Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

56 Million Years of Climate Change and the Cold Start of Primates - Climate Ages

9 20

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 1d

That’s a great question. The thing is that there were. A bit of a longer story, so check the full write up here! climateages.com/56-million-y...

Several Japanese macaques (snow monkeys) soak in the warm water of a natural hot spring surrounded by snow-covered rocks and mist. Their wet fur sticks...

The Cold Start of Primates: How an Ice Age Sparked Our Evolution

1 2 2

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 1d

What if the first primates didn’t evolve in the tropics
But in a cold snap?

After a massive heat wave 56 million years ago, Earth over-cooled, forests vanished, and only the adaptable survived.
That struggle gave rise to us.

🌍 Watch the story →
🧪 #SciComm
youtube.com/shorts/Nvs1t...

YouTube video by Climate Ages

a baby penguin is standing in the snow with its feet up .

3 9 23

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 2d

"Mom, I changed my mind. I don't want to be any of those other things [I used to say].
When I grow up, I want to be a Scientist like YOU."

I'm not crying, you're crying...
I was also 5 when I made that choice!
🧪

4 45

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 3d

Thanks! 🥰

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 3d

ALT: a baby penguin is standing in the snow with its feet up .

media.tenor.com

1

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 3d

I love the metaphor.
Thanks for sharing it 🥰

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 3d

My 5-year-old knows that I was upset this week.

So he chose this book to bring home for the weekend from the school library.

He knows I’m never sad when I read about dinosaurs! 🦖🦕
🧪 #SciComm

Children’s book titled “Tyrannosaurus Rex” by Amy Allatson, part of the “All About Dinosaurs” series. The cover shows a roaring, green Tyrannosaurus rex with sharp teeth, surrounded by prehistoric plants and a blue sky.

3 2 31

Reposted by Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 4d

By popular demand, here’s a video I made explaining the tools and techniques I use for shark tooth fossil hunting.

This is my first experiment with Meta video editor so please excuse rough edits.

🧪🦑🌎🦈

19 49 290

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 4d

Thanks!

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 4d

Thanks! That means the world to me!

We Need More Jane Goodalls

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 4d

We need more Jane Goodalls.

Not just to study nature, but to make us fall in love with it.
To remind us that data alone won’t save a planet, only care will.

The torch is ours to carry. 🌍🐒
🧪 #SciComm

buff.ly/i6hUQ9J

The next generation of nature storytellers is already here, but we need to nurture them Think about the voices that first made you care about the...

Where Fossils and Climate Meet Climate Ages grew out of a love for science and a desire to keep sharing it in a way that’s accessible to everyone. After stepping away from academia, we found…

11 37

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 5d

Who will inspire the next generation? 🌍

Storytellers once made me fall in love with nature & all its creatures
Now I want to do the same: share stories that spark wonder & care

That’s why I launched the Climate Ages YouTube channel.
I'd love it if you followed us!
🧪 #SciComm
buff.ly/kpGaXJc

Climate Ages

www.youtube.com

8 17

Reposted by Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages

Yeshes.Online 📎🌻🖖♾️ @yeshes.online · 5d

This world gonna FAFO with the plankton blooms.

Those tiny beings so many think don't matter?

They're the ONLY thing keeping us safe from things like terminal venting of methane from Mariana Trench (to name but one completely FO source).

And that's before we get to the remainder of the systems.

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 5d

Earth’s thermostat doesn’t just cool things back to normal
it can overshoot. ❄️

New research shows how plankton, oxygen, and nutrients once pushed the planet into deep freeze, locking Earth in ice.
🧪 #SciComm
PS. It'd mean the world if you followed my new Youtube Channel

youtube.com/shorts/3hOFS...

When Earth’s Climate Overreacted ❄️

YouTube video by Climate Ages

1 2 4

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 5d

Thanks for sharing!
And spot-on take-away!

When Earth’s Climate Overreacted ❄️

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 5d

Earth’s thermostat doesn’t just cool things back to normal
it can overshoot. ❄️

New research shows how plankton, oxygen, and nutrients once pushed the planet into deep freeze, locking Earth in ice.
🧪 #SciComm
PS. It'd mean the world if you followed my new Youtube Channel

youtube.com/shorts/3hOFS...

YouTube video by Climate Ages

2 1 12

Reposted by Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages

Nicole Adams 🇩🇪 🇺🇦 ❌👑 @blathin384.bsky.social · 6d

An icon! One of her kind 😔

Jane Goodall, famed primatologist who discovered chimpanzee tool use, dies at 91

Reposted by Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages

Kristina Killgrove @killgrove.bsky.social · 6d

Sadly, Jane Goodall has died. But her legacy - in conservation and chimp studies - will live on. 🧪

Dame Jane Goodall, the world's preeminent chimpanzee expert, died of natural causes.

www.livescience.com

3 27 130

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 6d

I’m in tears that we lost Jane Goodall.

Since childhood, she was my hero: a scientist who listened to nature.

She showed us that science is more than data. It’s empathy, connection, responsibility.

Thank you, Jane. You taught us how to care. 🌿

📸 Wikimedia Commons
🧪 #SciComm

2 2 35

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 6d

Hello, I’m Silvia, Founder of Climate Ages, a platform that explores how Earth’s past helps us understand today’s environmental crises.

Join 12,000+ subscribers to learn the science that explains our past and shapes our future. 🌍 🦕
🧪 #SciComm
buff.ly/SZI6S7k

Home - Climate Ages

Welcome to Climate Ages! At Climate Ages, we believe science is most powerful when it connects with people. Our mission is to bridge the gap between research and society by making complex ideas…

The Overlooked Piece of the Carbon Cycle That Froze the Planet

2 4

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 7d

Earth’s thermostat doesn’t always steady the climate, sometimes it overreacts. ❄️ 🌍

New research shows how plankton, nutrients & oxygen once pushed the planet into global ice ages.
The overlooked piece of the carbon cycle that froze Earth:
🧪 #SciComm
buff.ly/KkuFFCb

Plankton, nutrients, and oxygen may have held the keys to past global ice ages It’s a hot summer day, and you set your thermostat at 25°C...

Dinosaurs Didn’t Just Die Out—They Rewired Earth’s Rivers 🌍🦖

1 6

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 8d

The classics never fail 😜

1

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 8d

When dinosaurs went extinct, Earth’s rivers changed forever. 🌍🦖
Forests spread, roots locked the soil, and landscapes flipped in an instant.

Life doesn’t just adapt to Earth, it engineers it.
🧪 #SciComm
buff.ly/WZ2glyJ

When the asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs, it didn’t just end their reign. It reshaped the land itself. Without herds of giant plant-eaters trampling trees, forests spread rapidly. Roots locked the…