Laura Cooper
@transitionalform.bsky.social
PhD student in Devonian Palaeobotany at the University of Edinburgh
Pinned
🎊We are very pleased to announce that our paper investigating what we think Prototaxites, the mysterious giant of the Devonian landscape, actually was is now available as a pre-print on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Kamounia striata -- a 300 million year-old oomycete fossil!
Thank you Christine Strullu-Derrien ☺️ doi.org/10.1016/j.is...
Thank you Christine Strullu-Derrien ☺️ doi.org/10.1016/j.is...
January 14, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Kamounia striata -- a 300 million year-old oomycete fossil!
Thank you Christine Strullu-Derrien ☺️ doi.org/10.1016/j.is...
Thank you Christine Strullu-Derrien ☺️ doi.org/10.1016/j.is...
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Our friend the Little Mexican Toad is a little toad who lives in Mexico in the Pacific coastal plains between central Sonora and Nayarit! The larger females only grow to about 1.75 inches long! (photo by Juan Carlos Rosales)
January 8, 2026 at 5:14 PM
Our friend the Little Mexican Toad is a little toad who lives in Mexico in the Pacific coastal plains between central Sonora and Nayarit! The larger females only grow to about 1.75 inches long! (photo by Juan Carlos Rosales)
Reposted by Laura Cooper
This was a very interesting read:
An untold story in biology: the historical continuity of evolutionary ideas of Muslim scholars from the 8th century to Darwin's time 🧪
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
An untold story in biology: the historical continuity of evolutionary ideas of Muslim scholars from the 8th century to Darwin's time 🧪
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
January 13, 2026 at 3:54 PM
This was a very interesting read:
An untold story in biology: the historical continuity of evolutionary ideas of Muslim scholars from the 8th century to Darwin's time 🧪
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
An untold story in biology: the historical continuity of evolutionary ideas of Muslim scholars from the 8th century to Darwin's time 🧪
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Reposted by Laura Cooper
“Of the 5786 depictions identified across 113 European Palaeolithic caves, only 0.07% featured plants. Animals and abstract symbols appeared more frequently, 53.7% and 43.3% respectively.”
We look at the past not only through our own biases but through earlier peoples', too
doi.org/10.1002/ppp3...
We look at the past not only through our own biases but through earlier peoples', too
doi.org/10.1002/ppp3...
Absence of botanical European Palaeolithic cave art: What can it tell us about plant awareness disparity?
Cave art has been an integral part of human history, providing a glimpse into the lives and cultures of our ancestors. Prehistoric botanical art is an important medium that can help us to redefine ou...
doi.org
January 11, 2026 at 8:40 PM
“Of the 5786 depictions identified across 113 European Palaeolithic caves, only 0.07% featured plants. Animals and abstract symbols appeared more frequently, 53.7% and 43.3% respectively.”
We look at the past not only through our own biases but through earlier peoples', too
doi.org/10.1002/ppp3...
We look at the past not only through our own biases but through earlier peoples', too
doi.org/10.1002/ppp3...
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Meant to post this some days ago but I got distracted.
My latest for @invertebratepal.bsky.social's work on Hallucigenia's ecology, interpreting the little fellas as scavengers of soft-bodied carcasses.
Read the preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
#Art #SciArt #FossilFriday
My latest for @invertebratepal.bsky.social's work on Hallucigenia's ecology, interpreting the little fellas as scavengers of soft-bodied carcasses.
Read the preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
#Art #SciArt #FossilFriday
January 9, 2026 at 12:42 PM
Meant to post this some days ago but I got distracted.
My latest for @invertebratepal.bsky.social's work on Hallucigenia's ecology, interpreting the little fellas as scavengers of soft-bodied carcasses.
Read the preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
#Art #SciArt #FossilFriday
My latest for @invertebratepal.bsky.social's work on Hallucigenia's ecology, interpreting the little fellas as scavengers of soft-bodied carcasses.
Read the preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
#Art #SciArt #FossilFriday
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Looking for a new 📕 to read about plants??
I highly recommend the brilliant book ‘Ferns, Lessons in survival from Earth’s most adaptable plants’
Written by @fernway.bsky.social and Jacob Suissa with amazing illustrations by Laura Silburn
🌿 #FernFriday 🌿
I highly recommend the brilliant book ‘Ferns, Lessons in survival from Earth’s most adaptable plants’
Written by @fernway.bsky.social and Jacob Suissa with amazing illustrations by Laura Silburn
🌿 #FernFriday 🌿
January 9, 2026 at 12:34 PM
Looking for a new 📕 to read about plants??
I highly recommend the brilliant book ‘Ferns, Lessons in survival from Earth’s most adaptable plants’
Written by @fernway.bsky.social and Jacob Suissa with amazing illustrations by Laura Silburn
🌿 #FernFriday 🌿
I highly recommend the brilliant book ‘Ferns, Lessons in survival from Earth’s most adaptable plants’
Written by @fernway.bsky.social and Jacob Suissa with amazing illustrations by Laura Silburn
🌿 #FernFriday 🌿
I went to a private school on a full bursary and the way they use a very small proportion of students on full bursaries to reputation launder as progressive institutions is pretty despicable.
NATIONALISE PRIVATE SCHOOLS NOW! I can think of few other policies that, overnight, would change this country for the better for generations to come. This should not be seen as a far-out, radical idea; it’s fair and common sense.
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Cambridge college to target elite private schools for student recruitment
Exclusive: Trinity Hall’s new policy described as a ‘slap in the face’ for state-educated students
www.theguardian.com
January 8, 2026 at 1:16 PM
I went to a private school on a full bursary and the way they use a very small proportion of students on full bursaries to reputation launder as progressive institutions is pretty despicable.
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Finally out! We studied the retinas of the longest-living vertebrate, the Greenland shark, and found that the retinas remain remarkably healthy in animals around 150 years old. What is the mechanism? It may be a highly efficient DNA repair system. Enjoy!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
January 6, 2026 at 1:40 AM
Finally out! We studied the retinas of the longest-living vertebrate, the Greenland shark, and found that the retinas remain remarkably healthy in animals around 150 years old. What is the mechanism? It may be a highly efficient DNA repair system. Enjoy!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Gratuitous X-ray microscopy imaging, a "bouquet" of developing soybean flowers.
@zeiss-microscopy.bsky.social
@danforthcenter.bsky.social
@zeiss-microscopy.bsky.social
@danforthcenter.bsky.social
January 6, 2026 at 6:33 PM
Gratuitous X-ray microscopy imaging, a "bouquet" of developing soybean flowers.
@zeiss-microscopy.bsky.social
@danforthcenter.bsky.social
@zeiss-microscopy.bsky.social
@danforthcenter.bsky.social
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Did some work on my #FungiJournal the other day. A work in progress. I’ll finish it one day. Music: Detectorists - Johnny Flynn. #FungiFriends
January 4, 2026 at 6:25 PM
Did some work on my #FungiJournal the other day. A work in progress. I’ll finish it one day. Music: Detectorists - Johnny Flynn. #FungiFriends
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Prosopanache is the tropical American answer to Hydnora of Africa. The two genera are sisters, holoparasitic & lack chlorophyll. They appear above ground only as flowers. This is Prosopanche americana, parasitic on legumes. 📷: Agustín Zarco CCBY4 #Aristolochiaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱
January 3, 2026 at 11:03 AM
Prosopanache is the tropical American answer to Hydnora of Africa. The two genera are sisters, holoparasitic & lack chlorophyll. They appear above ground only as flowers. This is Prosopanche americana, parasitic on legumes. 📷: Agustín Zarco CCBY4 #Aristolochiaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱
Reposted by Laura Cooper
"I don’t know why my fellowship was terminated. I suspect that it has something to do with studying a species that doesn’t fit the binary of what we expect to see in nature, with completely different males and females."
@carlzimmer.com profiles my wonderful coauthor @jjinsing.bsky.social Gift link.
@carlzimmer.com profiles my wonderful coauthor @jjinsing.bsky.social Gift link.
He Studied Why Some Female Birds Look Like Males
www.nytimes.com
January 2, 2026 at 6:10 PM
"I don’t know why my fellowship was terminated. I suspect that it has something to do with studying a species that doesn’t fit the binary of what we expect to see in nature, with completely different males and females."
@carlzimmer.com profiles my wonderful coauthor @jjinsing.bsky.social Gift link.
@carlzimmer.com profiles my wonderful coauthor @jjinsing.bsky.social Gift link.
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Here is our introductory paper to the Paleobiology special volume @paleosoc.bsky.social celebrating the 50th anniversary of #punctuatedequilibria #macroevolution #paleobiology #palaeontology #paleontology @nilese.bsky.social www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Punctuated equilibria at 50: half a century of stasis, cladogenesis, and macroevolutionary insights | Paleobiology | Cambridge Core
Punctuated equilibria at 50: half a century of stasis, cladogenesis, and macroevolutionary insights - Volume 51 Issue 4
www.cambridge.org
January 2, 2026 at 6:33 PM
Here is our introductory paper to the Paleobiology special volume @paleosoc.bsky.social celebrating the 50th anniversary of #punctuatedequilibria #macroevolution #paleobiology #palaeontology #paleontology @nilese.bsky.social www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Often brutal, always beautiful: the sea hounds of the Frisian Islands – in pictures
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Often brutal, always beautiful: the sea hounds of the Frisian Islands – in pictures
For 10 years, the scientist and photographer Jeroen Hoekendijk has been observing pinnipeds (seals, sea lions and walruses) on the fragile North Sea archipelago. Highly susceptible to warming and risi...
www.theguardian.com
January 1, 2026 at 10:50 AM
Often brutal, always beautiful: the sea hounds of the Frisian Islands – in pictures
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by Laura Cooper
closing out a great year for palaeontology with a surprising discovery from denmark that indicates the survival of ammonites following the asteroid impact that marked the cretaceous-paleogene boundary
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Ammonite survival across the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary confirmed by new data from Denmark - Scientific Reports
We provide a reassessment of the hypothesis of ammonite survival across the Cretaceous–Paleogene (Maastrichtian–Danian) boundary, based on new data from the lower Danian Cerithium Limestone Member at ...
www.nature.com
December 31, 2025 at 5:23 PM
closing out a great year for palaeontology with a surprising discovery from denmark that indicates the survival of ammonites following the asteroid impact that marked the cretaceous-paleogene boundary
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Extending application deadline to early January so still time to get your applications in! #DisabledInSTEM
It's that time of year again... time for #DisabledInSTEM 2026 Mentorship applications! I'm so excited to be running this program for the sixth year and seeing the growth over the years!
Mentee form: forms.gle/um5DvYnBi3tn...
Mentor form: forms.gle/BvaxnQm8uhUR...
Applications due December 5th!
Mentee form: forms.gle/um5DvYnBi3tn...
Mentor form: forms.gle/BvaxnQm8uhUR...
Applications due December 5th!
December 27, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Extending application deadline to early January so still time to get your applications in! #DisabledInSTEM
Reposted by Laura Cooper
It's that time of year again... time for #DisabledInSTEM 2026 Mentorship applications! I'm so excited to be running this program for the sixth year and seeing the growth over the years!
Mentee form: forms.gle/um5DvYnBi3tn...
Mentor form: forms.gle/BvaxnQm8uhUR...
Applications due December 5th!
Mentee form: forms.gle/um5DvYnBi3tn...
Mentor form: forms.gle/BvaxnQm8uhUR...
Applications due December 5th!
October 20, 2025 at 4:44 PM
It's that time of year again... time for #DisabledInSTEM 2026 Mentorship applications! I'm so excited to be running this program for the sixth year and seeing the growth over the years!
Mentee form: forms.gle/um5DvYnBi3tn...
Mentor form: forms.gle/BvaxnQm8uhUR...
Applications due December 5th!
Mentee form: forms.gle/um5DvYnBi3tn...
Mentor form: forms.gle/BvaxnQm8uhUR...
Applications due December 5th!
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Paleoclimatologist Jessica Tierney recently published a global temperature record covering almost the past half-billion years. According to her model, 50 million years ago, inland temperatures approached 122 degrees Fahrenheit. www.quantamagazine.org/climate-extr...
December 29, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Paleoclimatologist Jessica Tierney recently published a global temperature record covering almost the past half-billion years. According to her model, 50 million years ago, inland temperatures approached 122 degrees Fahrenheit. www.quantamagazine.org/climate-extr...
What are you using instead of ms office?
December 29, 2025 at 2:58 PM
What are you using instead of ms office?
Reposted by Laura Cooper
A doubly old 'Christmas tree' this #FossilFriday! This was taken on Dec. 23 2010 during my 1st trip to Antarctica & shows a large fossil tree from the Triassic, 240 million years ago. The locality is high in the Transantarctic Mountains, above the Antarctic icesheet 🌿⛏️🏔️ Happy holidays!
#paleobotany
#paleobotany
December 26, 2025 at 5:11 PM
A doubly old 'Christmas tree' this #FossilFriday! This was taken on Dec. 23 2010 during my 1st trip to Antarctica & shows a large fossil tree from the Triassic, 240 million years ago. The locality is high in the Transantarctic Mountains, above the Antarctic icesheet 🌿⛏️🏔️ Happy holidays!
#paleobotany
#paleobotany
Reposted by Laura Cooper
“A-type plants present female-phase flowers in the morning and male-phase flowers in the afternoon, while B-types show the complementary pattern, a form of heterodichogamy.”
Balanced polymorphism in a floral transcription factor underlies an ancient rhythm of daily sex alternation in avocado https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.22.695989v1
December 25, 2025 at 11:58 PM
“A-type plants present female-phase flowers in the morning and male-phase flowers in the afternoon, while B-types show the complementary pattern, a form of heterodichogamy.”
If you are not sick of vampires and if you haven't seen it I do really recommend the Werner Herzog Nosferatu! A lot more atmospheric and scenic (and less scary) than the 2024 version and I have a soft spot for the "twist" ending.
December 25, 2025 at 11:31 PM
If you are not sick of vampires and if you haven't seen it I do really recommend the Werner Herzog Nosferatu! A lot more atmospheric and scenic (and less scary) than the 2024 version and I have a soft spot for the "twist" ending.
Reposted by Laura Cooper
If you have money and goodwill to spare this festive season, donate it to the Palestine Museum of Natural History in West Bank, Palestine, Bethlehem 🇵🇸🎄
Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability
www.palestinenature.org
December 24, 2025 at 5:01 PM
If you have money and goodwill to spare this festive season, donate it to the Palestine Museum of Natural History in West Bank, Palestine, Bethlehem 🇵🇸🎄
I've seen fairly often the Palaeophytic, Mesophytic etc
December 23, 2025 at 4:37 PM
I've seen fairly often the Palaeophytic, Mesophytic etc
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Super excited that our review on the ecology of the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition is now out on how ecology changes across scales from organisms to communities to the world through time. Fab art @franzanth.bsky.social showing the build up of ecological complexity
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
January 22, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Super excited that our review on the ecology of the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition is now out on how ecology changes across scales from organisms to communities to the world through time. Fab art @franzanth.bsky.social showing the build up of ecological complexity
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...