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Zach Throckmorton

@throckman

Anatomical scientist & anthropologist.

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29.01.2025
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Latest posts by Zach Throckmorton @throckman

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My favorite neuroanatomy topic to teach is chemosensation - olfaction, gustation, chemesthesis. At our One Health-oriented medical school, I get to talk about mammalian olfactory genetics and the evolutionary ecology of hot peppers. Also, I bring lab to the classroom!

05.03.2026 00:30 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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SoS 258: Maggots on the Menu: Rethinking Hominin Diet with Melanie Beasley In this fun and β€œsoupy” episode, hosts Cara and Chris chat with Dr. Melanie Beasley about putrefied meat, maggots, stable isotopes, and media attention at the most inconvenient times. Dr. Beasley dire

Putrefied meat, maggots, and stable isotopes, oh my! πŸ§ͺπŸ’€ Cara and Chris chat with Dr. Melanie Beasley about forensic isotopes, media chaos, and the anthropology of tomorrow. 🎧 soundcloud.com/sausageofsci...

05.12.2025 01:50 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Decorative Image Array of the Bracket Guide, the Combatant Logo and the 2026 Bracket. Screen-reader materials available at the LibGuide.

Decorative Image Array of the Bracket Guide, the Combatant Logo and the 2026 Bracket. Screen-reader materials available at the LibGuide.

BRACKET DROP DAY!!!!
Get yours now at the LibGuide! libguides.asu.edu/MarchMammalM...
Pick your portal: Players, Learners, or Educator!
#2026MMM

19.02.2026 23:31 πŸ‘ 95 πŸ” 56 πŸ’¬ 15 πŸ“Œ 23

One of the many formative early 90s albums my cool older cousin dubbed for me onto cassette tape!

20.02.2026 17:58 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

my cool older cousin dubbed that onto cassette for me

28.12.2025 23:52 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Need help finding the pterion? Look no further! #MemeMonday

15.12.2025 13:02 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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The study shows how individual fingerprint ridges deform when we touch different textures, revealing how subtle stretching and shifting along the ridge flanks may drive our remarkably fine tactile sensitivity.
buff.ly/4z67Vf1

12.12.2025 21:03 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Oldest known evidence of the controlled ignition of fire A 400,000-year-old site excavated in England reveals signs of deliberate fires made using the mineral iron pyrite to produce sparks.

This sheds so much light on a really hot topic and will ignite a lot of discussion debate :)

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

10.12.2025 22:59 πŸ‘ 33 πŸ” 12 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I thought parking at Colorado State was expensive! Big yikes, sorry Jamie, that's BS.

11.12.2025 15:28 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

years and years ago a colleague sent a draft exam to the wrong printer, and found out when a student brought it to her.

in a remarkable display of teamwork, we re-wrote the exam in 90 minutes. its psychometrics were not great, but acceptable.

11.12.2025 15:25 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

H(e)BD Robin! I will have a drink in your honor. Cheers!

(e = early)

13.09.2025 00:08 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

the photos are hilariously low-res as they seem to have been taken with a potato-grade digital camera

13.03.2025 03:01 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Never ceases to amaze me how our ancient relatives stuck with the same technology for hundreds of thousands to millions of years, while in my lifetime, we've gone from dial-up internet and Microsoft Encarta on a CD-ROM to wirelessly accessing Wikipedia on a slightly subsonic airliner.

12.03.2025 17:57 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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En route to #AABA2025 and this plane's display has a feature that shows locations' Wikipedia entries as you fly over them. What a time to be alive!

12.03.2025 17:52 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Is a bone a viable weapon when combating a Rancor? Estimating the bite force of an intergalactic mega-predator Stephan Lautenschlager1,2 & Thomas Clements3 1School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. 2The Lapworth Museum of Geology, Birmingham, UK. 3…

Just discovered Journal of Geek Studies (not peer reviewed), and it is pure joy.

jgeekstudies.org/2025/03/08/i...

12.03.2025 12:26 πŸ‘ 15 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1
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Bighorn sheep in the Big Thompson Canyon.

09.03.2025 19:47 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Tibia, femur, and partial hip bone of SWT1/HR-2 fossil Paranthropus robustus. Photo: Pickering and coworkers 2025

Tibia, femur, and partial hip bone of SWT1/HR-2 fossil Paranthropus robustus. Photo: Pickering and coworkers 2025

Exciting new discovery of fossil leg and partial pelvis from Swartkrans, South Africa, by Travis Pickering and coworkers.

Attributed to Paranthropus robustus, this individual may have been the shortest fossil human relative known, just over a meter tall.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

05.03.2025 19:20 πŸ‘ 38 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Systematic bone tool production at 1.5 million years ago - Nature Bone tools shaped by knapping found within Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania precede any other evidence of systematic bone tool production by more than 1 million years.

"Systematic bone tool production at 1.5 million years ago"
really interesting stuff here:
"early Acheulean toolmakers unravelled technological repertoires that were previously thought to have appeared routinely more than 1 million years later."

05.03.2025 20:55 πŸ‘ 22 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Target display with a bag labeled β€œPARTY TIME BOAS” containing boas with yellow, green, and purple feathers.

Target display with a bag labeled β€œPARTY TIME BOAS” containing boas with yellow, green, and purple feathers.

Happy Mardi Gras, fellow anthropologists! IYKYK

(From a Target display I saw years ago that confused me for a hot minute.)

04.03.2025 15:52 πŸ‘ 22 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2
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Long legs and small joints: The locomotor capabilities of Homo naledi The 3D reconstruction of the lower limb of Homo naledi and comparative analyses of the knee reveal remarkably small joint sizes for its body size, a hyper-elongated tibia (and fibula), and a high cru...

"While the small joint sizes [of H. naledi] are not well-suited to repeated high impact loads, the long legs and particularly long tibia would have been useful for walking substantial distances without such high loads." #paleoanthropology πŸ§ͺ🏺

04.03.2025 15:37 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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1/5
Do you like ANIMALS? Do you like #WORDLE ? Then you should try... www.animordle.com The Wordle Game with Animals Names
Thank you Rohit Singhal for creating word.rodeo & @mammalssuck.bsky.social for making March Mammal Madness #2025MMM. They served as inspiration for #animordle.

01.03.2025 14:35 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Also has one of my favorite satirical quotes, "if the cash is there, we do not care!"

01.03.2025 02:24 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
(CoV): What does science say about race and racism in America? The U.S. is blinded by socialized race. CoV will examine what it means to be human, and the ongoing impacts of racism in America. Join us.

In partnership with the #AABA conference in Baltimore, Friend of Darwin and paleoanthropologist Briana Pobiner will be hosting a workshop examining the concept of race, its meaning, and how β€˜socialized race’ came to be.

Circles of Voices will take place on 3/15 in Baltimore. Pay what you wish.

27.02.2025 17:48 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

A+ department; 10/10 would recommend!

27.02.2025 03:57 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Sketch of a skinny, bearded man dressed in a suit facing a bearded monkey caricature who is seated on a desk atop a stack of books including origin of species. on the floor is the book descent of man.

Sketch of a skinny, bearded man dressed in a suit facing a bearded monkey caricature who is seated on a desk atop a stack of books including origin of species. on the floor is the book descent of man.

Charles Darwin published his book Descent of Man #OnThisDay in 1871. In it he wrote: "It has often been asserted that man’s origin can never be known, but ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge."

24.02.2025 12:43 πŸ‘ 118 πŸ” 49 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 4
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hetmp Visit the post for more.

For teachers, especially outside universities, I can point to the Human Evolution Teaching Materials Project with printable 3D models of 35 fossil hominin skulls and jaws.

This collection does include the model Australopithecus afarensis skull based on the fossils from A.L. 333.

hetmp.com

22.02.2025 20:04 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Steggy!

23.02.2025 00:19 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
A Lady Professor with brown hair and glasses, wearing a scarf in red, green, yellow, & black, a gift from an incredible lactation  consultant, sitting in in front of cactus.

A Lady Professor with brown hair and glasses, wearing a scarf in red, green, yellow, & black, a gift from an incredible lactation consultant, sitting in in front of cactus.

I escaped poverty because I am a scientist.

And I am a scientist because of the National Science Foundation.

A 🧡:

18.02.2025 20:02 πŸ‘ 5814 πŸ” 1068 πŸ’¬ 71 πŸ“Œ 87
Oblique views of two brains, with corresponding features labeled. The brain in the left panel is a color-coded fossil brain mold, and that on the right is from a chimpanzee, rendered in grayscale.

Oblique views of two brains, with corresponding features labeled. The brain in the left panel is a color-coded fossil brain mold, and that on the right is from a chimpanzee, rendered in grayscale.

Shawn Hurst & colleagues reanalyze the brain endocast of the iconic Taung (Australopithecus africanus) fossil – variability in a large sample of chimpanzee brains shows possible anatomies not known to previous researchers.

Read free for 50 days with this link: authors.elsevier.com/a/1kdEeAlZXX...

18.02.2025 11:38 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Looking forward to catching up with colleagues and everyone's interesting work!

17.02.2025 19:48 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0