The Skeleton in Silhouette

Fans of the Biodiversity Heritage Library and their amazing work making valuable old zoological manuscripts freely available online might have seen that they now have an absolutely exception Flickr site. It’s got thousands of beautiful old zoological and botanical illustrations and is an absolute joy to browse through. I came across this book, Die vergleichende … Continue reading The Skeleton in Silhouette

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So you think you know Ankylosaurus

It’s a New Paper Day today! Go check it out at the new open access journal FACETS! An alternate title I kicked around for this paper was “Victoria thinks about Ankylosaurus for a while: What does she know? Does she know things?? Let’s find out!”, because in the end this represents lots of little odds … Continue reading So you think you know Ankylosaurus

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Science Literacy Week 2017: Stretching Imaginations

I wanted to end this science literacy week book series on a bit of a different note. I’ve covered some amazing books about how to do good science, what it’s like to be a scientist, and some compelling real life science stories. But I’d be remiss in not acknowledging a huge source of science inspiration … Continue reading Science Literacy Week 2017: Stretching Imaginations

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Science Literacy Week 2017: You can really taste the silt.

For today’s Science Literacy Week entry, I’m featuring the work of one of my favourite comic artists, Abby Howard! Abby’s webcomic, Junior Scientist Power Hour, has been a favourite of mine for a few years now, where I first encountered the Junior Palaeontologist Power Hour sequence of comics. Now collected into a paper book all … Continue reading Science Literacy Week 2017: You can really taste the silt.

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Science Literacy Week 2017: Last Chances

          As a vertebrate palaeontologist, I spend a lot of time thinking about extinction. So for today’s Science Literacy Week highlights, I wanted to talk about books about extinction – not ancient extinctions, but modern biodiversity crises. Two authors that have deeply affected me on this topic are the late Farley … Continue reading Science Literacy Week 2017: Last Chances

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Science Literacy Week 2017: Good Vibrations

Science Literacy Week continues, and today I’m sharing one of my favourite books about communicating science! I first read Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science shortly after it was published in 2008, and gave it a re-read this summer. It’s a truly amazing book for breaking down some of the barriers around understanding the statistical side of … Continue reading Science Literacy Week 2017: Good Vibrations

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Science Literacy Week 2017: How to Be a Scientist

It’s Science Literacy Week here in Canada, a time to celebrate science communication in all media. For the rest of this week, I’m featuring some of my favourite science books! I’ll also be joining the fun with two talks about our new dinosaur Zuul at the Toronto Public Library, and will be hanging out with … Continue reading Science Literacy Week 2017: How to Be a Scientist

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Evolution at the Zoo: Prehistoric Park Edition

A few months ago I wrote a bit about how zoos incorporate evolution into their exhibits, including examples where extinct species are featured through dioramas or life-size replicas. The San Diego Zoo does a great job of highlighting recently extinct mammals in its Elephant Odyssey exhibit, and today I wanted to share one more example … Continue reading Evolution at the Zoo: Prehistoric Park Edition

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