Dr Thomas Clements
@taphonomist.bsky.social
Doctor of Decay. Palaeontologist studying the dark art of taphonomy: how squishy animals become fossils. Loves 🐙♥️ (he/him).
Reposted by Dr Thomas Clements
and another on the evolution of gastropods (Polystira) in response to changing climate with Prof Chris Venditti and Dr Jon Todd (NHM UK).
#PhD #zoology #paleontology
#PhD #zoology #paleontology
CR2026_28 – Crocus DLA
blogs.reading.ac.uk
November 24, 2025 at 11:37 PM
and another on the evolution of gastropods (Polystira) in response to changing climate with Prof Chris Venditti and Dr Jon Todd (NHM UK).
#PhD #zoology #paleontology
#PhD #zoology #paleontology
Reposted by Dr Thomas Clements
Just posting again, but I've got two PhD positions on offer through the CROCUS-DLA at the University of Reading. One on the phylogenetics and evolution of dragonflies with Dr Jamie Thompson
#PhD #zoology #paleontology
#PhD #zoology #paleontology
CR2026_43 – Crocus DLA
blogs.reading.ac.uk
November 24, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Just posting again, but I've got two PhD positions on offer through the CROCUS-DLA at the University of Reading. One on the phylogenetics and evolution of dragonflies with Dr Jamie Thompson
#PhD #zoology #paleontology
#PhD #zoology #paleontology
Reposted by Dr Thomas Clements
I don’t normally share petitions, but good friends and colleagues are going to lose their jobs as part of the planned cuts to the geology dept at Leicester.
Consider adding your signature here:
www.change.org/p/save-geolo...
An excellent dept that doesn’t deserve to be decimated. 🧪⚒️🌍
Consider adding your signature here:
www.change.org/p/save-geolo...
An excellent dept that doesn’t deserve to be decimated. 🧪⚒️🌍
Sign the Petition
Save Geology at the University of Leicester
www.change.org
November 19, 2025 at 11:20 PM
I don’t normally share petitions, but good friends and colleagues are going to lose their jobs as part of the planned cuts to the geology dept at Leicester.
Consider adding your signature here:
www.change.org/p/save-geolo...
An excellent dept that doesn’t deserve to be decimated. 🧪⚒️🌍
Consider adding your signature here:
www.change.org/p/save-geolo...
An excellent dept that doesn’t deserve to be decimated. 🧪⚒️🌍
As an Leicester palaeo PhD alumni, I am shocked and appalled by this seemingly uncosted and short sighted descision by the @uniofleicester.bsky.social.
Please sign the petition.
Please sign the petition.
My alma mater, Leicester University, is dissolving its Geology Department leading to the loss of 14 staff. Palaeo is being completely axed, despite Leicester's long and storied history in this area (and its current strengths). Please sign this petition!!: www.change.org/p/save-geolo...
Sign the Petition
Save Geology at the University of Leicester
www.change.org
November 20, 2025 at 8:24 AM
As an Leicester palaeo PhD alumni, I am shocked and appalled by this seemingly uncosted and short sighted descision by the @uniofleicester.bsky.social.
Please sign the petition.
Please sign the petition.
I am running for the outreach officer position for the @thepalass.bsky.social this year (manifesto in image).
If you are a member, please check your mail and consider voting in the AGM. Several important roles are up for election with great candidates looking to work for our community.
If you are a member, please check your mail and consider voting in the AGM. Several important roles are up for election with great candidates looking to work for our community.
November 19, 2025 at 3:47 PM
I am running for the outreach officer position for the @thepalass.bsky.social this year (manifesto in image).
If you are a member, please check your mail and consider voting in the AGM. Several important roles are up for election with great candidates looking to work for our community.
If you are a member, please check your mail and consider voting in the AGM. Several important roles are up for election with great candidates looking to work for our community.
Reposted by Dr Thomas Clements
Geology and palaeobiology at the University of Leicester are under threat, with at least 14 staff expected to be made redundant. Support them, their postdocs, and their students by signing this petition: c.org/SK8Xm8dhqK
Sign the Petition
Save Geology at the University of Leicester
c.org
November 19, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Geology and palaeobiology at the University of Leicester are under threat, with at least 14 staff expected to be made redundant. Support them, their postdocs, and their students by signing this petition: c.org/SK8Xm8dhqK
Reposted by Dr Thomas Clements
It’s baby octopus season 🐙🦑
Saw this little guy last night with the Salish Sea School in Anacortes, WA as part of their free community dock walk I volunteer as an interpreter for.
We can tell it is a giant pacific octopus from the single line of chromatophores on each arm.
Saw this little guy last night with the Salish Sea School in Anacortes, WA as part of their free community dock walk I volunteer as an interpreter for.
We can tell it is a giant pacific octopus from the single line of chromatophores on each arm.
November 15, 2025 at 9:32 PM
It’s baby octopus season 🐙🦑
Saw this little guy last night with the Salish Sea School in Anacortes, WA as part of their free community dock walk I volunteer as an interpreter for.
We can tell it is a giant pacific octopus from the single line of chromatophores on each arm.
Saw this little guy last night with the Salish Sea School in Anacortes, WA as part of their free community dock walk I volunteer as an interpreter for.
We can tell it is a giant pacific octopus from the single line of chromatophores on each arm.
Reposted by Dr Thomas Clements
For #FossilFriday & in honor of @alinemghilardi.bsky.social & colleagues' fantastic discovery of a new Cretaceous pterosaur in Brazil in a dinosaur regurgitalite ("fossil vomit"), here's a diagram I made for my book 'Dinosaurs Without Bones' (2014) showing the physics of a puking brachiosaur. 🧪🦕🤮🪨
November 14, 2025 at 1:14 PM
For #FossilFriday & in honor of @alinemghilardi.bsky.social & colleagues' fantastic discovery of a new Cretaceous pterosaur in Brazil in a dinosaur regurgitalite ("fossil vomit"), here's a diagram I made for my book 'Dinosaurs Without Bones' (2014) showing the physics of a puking brachiosaur. 🧪🦕🤮🪨
Reposted by Dr Thomas Clements
Wishing a warm welcome to everyone at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 85th Annual Meeting. While in Brum, snap a selfie with our #Museum icons and share with #LapworthRocks!
Images by Greg Milner.
#geologyrocks #geology #palaeontology #paleontology #fossils #minerals #SVP2025 #2025SVP
Images by Greg Milner.
#geologyrocks #geology #palaeontology #paleontology #fossils #minerals #SVP2025 #2025SVP
November 11, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Wishing a warm welcome to everyone at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 85th Annual Meeting. While in Brum, snap a selfie with our #Museum icons and share with #LapworthRocks!
Images by Greg Milner.
#geologyrocks #geology #palaeontology #paleontology #fossils #minerals #SVP2025 #2025SVP
Images by Greg Milner.
#geologyrocks #geology #palaeontology #paleontology #fossils #minerals #SVP2025 #2025SVP
Reposted by Dr Thomas Clements
PhD position available in evolutionary genomics/bioinformatics (hoehnalab.github.io/job_adverts/...). Topic: analyzing gene expression evolution across several firefly species and linking expression changes to genomic architecture. The position is jointly supervised with @anaevolcatalan.bsky.social
hoehnalab.github.io
November 11, 2025 at 9:00 AM
PhD position available in evolutionary genomics/bioinformatics (hoehnalab.github.io/job_adverts/...). Topic: analyzing gene expression evolution across several firefly species and linking expression changes to genomic architecture. The position is jointly supervised with @anaevolcatalan.bsky.social
Reposted by Dr Thomas Clements
Attending #2025SVP #SVP2025? Interested in Palaeozoic fish and temnospondyls, dinosaurs old and new, sabre-tooth cats, biomechanics, biogeography, museum ethics, etc? Don't look any further, the Lautenschlager Lab got you covered - thanks to a lot of hard work by students, post-docs and colleagues!
November 10, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Reposted by Dr Thomas Clements
My students have set up a petition to persuade the University of Nottingham not to close our Plant Biology BSc course
c.org/VPhzVVrHPS
Please consider signing
c.org/VPhzVVrHPS
Please consider signing
Sign the Petition
Reconsider the potential suspension of Plant Biology Courses at UoN
c.org
November 9, 2025 at 11:55 AM
My students have set up a petition to persuade the University of Nottingham not to close our Plant Biology BSc course
c.org/VPhzVVrHPS
Please consider signing
c.org/VPhzVVrHPS
Please consider signing
Reposted by Dr Thomas Clements
November 3, 2025 at 5:56 PM
I mean we technically did say this in 2016...
BREAKING: new discovery reveals the Tully Monster is a (very) distant evolutionary relative of Nanotyrannus
October 30, 2025 at 10:06 PM
I mean we technically did say this in 2016...
Reposted by Dr Thomas Clements
BREAKING: new discovery reveals the Tully Monster is a (very) distant evolutionary relative of Nanotyrannus
October 30, 2025 at 8:41 PM
BREAKING: new discovery reveals the Tully Monster is a (very) distant evolutionary relative of Nanotyrannus
Reposted by Dr Thomas Clements
Fossils are cultural objects - and this is not some woke b*llshit that people come up nowadays to spoil the fun in #palaeontology; this classification actually has a long history.
If you're curious how fossils became #culturalproperty under int'l law, check my new paper: doi.org/10.1093/lril...
If you're curious how fossils became #culturalproperty under int'l law, check my new paper: doi.org/10.1093/lril...
A classification unearthed: the history of palaeontological objects as cultural property in international law
Abstract. Fossils are an overlooked yet threatened category of cultural property. This article traces how they became protected by international law under
doi.org
October 28, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Fossils are cultural objects - and this is not some woke b*llshit that people come up nowadays to spoil the fun in #palaeontology; this classification actually has a long history.
If you're curious how fossils became #culturalproperty under int'l law, check my new paper: doi.org/10.1093/lril...
If you're curious how fossils became #culturalproperty under int'l law, check my new paper: doi.org/10.1093/lril...
Reposted by Dr Thomas Clements
After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results:
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
October 22, 2025 at 7:55 AM
After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results:
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
Reposted by Dr Thomas Clements
🚨We have exciting new webinar series starting next Wednesday @1730 BST!
Join me as we discuss the #ERCStartingGrant with our panel speakers who have recently obtained this funding.
Anyone is welcome to join this webinar - register here 👇
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Join me as we discuss the #ERCStartingGrant with our panel speakers who have recently obtained this funding.
Anyone is welcome to join this webinar - register here 👇
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
October 22, 2025 at 4:13 PM
🚨We have exciting new webinar series starting next Wednesday @1730 BST!
Join me as we discuss the #ERCStartingGrant with our panel speakers who have recently obtained this funding.
Anyone is welcome to join this webinar - register here 👇
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Join me as we discuss the #ERCStartingGrant with our panel speakers who have recently obtained this funding.
Anyone is welcome to join this webinar - register here 👇
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
October 20, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Bacteria 🦠 🧫 play a crucial role in how animals become fossils!
Read about how decay experiments demonstrate that bacteria from the gut dominate the thanatomicrobiome (the internal microbiome of decay) and probably control fossilisation in our new paper!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Read about how decay experiments demonstrate that bacteria from the gut dominate the thanatomicrobiome (the internal microbiome of decay) and probably control fossilisation in our new paper!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
The relationship between microbial community succession, decay, and anatomical character loss in non‐biomineralized animals
A fundamental assumption of hypothesis-driven decay experiments is that, during decay, the loss of anatomy follows a sequence broadly controlled by the intrinsic compositional properties of tissues. ...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 15, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Bacteria 🦠 🧫 play a crucial role in how animals become fossils!
Read about how decay experiments demonstrate that bacteria from the gut dominate the thanatomicrobiome (the internal microbiome of decay) and probably control fossilisation in our new paper!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Read about how decay experiments demonstrate that bacteria from the gut dominate the thanatomicrobiome (the internal microbiome of decay) and probably control fossilisation in our new paper!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Had the amazing privilege earlier in the year to watch a lithographic limestone plate be made by one last plate makers in Germany. Each plate is cut and then hammered by hand into shape - and after having a go it's very skilled work. Currently they have no apprentices, so a truly dying art.
October 9, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Had the amazing privilege earlier in the year to watch a lithographic limestone plate be made by one last plate makers in Germany. Each plate is cut and then hammered by hand into shape - and after having a go it's very skilled work. Currently they have no apprentices, so a truly dying art.
Reposted by Dr Thomas Clements
From our rare books collection we have this illustration of Vampyroteuthis infernalis, also known as the vampire squid from hell. In an order of its own, we don't really think the vampiric moniker is fair either as they actually feed on detritus and not blood #EYAMonsters
October 7, 2025 at 1:41 PM
From our rare books collection we have this illustration of Vampyroteuthis infernalis, also known as the vampire squid from hell. In an order of its own, we don't really think the vampiric moniker is fair either as they actually feed on detritus and not blood #EYAMonsters
It's Kürbiszeit (pumpkin time) here in Bavaria! Bumper crops this year from the local farms, so every type of pumpkin dish is on the menu 🎃
October 7, 2025 at 12:39 PM
It's Kürbiszeit (pumpkin time) here in Bavaria! Bumper crops this year from the local farms, so every type of pumpkin dish is on the menu 🎃
Reposted by Dr Thomas Clements
Happy #Croctober to all who celebrate.
October 2, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Happy #Croctober to all who celebrate.
Reposted by Dr Thomas Clements
#Marine #origins and #freshwater #radiations of the otophysan fishes: dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.adr4494
October 2, 2025 at 7:35 PM
#Marine #origins and #freshwater #radiations of the otophysan fishes: dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.adr4494