Bill Ryerson

This week we are spotlighting #SICB2026 Carl Gans Awardee/Lecturer-
@armanafzadeh.bsky.social & be sure you don't miss her episode of
#Dinosaur Dynamics Unveiled: Dr. Armita Manafzadeh Revolutionizes Ancient Joint Movement

youtu.be/JGWnKjUuowM?...

#biomechanics #dinos #fossils #bioinspired

Had lots of fun delivering the @sicb-dcb-dvm.bsky.social Carl Gans award lecture yesterday at @sicb.bsky.social #SICB2026! Grateful to have the support of so many incredible colleagues in comparative biomechanics.

What are we doing here folks

This is figure 1, which shows a three-dimensional rendering of Chamaeleo calyptratus Chamaeleonidae (UF: Herp: 191369).

A paper in Scientific Reports shows that chameleons have evolved a longer, coiled optic nerve that is likely to provide “slack” to reduce tension on the optic nerve during the extensive rotations characteristic of the chameleon eye. go.nature.com/3JTSgQ1 #evosky 🧪

Policed and censored: professors in the southern US feel under siege Politics trumps salary as the main reason academics are looking for jobs in other states, a survey of university educators shows.

Policed and censored: professors in the southern US feel under siege

Museum of Earth could be met with possible foreclosure The PRI has until Dec. 31, 2025 to raise $1 million or the only collections based national history museum between New York City and Buffalo will be forced into foreclosure.

Local news story on why MotE/ PRI is special:
$̳1̳ ̳m̳i̳l̳l̳i̳o̳n̳ left to raise before the end of 2025 to save the Museum of the Earth at the Paleontological Research Institution in Ithaca, NY.

#SavePRI 🧪⚒️ #museums #dinosaurs #Mastodon #Ithaca
#fingerlakes

www.wbng.com/2025/10/27/m...

TONIGHT on Detroit PBS!

In the 50 years since the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, there hasn’t been another major shipwreck on the Great Lakes. We explore what changed. Plus, climb aboard the oldest working tugboat on the lakes.

Catch the episode at 7:30pET: www.greatlakesnow.org/the-fitzgera...

How your email finds me.

Eurasian hobby and kestrel in flight

Eurasian Hobby disagreeing with a Eurasian Kestrel. Czech Republic.

A 3D rendering of a CT scan of Tiliqua rugosa, facing the front (top) and facing the back (bottom), rendered in yellow (most dense parts), pink (medium density parts), and blue (least dense parts).

A 3D rendering of a CT scan of the head Tiliqua rugosa, in dorsal view (top) and ventral view (bottom), rendered in yellow (most dense parts), pink (medium density parts), and blue (least dense parts).

Hey it's #WorldLizardDay 🦎
Here's one of my faves & one I saw *a lot* of growing up in rural Australia. Tiliqua rugosa has many common names, but where I'm from we call them "sleepy lizard" or "stumpy tail".

Download the #oVertTCN CT scan from MorphoSource here: www.morphosource.org/concern/medi...

Title slide of our ICVM 2025 presentation

Attending the virtual #ICVM2025 conference? Check out our lightning talk on the imaging and articulation techniques we used to make our physical model of a dogfish skull and how physical models give new insights in research & education. icvm.econference.io/public/3JC8E... (registration req to view)

Y’all!!! Our comparative anatomy textbook is out!!! Free, open access, and just in time for the fall semester!

New Comparative Anatomy Textbook! Completely free to read and open access!

doi.org/10.59319/YHF...

Panels c-f of Figure 1 depicting the lower jaw of Devonian actinopterygian Gogosardina coatesi

Curious about Devonian actinopterygian lower jaws? Look no further--our new paper provides comprehensive descriptions for 19 species in a tidy ~50 page summary! anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Did you know SICB has a YouTube?
We have videos about
@invertebabe.bsky.social
@whysharksmatter.bsky.social
@oceanfilly.bsky.social
Kevin Kocot
Native Bio Consortium
Noah Gripshover
Shaz Zamore
& the @billryerson.bsky.social lab & more!
Be sure to subscribe
www.youtube.com/@societyfori...

JMIH Childcare Fundraiser 2025 St. Paul YouTube video by Matthew Davis

There will be FREE, ON-SITE CHILDCARE AT #JMIH2025 #JMIH25! Bring your kids, folks. Only if we show demand for this service will it continue into the future.

Now read on for how to save my life... 1/4

@IchsAndHerps @herpleague.bsky.social @ElasmoSociety
@ssarherps www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2xQ...

Mass Mortality in a Community of Headstarted (Emydoidea blandingii) and Naturally Occurring (Chrysemys picta marginata) Freshwater Turtles in Protected Urban Wetlands Turtles experience numerous threats and high mortality in urban areas. Mass-mortality events (MMEs) are localized, sudden events resulting in a catastrophic increase in mortality rate. Turtles are sus...

One of the collaborative projects during my PhD is now published!

We documented a mass mortality event of headstarted Blanding’s Turtles and naturally occurring Painted Turtles in an urban wetland complex.

Why do mass mortality events occur? We offer a few hypotheses.

doi.org/10.1643/h202...

The Rise (and Fall?) of the National Science Foundation In the ’50s, America declared science an “endless frontier.” We may be reaching the end of it.

I got mad and wrote an article.

STEM folks, this will greatly impact trans peoples ability to work in academia.

It will cut off #trans researchers from conferences, field work, international Phd or post doc opportunities, and so much more!

This will be bad for ALL trans people regardless of job type.

#TransInSTEM #STEM

New article from @science.org gives a bit of a peek behind the curtain. It seems NSF internally has no idea what is happening, how to implement, or what the consequences of non-compliance will be.

Reminder: funding the work of making science more welcoming and inclusive leads to better science.

AND it also helps set cultural expectations in STEM that scientists should not be racist, sexist pieces of shit—which is, I promise, an expectation we really want to set.

I’m continuing to do research without any grant funding at all because of this monumental project.

a close up of a man laying on a bed with his arm outstretched in front of a wall . Alt: Han Solo leaning against the wall of the Mos Eisley cantina saying "over my dead body"

Before trying to get a bunch of scientists to leave their jobs voluntarily, one should consider that many of us completed our advanced degrees PURELY OUT OF SPITE.

We CT scanned thousands of vertebrates from US natural history collections and made them freely available. Countless people have used the data for research (>200 pubs) and to learn anatomy/morphology.

www.morphosource.org/projects/000...

Hi, please call your reps tomorrow to restore funding to the NIH and oppose RFKs nomination! Here is a script you can use. If you are in Pennsylvania, you are calling these people: John Fetterman: (202) 224-4254 and David McCormick: (202) 224-6324

For those interested, lots of lawsuits went out and the federal grant freeze was temporarily stopped by the courts until at least Tuesday. They will then decide again after various lawyers submit documents. But there are other lawsuits that may also keep these stopped longer. 1/

Returning turtles to the wild | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Any kindergartener — or overconfident hare — can tell you turtles play the long game. Slow and steady wins the race, right? But what if someone — like someone who traffics turtles — doesn’t play by th...

What a great story of conservation and collaboration! #herps 🐢

www.fws.gov/story/return...