Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · Aug 3

I have recently reached B1 level German classes and I now have 16 ways of saying the word 'the'

I'm struggling to have enough colours to code everything 😅

a man in a blue shirt and tie is standing in front of a wall with a lot of papers on it .

ALT: a man in a blue shirt and tie is standing in front of a wall with a lot of papers on it .

media.tenor.com

3

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · Jul 5

Jurassic World Rebirth is truly a film of all time

1

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · Jun 18

Oh wow, massive congratulations! This is a fantastic piece of work!

1

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · Jun 16

News story on our sickly Plateosaurus paper here

www.news.uzh.ch/de/articles/...

1 3

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · Jun 11

Lastly, I want to thank: all our co-authors as this was a collaborative effort between palaeontologists, engineers and artists;
reviewers Joep Schaffer, Darius Nau and one anonymous reviewer and to the Swiss Journal of Palaeontology editoral team whose comments were immensely helpful
(end/n)

3

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · Jun 11

This work started off as Sina's Master's thesis at Zurich who did a fantastic job on the osteological description

This work was supported by my @snsf.ch postdoctoral fellowship at Zurich and will be the first of (hopefully) several more papers from my fellowship (7/n)

1 2

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · Jun 11

In 2020, the specimen was turned into a display at the Natural History Museum of Zurich, complete with the skeleton and a life-sized restoration of the animal, complete with pathology.

This restoration was done by the company 10tons www.10tons.dk
(6/n)

1 5

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · Jun 11

Previous reported cases of osteomyelitis in dinosaurs usually involves a couple of toe bones or adjacent vertebrae

So to have most of an entire right pectoral girdle infected is really unusual (and most likely painful!)

(5/n)

1 4

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · Jun 11

The scapula (left C and D) has been completely remodelled and separated while the proximal part of the humerus is also heavily reworked

We interpreted this as some form of chronic osteomyelitis/septic arthritis (infection of the bone)

(4/n)

1 3

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · Jun 11

The skeleton is an almost complete individual, missing only the skull and neck

But what was most interesting about the specimen was it's heavily infected right shoulder and upper forearm... (3/n)

1 1 4

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · Jun 11

The specimen was discovered in 2018 from the Klettgau Formation in northern Switzerland (Late Triassic) and was excellently excavated and brought to Zurich by Ursina Bachman and Ben Pabst, pictured (2/n)

1 2

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · Jun 11

🚨New paper alert! 🚨

We describe a Plateosaurus skeleton 🦕 from Frick, northern Switzerland, suffering from a VERY diseased forearm!

Open Access: sjpp.springeropen.com/articles/10.... (1/n)

Osteology and histology of a Plateosaurus trossingensis (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) from the Upper Triassic of Switzerland with an advanced chronic pathology - Swiss Journal of Palaeontology

The sauropodomorph Plateosaurus is one of the best-known dinosaurs from Europe due to the large numbers of articulated skeletons discovered from bonebed horizons in Switzerland and Germany. Plateosaur...

sjpp.springeropen.com

2 18 49

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · May 26

We only looked at archosauromorphs for this study but it would be good to expand this to other modern and extinct groups, such as mammals

I'm guessing maybe something like a bowhead whale might be most head? Or perhaps a swordfish if you included all the sword

1 1

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · May 26

Today is the 3 year anniversary of one my favourite papers; skull-body size ratios of archosauromorphs, including 🦕 🐊 🦖 and more, so I am shamelessly plugging it again

Full OA access here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

1 5 18

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · May 15

Continuing looking into bird colouration and I cannot get enough of the colours of the resplendent quetzal

Such a fantastic looking bird

Credit: Ondrej Prosicky/Shutterstock

2

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · May 13

Researching bird colouring for palaeoart research and I google hoatzins

This abomination was one of the top results #AIslop

2 1

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · May 9

Sharing a meme I made this week for my 🐢 loving partner

Such a derpy face 😂

3

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · Apr 24

Good start to the day with a 🦕 paper accepted!
Below is a cryptic sneak peek, stay tuned for more!

4

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · Apr 20

Happy Easter everyone!

2

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · Apr 16

Our OA article on bite forces of Saurosuchus* with @palaeostephan.bsky.social and @richardjbutler.bsky.social (lead, Molly Fawcett) is apparently a #TopViewedArticle in The Anatomical Record

*great-uncle (x20) of🐊, twice-removed
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Functional morphology of the Triassic apex predator Saurosuchus galilei (Pseudosuchia: Loricata) and convergence with a post‐Triassic theropod dinosaur

Pseudosuchian archosaurs, reptiles more closely related to crocodylians than to birds, exhibited high morphological diversity during the Triassic and are thus associated with hypotheses of high ecolo...

anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

3 8

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · Mar 26

That worked! Thanks so much, you've gotten yourself a new follower! 😊

1

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · Mar 26

R help needed!

Failing to timescale my tree.tre using an FAD and LAD .csv

I get the classic "Taxon names for tree and ages do not match" error message

However, using "setdiff(names(tree),rownames(Ages))" gives the following:
[1] "edge" "Nnode" "tip.label"

What am I doing wrong?

1 1

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · Mar 10

Such a cool study! Palaeontology meets Star Wars, what's not to love?

Dr Stephan Lautenschlager @palaeostephan.bsky.social · Mar 10

This project has started a long time ago, but in a galaxy not too far away… Happy to share this new study with @taphonomist.bsky.social looking at the functional morphology and biomechanics of the Rancor. Warning! Nerdy sci fi, palaeo & biomechanics thread following! jgeekstudies.org/2025/03/08/i...

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…

jgeekstudies.org

2 11

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · Mar 6

Science collective; does anyone have a PDF of the following?

Haughton, S.H. (1924) On reptilian remains from the Karroo Beds of East Africa. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 80, 1-11

Thanks in advance!

3

Jordan Bestwick @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social · Mar 4

Congrats Suresh! 🥳

1 1