Julia McHugh
@drjmchugh.bsky.social
Vertebrate Paleontologist at the Museums of Western Colorado. Nature photographer and owner of Earthly Exposures. Foster of Kittens. All opinions are my own.
Pinned
Julia McHugh
@drjmchugh.bsky.social
· Nov 20
I am a proud, unapologetically opinionated #WomanInScience!
I am Dr. Julia McHugh, a vertebrate paleontologist studying Jurassic faunas, taphonomy, & evolution. I work the spectrum from the field to college classrooms, museum exhibits, informal education, & research.
I am Dr. Julia McHugh, a vertebrate paleontologist studying Jurassic faunas, taphonomy, & evolution. I work the spectrum from the field to college classrooms, museum exhibits, informal education, & research.
Reposted by Julia McHugh
A children’s book about the life of Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska? Yes please! Learn more about the discoveries of the Polish-Mongolian Expeditions with “Dinosaur Desert”!
🦕📖🦖
dinodadreviews.com/2026/02/01/d...
🦕📖🦖
dinodadreviews.com/2026/02/01/d...
Dinosaur Desert
All about the life and discoveries of Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska!
dinodadreviews.com
February 1, 2026 at 8:43 PM
A children’s book about the life of Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska? Yes please! Learn more about the discoveries of the Polish-Mongolian Expeditions with “Dinosaur Desert”!
🦕📖🦖
dinodadreviews.com/2026/02/01/d...
🦕📖🦖
dinodadreviews.com/2026/02/01/d...
Happy #FossilFriday! We got the good news that our abstract for WAVP was accepted for a talk.
Super excited to be part of the Wedel Pneumaticity Crew!
Super excited to be part of the Wedel Pneumaticity Crew!
January 31, 2026 at 4:08 AM
Happy #FossilFriday! We got the good news that our abstract for WAVP was accepted for a talk.
Super excited to be part of the Wedel Pneumaticity Crew!
Super excited to be part of the Wedel Pneumaticity Crew!
Reposted by Julia McHugh
I'm hearing from multiple people that students who submitted ecology GRFP proposals are having those proposals rejected without review, despite ecology being listed as an eligible field. If this is a programmatic change, this is devastating. Ecology is the study of Earth's life support systems.
A number of our students got the following comment back on a rejection for the NSF GFRP. They are in an eligible STEM field. Is this something people in other places are getting too? Is it a quirk or targeted?
January 29, 2026 at 2:31 PM
I'm hearing from multiple people that students who submitted ecology GRFP proposals are having those proposals rejected without review, despite ecology being listed as an eligible field. If this is a programmatic change, this is devastating. Ecology is the study of Earth's life support systems.
Reposted by Julia McHugh
First pub of the new year, with @drjmchugh.bsky.social
We're back on our bone surface modification nonsense, this time comparing bite marks and insect traces between two Jurassic sites and between our work on those sites and other teams' to see how comparable they all are.
We're back on our bone surface modification nonsense, this time comparing bite marks and insect traces between two Jurassic sites and between our work on those sites and other teams' to see how comparable they all are.
(PDF) INTER-SITE AND INTER-ANALYST VARIATION IN REPORTED FREQUENCIES OF MODIFIED BONE MATERIAL FROM THE UPPER JURASSIC MORRISON FORMATION OF COLORADO AND WYOMING
PDF | Bone surface modifications (BSMs) on vertebrate remains can provide critical data on taphonomic and paleoecologic activity. Here, we present the... | Find, read and cite all the research you nee...
www.researchgate.net
January 24, 2026 at 5:38 PM
First pub of the new year, with @drjmchugh.bsky.social
We're back on our bone surface modification nonsense, this time comparing bite marks and insect traces between two Jurassic sites and between our work on those sites and other teams' to see how comparable they all are.
We're back on our bone surface modification nonsense, this time comparing bite marks and insect traces between two Jurassic sites and between our work on those sites and other teams' to see how comparable they all are.
Reposted by Julia McHugh
Artemis II moving out of the Vehicle Assembly Building on its way to the launch pad. Launch for the first trip to the Moon in more than 50 years is scheduled for February 6.
📸 NASA
📸 NASA
January 18, 2026 at 7:58 PM
Artemis II moving out of the Vehicle Assembly Building on its way to the launch pad. Launch for the first trip to the Moon in more than 50 years is scheduled for February 6.
📸 NASA
📸 NASA
Reposted by Julia McHugh
🚨New paper out with @alexauderset.bsky.social! We show that the Arabian Sea oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) was better oxygenated during the warm Miocene Climate Optimum than today, but its path to full deoxygenation was slow and complex.
Link to paper: www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Link to paper: www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Contrasting evolution of the Arabian Sea and Pacific Ocean oxygen minimum zones during the Miocene - Communications Earth & Environment
The Arabian Sea and eastern tropical Pacific oxygen minimum zones were better oxygenated during the warm Miocene, but with regional complexities, according to analysis of trace elements and nitro...
www.nature.com
January 16, 2026 at 5:21 PM
🚨New paper out with @alexauderset.bsky.social! We show that the Arabian Sea oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) was better oxygenated during the warm Miocene Climate Optimum than today, but its path to full deoxygenation was slow and complex.
Link to paper: www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Link to paper: www.nature.com/articles/s43...
This is a coalified log from the Mygatt-Moore Quarry, collected by Museum crews in 2023.
Coalification is a longer, slower than carbonization.
This log was found buried in the bottom of a mudstone bonebed and was likely submerged in a boggy muck for a long time.
#FossilFriday #fossil #Jurassic
Coalification is a longer, slower than carbonization.
This log was found buried in the bottom of a mudstone bonebed and was likely submerged in a boggy muck for a long time.
#FossilFriday #fossil #Jurassic
January 16, 2026 at 3:04 PM
This is a coalified log from the Mygatt-Moore Quarry, collected by Museum crews in 2023.
Coalification is a longer, slower than carbonization.
This log was found buried in the bottom of a mudstone bonebed and was likely submerged in a boggy muck for a long time.
#FossilFriday #fossil #Jurassic
Coalification is a longer, slower than carbonization.
This log was found buried in the bottom of a mudstone bonebed and was likely submerged in a boggy muck for a long time.
#FossilFriday #fossil #Jurassic
Nothing like a good piece of tail...
For this #FossilFriday, enjoy a distal causal vertebra from the King of the Jurassic- Allosaurus fragilis!
The enlongate prezygapotheses are a hallmark of tetanuran theropods, lime Allosaurus. They help stiffen the posterior tail.
For this #FossilFriday, enjoy a distal causal vertebra from the King of the Jurassic- Allosaurus fragilis!
The enlongate prezygapotheses are a hallmark of tetanuran theropods, lime Allosaurus. They help stiffen the posterior tail.
January 9, 2026 at 10:47 PM
Nothing like a good piece of tail...
For this #FossilFriday, enjoy a distal causal vertebra from the King of the Jurassic- Allosaurus fragilis!
The enlongate prezygapotheses are a hallmark of tetanuran theropods, lime Allosaurus. They help stiffen the posterior tail.
For this #FossilFriday, enjoy a distal causal vertebra from the King of the Jurassic- Allosaurus fragilis!
The enlongate prezygapotheses are a hallmark of tetanuran theropods, lime Allosaurus. They help stiffen the posterior tail.
Reposted by Julia McHugh
Out in @nature.com today, we shake up the ornithischian family tree. Remember those weird Late Cretaceous iguanodontians, the rhabdodontids? Well they're weird because they aren't iguanodontians. They're ceratopsians. Well, at least some of them are... www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A hidden diversity of ceratopsian dinosaurs in Late Cretaceous Europe - Nature
New results indicate that rhabdodontids and the previously described Ajkaceratops are actually distinctive European ceratopsians, a group better known from Asia and North America.
www.nature.com
January 7, 2026 at 4:57 PM
Out in @nature.com today, we shake up the ornithischian family tree. Remember those weird Late Cretaceous iguanodontians, the rhabdodontids? Well they're weird because they aren't iguanodontians. They're ceratopsians. Well, at least some of them are... www.nature.com/articles/s41...
First #FossilFriday of 2026!
To celebrate, check out this beauty on my desk today: a neural arch from a juvenile Apatosaurus cervical vertebra.
This lovely specimen was collected by Museum crews from the Mygatt-Moore Quarry in 2025.
To celebrate, check out this beauty on my desk today: a neural arch from a juvenile Apatosaurus cervical vertebra.
This lovely specimen was collected by Museum crews from the Mygatt-Moore Quarry in 2025.
January 2, 2026 at 11:36 PM
First #FossilFriday of 2026!
To celebrate, check out this beauty on my desk today: a neural arch from a juvenile Apatosaurus cervical vertebra.
This lovely specimen was collected by Museum crews from the Mygatt-Moore Quarry in 2025.
To celebrate, check out this beauty on my desk today: a neural arch from a juvenile Apatosaurus cervical vertebra.
This lovely specimen was collected by Museum crews from the Mygatt-Moore Quarry in 2025.
Reposted by Julia McHugh
Are your kids “boooooored”? We’ve got hundreds of book recommendations for them right here:
Books We Love
Here are 380+ great reads from 2025 handpicked just for you by NPR staffers and trusted critics.
n.pr
December 28, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Are your kids “boooooored”? We’ve got hundreds of book recommendations for them right here:
Hope everyone has as good a Christmas as a goofy dog and her new toy!
December 25, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Hope everyone has as good a Christmas as a goofy dog and her new toy!
New life goal:
Be brave enough to go skydiving by the my 50th birthday.
That gives me just a few years to get over my fear of heights! 🫣
Be brave enough to go skydiving by the my 50th birthday.
That gives me just a few years to get over my fear of heights! 🫣
December 22, 2025 at 2:45 AM
New life goal:
Be brave enough to go skydiving by the my 50th birthday.
That gives me just a few years to get over my fear of heights! 🫣
Be brave enough to go skydiving by the my 50th birthday.
That gives me just a few years to get over my fear of heights! 🫣
Reposted by Julia McHugh
PTO is here! I spent last night drinking wine, listing to holiday music, & wrapping presents!
Let the holidays begin!
Let the holidays begin!
December 20, 2025 at 1:27 PM
PTO is here! I spent last night drinking wine, listing to holiday music, & wrapping presents!
Let the holidays begin!
Let the holidays begin!
For every one else who is just trying to make it through the holiday season in one piece... Cheers to you! See you in 2026.
December 19, 2025 at 12:59 PM
For every one else who is just trying to make it through the holiday season in one piece... Cheers to you! See you in 2026.
Would love to see this position go to a paleo person!
Dean of Collections
American Museum of Natural History | New York, New York
www.imsearch.com/open-searche...
Dean of Collections
American Museum of Natural History | New York, New York
www.imsearch.com/open-searche...
Dean of Collections | Isaacson, Miller
www.imsearch.com
December 14, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Would love to see this position go to a paleo person!
Dean of Collections
American Museum of Natural History | New York, New York
www.imsearch.com/open-searche...
Dean of Collections
American Museum of Natural History | New York, New York
www.imsearch.com/open-searche...
All set up to sell some photography at the Fruita Holiday Arts & Craft Show.
#GoFruita #holidays #craftfair #photography earthlyexposures.com
#GoFruita #holidays #craftfair #photography earthlyexposures.com
December 13, 2025 at 4:39 PM
All set up to sell some photography at the Fruita Holiday Arts & Craft Show.
#GoFruita #holidays #craftfair #photography earthlyexposures.com
#GoFruita #holidays #craftfair #photography earthlyexposures.com
Today, I am most thankful for my mom.
Sat. she went into the hospital with acute shortness of breath. After 2 days of tests & waiting, discovered it was caused by fluid build up around her heart and her left ventricle was only @ 25%, aka heart failure.
Sat. she went into the hospital with acute shortness of breath. After 2 days of tests & waiting, discovered it was caused by fluid build up around her heart and her left ventricle was only @ 25%, aka heart failure.
November 27, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Today, I am most thankful for my mom.
Sat. she went into the hospital with acute shortness of breath. After 2 days of tests & waiting, discovered it was caused by fluid build up around her heart and her left ventricle was only @ 25%, aka heart failure.
Sat. she went into the hospital with acute shortness of breath. After 2 days of tests & waiting, discovered it was caused by fluid build up around her heart and her left ventricle was only @ 25%, aka heart failure.
Reposted by Julia McHugh
Exclusive: DOGE 'doesn't exist' with eight months left on its charter reut.rs/4abeTdx
Exclusive: DOGE 'doesn't exist' with eight months left on its charter
The Department of Government Efficiency claimed to have slashed tens of billions of dollars in expenditures, but it was impossible for outside financial experts to verify that because the unit did not provide detailed public accounting of its work.
reut.rs
November 23, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Exclusive: DOGE 'doesn't exist' with eight months left on its charter reut.rs/4abeTdx
This is my first full weekend in a month. Feels weird.
November 23, 2025 at 4:13 AM
This is my first full weekend in a month. Feels weird.
My poor kitty, Kona, has earned herself a trip to the vet with scabs like these.
She's had them a few weeks and even though I've cut out the possible allergen... they persist. Time for an expert analysis.
She's had them a few weeks and even though I've cut out the possible allergen... they persist. Time for an expert analysis.
November 22, 2025 at 11:15 PM
My poor kitty, Kona, has earned herself a trip to the vet with scabs like these.
She's had them a few weeks and even though I've cut out the possible allergen... they persist. Time for an expert analysis.
She's had them a few weeks and even though I've cut out the possible allergen... they persist. Time for an expert analysis.
An amazing study you NEED to read!!
Alas, this article on our reptile decomposition research does not come in a scratch-and-sniff format. However, if you'd like to see what my students, colleagues, and I have been up to with our decomposing lizards and crocodylians, here's your chance. 🧪
CSI: Cretaceous. A reptile body farm is shedding light on how dinosaurs died.
Here’s how scientists are solving the “dinosaur death pose” mystery and others.
www.nationalgeographic.com
November 20, 2025 at 6:02 PM
An amazing study you NEED to read!!