Evolutionary biologist from @UofT. Freelance science writer and founder of @elephabacteria. Science videos at @DarwinsChroni. Find me on Mastodon too.
Osséja, France
Joined November 2015
- Tweets834
- Following725
- Followers714
- Likes3.5K
Pinned Tweet
A tiny village, thousands of trilobites, a treasure trove now seeing the light of day after 50 years. My research in Medium! #palaeontology #fossils
medium.com/fossils-et-al/how…
Does evolution have limits? Learn how the first animals experimented with shapes that have never appeared again, including three-legged animals. #fossils #palaeontology #science
medium.com/fossils-et-al/the…
Alejandro Izquierdo López, PhD retweeted
Some 506 million years ago, a three-eyed predator hunted in Earth’s oceans.
iflscience.com/new-species-o…
There is something strange appearing in my Paleo feed: AI-generated dinosaurs!
While generally harmless, I am worried when science communicators and even researchers use such tools. If you have a Medium account, I invite you to read my latest post
lnkd.in/dKjPTAQv
Our Solar system is surrounded by a giant belt of debris, remnants of its formation billions of years ago.
Now, a survey using the telescope ALMA has revealed almost a hundred such belts around nearby stars. Discover what it found at the @ESO blog:
tinyurl.com/mw7cehan
Alejandro Izquierdo López, PhD retweeted
Today marks the 52nd anniversary of the release of Rick Wakeman's debut solo album, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, the most successful album of his solo career.
-
What is your favourite track on the album?
*** Rick Wakeman's thoughts on Piano Vibrations, released before this album: This was never meant to be a solo album and to be honest I certainly don't count it as a solo album in any respect.
Alejandro Izquierdo López, PhD retweeted
Using ESO's #VLT, astronomers have discovered extremely powerful winds on #exoplanet WASP-127b.
The winds reach speeds up to 33 000 km/h, the fastest jetstream of its kind ever measured on a planet!
Discover more: eso.org/public/news/eso2502/
Artist's impression by ESO/L. Calçada
Alejandro Izquierdo López, PhD retweeted
The skies above Paranal are at risk from a proposed industrial megaproject.
This would be located in the vicinity of ESO's Observatory. If constructed, it would irreparably impact astronomical observations.
Read more: eso.org/public/news/eso2501/
📷 ESO/P. Horálek
Did cockroaches evolve into praying mantises?
Explore the fossil record of cockroaches and learn how these creepy bugs transformed into fascinating predators.
If you have Medium, I invite you to take a look at my story:
medium.com/fossils-et-al/did…
When I thought I had a good comprehension of all animal groups.... and just found out a complete group that only lives in the kidneys of octopi... great.
New in The Journal of Parasitology!
TAXES OF DICYEMIDS (PHYLUM DICYEMIDA)
By Naoki Hisayama; Yuto Takeuchi; and Hidetaka Furuya.
doi.org/10.1645/24-39
Alejandro Izquierdo López, PhD retweeted
“I've witnessed something that I feel is extremely bad, not just for the United States, but for all of us in the world.”
Scientists around the world expressed disappointment and alarm as Republican Donald Trump has secured a second term go.nature.com/3UEdHa2
Fossils🦕, extinctions ☄️and the limits of evolution.
Can we predict evolution? What caused the event that killed 85% of species?
If you are at @ESO Headquarters this Thursday (or receive the ESO newsletter), please join me in my talk for Astronomy for Non-Astronomers!
Forgot to mention this artwork is from @IsaiahCTorre. Great paleoartist!
Alejandro Izquierdo López, PhD retweeted
Big update!!! You might think 239 is an odd place to stop, but I am now officially halfway through my project to draw every family of bony fish! (IDs below)
Alejandro Izquierdo López, PhD retweeted
Se nos vienen a la cabeza “negocios” y actividades económicas que comparar pero preferimos no hacer más daño.
Aunque cueste entenderlo, pagamos por publicar y pagamos por leerlos.
¿Cómo se inventó este sistema y porqué sigue existiendo?
eldiario.es/sociedad/mejor-n…
Alejandro Izquierdo López, PhD retweeted
Brain, guts, and circulatory system of a Cambrian arthropod larva! The most amazingly preserved fossil I have ever seen.
doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-0…
Lucky to have been a part of this project led by Martin Smith and Emma Long.
@PalaeoSmith @DurUniEarthSci @durham_uni
What we did not expect, though, were the limbs. If, like Briggs suggested, Odaraia was filtering food from the water, how did it do so? We have the answer: legs covered by over 80 spines, creating an intricate capturing net.
What is interesting is that we are finding more and more Cambrian animals good swimmers and filtering large particles. These were early denizens of an open water ecosystem, and could have been later replaced by more specialized groups. Why is a question left to answer.
