related fields.”
Absurd we still need to go through this
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"Faculty and students are experiencing profound disruption and distress, which starkly contrasts with the arrogant posture and detached demeanor of those perpetrating this harm." www.texasobserver.org/censorship-u... (Dec)
Congrats to my student Rebecca Clemons and UT Post-doc Chase Smith.Here they drill down on aspects of the frog immune system control that we think might be important in the frog-Bd system. More on this to come! 🐸🧬🦠🧫🧪
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Too many hurricanes for my taste. Probably should do something about that
Last night I found out that the NSF math postdoctoral fellowship I applied for is being deleted because it does not comply with Trump’s executive orders on DEI in the federal government. I’m going to answer some FAQs and share some thoughts about this ordeal in this thread 1/n
announcement and QR codies for the two positions open in the lab.
Happy New Year Everyone! ICYMI... Our lab is hiring for two positions, a post-doc to work on immune mechanisms of pathogen resistance and a lab technician Deadline is Feb 1 and descriptions of both positions are below or at zamudiolab.org Please help spread the word!
Former preprint now reviewed through PCI Palaeo & published at PCJ: peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10....
This is a response to Lichtig & Lucas (2017), who proposed two simple shell measurements (doming & plastral width) can differentiate (& predict) aquatic/terrestrial ecologies in turtles.
doi.org/10.1002/jmor...
New paper! With @markscherz.bsky.social, Alex Hall, and Dr. Frank Glaw. We looked at convergent evolution in boas across Madagascar and South America. Message me for the PDF if you are stuck behind paywall!
Fossil scallop shell being digitized
Do you teach 2D geometric morphometrics in your undergrad labs? I would be grateful for any materials you are willing to share. I am co-teaching a new course this spring on the evolution of form & function in calcifying marine animals & hope to have students generate an empirical morphospace.
#sedaDNA , beavers and their ecological role.
Ancient sedimentary DNA shows more than 5000 years of continuous beaver occupancy in Grand Teton National Park
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Hi everyone - just a reminder that when there’s a big earthquake in your region, it is really helpful to earthquake scientists if you fill our the “Did You Feel It” report on the USGS earthquake event page - even if it was just mild shaking or you didn’t feel it all - all the data is helpful! 🧪⚒️
Osteoderm sculpturing?
Earlier this year, we published gatoRs - an R package to streamline occurrence record downloading from iDigBio and GBIF: doi.org/10.1002/aps3...
This work was led by undergrad Natalie Patten - so proud of her and what this paper turned out to be (1/n)
Snake eating a horned lizard
Eyes bigger than the stomach (or throat). A cautionary tale just in time for Thanksgiving.
“…species-level diversity is likely underestimated by both elements, with ~30-40% of species pairs showing no significant differences in shape...”
academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...
🙋 if there's still room
🫡 @davidtledesma.bsky.social
Do you love talking about tomography as much as I do? I made a starter pack full of people who use CT to do their science!! Let me know if you want to join in on the tomography talk! Other 3D imaging modalities also welcome ☢️🩻👩🔬
go.bsky.app/VjBpAAy
My PhD student Guilherme Hermanson & I have a new paper out today in Ecology & Evolution! 🐢🤩
We think the morphologically conservative body plan of turtles can in part be explained by allometric constraints imposed by the shell. Thread 👇 for some highlights
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Abstracts for #TAS128 our 2025 Annual Meeting in Waco, Texas, Feb 28-March 2 are due Friday, Nov 15! www.texasacademyofscience.org/2025-meeting Don't miss out!