Laura Cotton
@lauraminifera.bsky.social
280 followers 190 following 16 posts
Curator of all things fossil (and a few not-fossils) at the Natural History Museum of Denmark. Fan of larger foraminifera.
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Reposted by Laura Cotton
acsharp.bsky.social
📣Postdoc in whale biomechanics and evolution based in Bristol and Oxford, UK, with Dr Katrina Jones and Prof. Erin Saupe 📣🐋 #evolution #biomechanics #CFD
Reposted by Laura Cotton
journalsystpal.bsky.social
Did you know we are one of two journals produced by the Natural History Museum London. We champion the importance of collections-based systematics and our papers cover fossil species from across the tree of life, substantially contributing to the systematics of extinct taxa. So, why publish with us?
Reposted by Laura Cotton
fossilsndcoffee.bsky.social
why we are doing this:

PRI is one of America's largest museum collections, and they need to raise the last 1/3 of funds (~$1mil) needed to pay off their mortgage by Dec (a donor backed out of a pledge) or it will be the largest orphaned collection in US history.

www.science.org/content/arti...
Financial peril could doom a famed New York paleontological institute
“Exceptional” fossil collections housed by the Paleontological Research Institute risk being orphaned
www.science.org
Reposted by Laura Cotton
romainvaucher.bsky.social
🎓 Looking for a PhD opportunity in #sedimentology?

We’re recruiting a PhD student at @jcuofficial.bsky.social (Townsville, Australia) to work on Triassic palaeoclimate sedimentology in the Bowen Basin (QLD, Australia).

🗓️ Apply by: 30 Sept 2025
Reposted by Laura Cotton
seavdavis.bsky.social
New Paper Alert! 🚨
Emily Havard documents dramatic decreases in planktic foraminifera and carbonate fluxes in the Pacific. 🐚🌊

A striking example of marine ecosystems responding to climate change and the rapidly shifting carbon cycle.

👉 bg.copernicus.org/articles/22/...
bg.copernicus.org
Reposted by Laura Cotton
paleoadiel.bsky.social
Job Alert‼️ Postdoctoral Fellow opportunity in paleontology/biology at the University of Alabama Museums:
careers.ua.edu/jobs/688232b... Aim: assess biotic interactions using mollusks from both sides of the Isthmus of Panama. Please share widely! @paleosoc.bsky.social @almnh.bsky.social
Postdoctoral Fellow opportunity. The NSF-funded project “Energetic Controls on Marine Benthic Community Structure in Space and Time”  aims to (1) evaluate how productivity affects the energetic and trophic structure of marine benthic communities on either side of the modern Isthmus of Panama, where there is now a strong contrast between the high productivity, upwelling-dominated regime of the eastern Pacific and the low-productivity, low-seasonality regime of the Caribbean (2) use this knowledge to evaluate the fossil record of Caribbean benthic ecosystems before, during, and after the uplift of the isthmus during which planktonic productivity decreased in the Caribbean and (3) relate ecosystem changes driven by productivity shifts to the well documented Caribbean extinction event ~2 Ma. This is a project in collaboration with Ohio State U, UC Berkeley, and STRI.
One key component of this project is to assess biotic interactions such as predation and possibly parasitism using fossil and modern molluscan assemblages from both sides of the Isthmus of Panama. I am recruiting a Postdoctoral Fellow with a background in paleontology and/or biology/ecology with strong quantitative skills, attention to detail and organization, and someone who can effectively supervise students. Conference support is provided. The postdoc will work with Dr. Adiel Klompmaker (aaklompmaker@ua.edu) within the University of Alabama Museums’ Department of Museum Research and Collections (https://collections.museums.ua.edu/). 
Initial appointment will be for 1 year, with renewal contingent upon funding. The deadline to apply is 5 September 2025 at 22:55 US Central Day Time. The salary will be $56,000 per year. Please upload a cover letter expressing your interest and qualifications, a CV, and contact details of at least two references. To apply and for more information see: https://careers.ua.edu/jobs/688232bd-b82e-49d3-90ea-06601c242dab
Reposted by Laura Cotton
pavementgeology.bsky.social
I just had to buy this vintage brooch because it uses probably the most unexpected stone I have ever seen in jewellery - nummulitic limestone! It’s probably 1930s and the other stone used is marcasite #decorativestone
A 1930s bar brooch with a central oblong polished stone which is a nummulitic limestone (nummulites are small fossils). The brooch has marcasite set scrolls of foliage at each end. A close up of the nummulitic limestone with white and grey grain-like fossils in a red-orange matrix.
Reposted by Laura Cotton
draliceclement.bsky.social
Want to do a PhD on White Sharks using high-powered imaging to analyse form and function of their teeth and jaws?

You will work with me and the dream team @charlie-huveneers.bsky.social @meyer-sci.bsky.social @weisbeckerbblab.bsky.social & #SARDI at Flinders Uni

🦈🦷🦴 Interested? Get in touch!
lauraminifera.bsky.social
Last couple of days to apply for our mineralogist position!
lauraminifera.bsky.social
🎉Are you a mineralogist who also loves museums? 🎉
Come join the Natural History Museum Denmark! We are looking for an assistant professor and curator of mineralogy. Advert can be found below, but apply soon! Deadline is 11th August😱

candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...
211-0241/25-2N Tenure-track Assistant Professor and Curator in Mineralogy at Natural History Museum Denmark
candidate.hr-manager.net
Reposted by Laura Cotton
stephhenson.bsky.social
🌊 I’m hiring! Research Scientist in Marine Ecology & Machine Learning at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (UK). Got experience with machine learning techniques applied to marine ecology, biogeochemistry or climate change? Apply by 5 September! careers.noc.ac.uk/vacancy/rese...
Careers | National Oceanography Centre
careers.noc.ac.uk
Reposted by Laura Cotton
leneliebedelsett.bsky.social
First juvenile plesiosaur from Denmark! Congratulations to Zoe Kinzella who just published her bachelor🥳 I am impressed and a very proud co-author with @lauraminifera.bsky.social 🥳🧪 Early Jurassic plesiosaurs from Bornholm in the Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark doi.org/10.37570/bgs...
Bulletin Volume 74 – 2025
Contents Peel, J.S. 2025: Fauna of the Sæterdal Formation (Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4) of North Greenland (Laurentia). Surlyk, F. 2025: A cluster of the brachiopod Magas chitoniformis (von Schlothe…
doi.org
Reposted by Laura Cotton
fossilrob.bsky.social
New palaeo-PhD opportunity! Will you be the one to figure out the anatomy and function of fossil jawless fish? Come join the team! Application Deadline August 22nd, funding for UK student only (sorry)
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Lepidaspis by Nobu Tomura
lauraminifera.bsky.social
🎉Are you a mineralogist who also loves museums? 🎉
Come join the Natural History Museum Denmark! We are looking for an assistant professor and curator of mineralogy. Advert can be found below, but apply soon! Deadline is 11th August😱

candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...
211-0241/25-2N Tenure-track Assistant Professor and Curator in Mineralogy at Natural History Museum Denmark
candidate.hr-manager.net
Reposted by Laura Cotton
chrisdick.bsky.social
Herbarium director position opening at Oregon State University ‪@osu-herbarium.bsky.social‬ Great opportunity for herbarium- and field-trained botanists at any rank. bpp.oregonstate.edu/bpp/about/op...
Open Positions
bpp.oregonstate.edu
Reposted by Laura Cotton
drjmchugh.bsky.social
Dr Luke Mander is looking for a postdoctoral researcher (3 years) for palynological work on the project "Mind the Gap: Tackling the Molecule–Fossil Divide in Angiosperm Evolution Using Fossil Pollen, Super-resolution Microscopy, and Deep Learning".

jobs.open.ac.uk/job/Post-Doc...
Post Doctoral Research Associate in Palynology
Post Doctoral Research Associate in Palynology
jobs.open.ac.uk
Reposted by Laura Cotton
nvogtvincent.co.uk
Can tropical corals find refuge at higher latitudes under future warming? In our new paper in Science Advances, we argue that coral range expansion will be *far too slow* for most coral species to outpace climate change. 🪸🌊
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A short 🧵 (1/16)
Reposted by Laura Cotton
palaeoverse.bsky.social
Have you developed a computational method or tool which would be useful to palaeobiologists? 🧰 If you might be interested in presenting in our Lecture Series later in the year, please get in touch with us! 🗓️ #FossilFriday
palaeoverse.bsky.social
🚨Palaeoverse Lecture Series🚨

It’s time to announce our Summer 2025 talk schedule 👀
Looking forward to hearing from @spissatella.bsky.social, @sauropodlets.bsky.social, @nmkphylo.bsky.social and @russellgarwood.co.uk!

Sign up here: bit.ly/palaeoverse-lecture-series-2025
A flyer for the Palaeoverse Lecture Series for Summer 2025
June 26th - Dr Katie Collins, Natural History Museum
“Both round and upward: Spiral morphometry and how to compare things that are the same, but different”
July 31st - Summer break
August 28th - Amy Shipley, University of Leeds
“Modelling ancient food webs: ecosystem changes across the Pliocene marine megafaunal extinction”
September 25th - Dr Nicolás Mongiardino Koch, UC San Diego and Dr Russell Garwood, University of Manchester
“The Tree of Life and Death: What do fossil taxa contribute to morphological phylogenetics?”
Reposted by Laura Cotton
stephenbheard.bsky.social
Fun architectural detail at the Danish Natural History Museum, Copenhagen: a lamp modeled after stalked crinoids (sea lilies). Want want want.
1/2
A metal lamp sitting on the stepped balustrade of a staircase. It has 8 bulbs, each held by the basket-like tentacles of a crinoid "flower" and borne at the end of a long, slender stalk. The base of the lamp resembles a large stone, and the crinoid stalks are anchored to it by forking holdfast structures.
Reposted by Laura Cotton
ninaronsted.bsky.social
We are hiring. The Natural History Museum Denmark seeks a Tenure-track Assistant Professor and Curator in Vertebrate Paleontology.

Duties are collection-based research, curation of collections, teaching and public engagement.

Deadline: 18 May 2025. View full job posting: bit.ly/3XPIQcg
Natural History Museum Denmark
Reposted by Laura Cotton
skpevsner.bsky.social
Happy #FossilFriday! Did you know that on rare occasions fossils can preserve soft features such as feathers? These remarkably preserved fossils (and the sites they’re from) are known as lagerstätte, and they can give us so much more information about what prehistoric animals looked like in life! 🧪⚒️
A picture of a fossil bird head that preserves feathering around the entirety of the head. The fossil is on display in the natural history museum of Copenhagen in Denmark. The label for the fossil reads:
Fossil imprint of bird head with pigments
Found by Karsten Witteck, Fur, Denmark, 1996
Neoaves
Reposted by Laura Cotton
javiluque.bsky.social
A new fossil assemblage from Indonesia Borneo, which includes forams, molluscs, crabs, echinoderms, corals, & trace fossils, suggests that the Central Indo-Pacific marine biodiversity hotspot may date back to the Eocene, >34 Mya! 🐚🦀🪸⭐ doi.org/10.1017/jpa.... @camzoology.bsky.social #fossilfriday
Reposted by Laura Cotton
ischi94.bsky.social
I’m looking to hire a postdoc (100%, 22 months, salary significantly above the standard postdoc in Austria or Germany). The position is set to begin on 1 June 2025.
The project explores how biases in the fossil record affect our ability to use past biodiversity data for modern conservation. 1/3