Mario Coiro

last week my latest paper on #cycads came out. The article deals with the idea of cycads as "living #fossils", but what does this mean exactly, and what did we actually test? A thread for #FossilFriday! www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Professorship (W2) of Computational Plant Systematics (6 years/tenure track). New job offer in our biology department @lmu.de 👇. Please apply and help to spread the word. www.nature.com/naturecareer... #PlantSciJob #PlantScience

Are you looking for a PhD in the area of plant evolution? If so do apply to join the lab for this competitively funded @gpsep.bsky.social PhD project to study the evolution of branching architecture by combing data from fossils, ferns and genes. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

We're delighted to share our latest paper published today in @currentbiology.bsky.social . www.cell.com/current-biol... We use comparative transcriptomics and microscopy to show that this tiny structure contains a fusion of a compressed stem and a leaf.

🔬 Postdoctoral Position – Devonian Faunal Evolution of Svalbard (Norway) pre-anouncement With Vincent Dupret at the MNHN, Paris. Details here: www.linkedin.com/posts/vince-...

Reconstruction of the canopy of the iconic Lepidodendron aculeatum, based on new articulated fossils from the Bashkirian (Pennsylvanian) of Hagen-Vorhalle, Germany onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology #FossilFriday

Mr P Cuttings is in celebratory mood on the occasion of his blog’s third birthday. Want to know more? More at plantcuttings.uk/2026/10/09/p... Cheers! #Botany #PlantScience

Tenure track assistant/associate professor positions open in my university. Within life sciences, INCLUDING PLANT SCIENCES. Please RT jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...

Margaret Hamilton, the groundbreaking researcher who helped create the field of software engineering and whose code helped land NASA’s Apollo astronauts on the moon, has died. She was 90. cnn.it/4dutYrD

The Cornell University Police Department “did not inform Mr. Van Houten’s office that Jane Doe had said she had been raped.” www.nytimes.com/2026/10/01/n...

Carole Gee, (the late) Dick Dayvault, and I named a new fossil seed cone species, Pararacauria utahensis, and reconstructed it in 3D!

And I can now announce that the candidate to organize the next European #Palaeobotany and #Palynology Congress in 2030 is Paris🗼🌿⛏️

It was a great week at the 12th European #Palaeobotany & #Palynology Congress, with very interesting presentations and chats. A special mention to all the excellent early career speakers in our session & the paleoart session organized by @lepidodendron.bsky.social and @palaeojules.bsky.social 🌿⛏️ 1/2

The programme of the 12th European #Palaeobotany & #Palynology Congress is now online for participants. 🗣️🌿⛏️ Our symposium for early career researchers has ✨33 talks✨ and will run for 1.5 day! Thanks to everyone who submitted an abstract & to the panel members who will award the prizes. #paleobotany

Today the organisers #SAPP2026 have gone to schools in Trelew to talk to the pupils about what a scientific conference is and why fossil plants are important to understand our past and future. What an amazing way to reconnect people to their paleontological heritage, we have much to learn from them!

On my way to the Simposio Argentino de Paleobotanica y Palinologia in Trelew! Looking forward to seeing many amazing talks and meeting fascinating people! #SAPP2026

Some other tools exist, based on the variation of wood anatomy and/or of carbon isotopes within individual growth-rings of fossil trees. You can find an example in our open access paper from 2014, looking at Permian high latitude trees : www.lyellcollection.org/doi/full/10.... Happy #fossilFriday!

Most evidence is indirect, typically based on the occurence of "leaf mats", which are accumulations of leaves in some sediment layers that suggest seasonality.

Direct evidence can sometimes be seen, by observing if the vascular tissues connecting the leaves to a stem or branch ("leaf traces") end within the first annual ring or cross several rings🪵🍃. But this is dependant on finding specimens with this type of details preserved...

Fall will soon start in the Northern hemisphere and in the temperate zones deciduous plants are going to shed their leaves 🍃🍁. But how can we know about leaf deciduousness in "deep time" ecosystems, tens to hundreds of millions of years ago? #paleobotany #botany 🧪 🧵🌿⛏️

I'M BACK !!! This is Leefructus, one of the oldest flower plant, with an indetermined species of Oregramma, a kalligrammatid from the Yixian formation (China, 124 MA). This butterfly-like insect fed on the first flowers of the dinosaur era. #paleoart #SciArt #insect #cretaceous #flower #china

NSF just posted the call for the annual Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology (PRFB). You must propose a project to apply AI to biological research. Deadline is Sep 29, 2026 www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Hey Paleo Folks! Rowan Lockwood (PS President) sent me this description of the Paleobotany short course at this year's GSA. “A primer for researchers of all stages interested in trait-based paleoecology and deep time vegetation-climate interactions. Attendees will be trained to make measurements…

a cute little fossil fern for this #FossilFriday. This picture was taken by illuminating the fossil with light in the visible spectrum and capturing the infrared radiation emitted from the specimen!

"The persistent incongruence between molecular clock estimates of animal terrestrialization and the fossil record could be attributed in part to preservation biases" If only someone would quantify the probability that said preservation biases explain those early-Paleozoic molecular estimates. 😭😭😭

Are you passionate about code integrity and accessibility? Do you have skills in R, Python or Julia? Why not apply to be one of our new Code Integrity and Accessibility AEs? Open to any career stage. Details here: apply.workable.com/britishecolo... (sadly not paid, but comes with nice perks)

Come and work with us (the Kokkonuts) as a postdoc! Our research within (theory-evo-eco) is broad; let's say it's implicitly defined by the journal club papers we read. Which is why the application process includes a JC-related task, I hope it'll be a fun one for you! www.evoldir.net/brian/evoldi...

I really cannot think of a greater honor than to have the Muppets say this about you upon your passing

If you saw our new paper and thought "I didn't know aquatic plants use CAM!" boy do we have a fun project for you! Our lab is developing high throughput methods to screen plants for CAM. Do you work on, or know of, a plant that you think could be using CAM? Let us know! 👉 forms.gle/AyQc5KgzEYoM...

We are very pleased to sponsor the 13th International Conference on Cycad Biology, taking place in Sydney, Australia on 17–22 August. www.bganz.org.au/event/cycad-... #PlantScience

🌿 And photo 4 shows a pond with water lillies and the aquatic fern Salvinia cucullata (" Asian watermoss" )📍in Xinshuangbana botanical garden, 2026. ⛏️ Salvinia is first recorded in the Cretaceous.📄 Open access #paleobotany paper from which the photo comes: bomax.botany.pl/cgi-bin/pubs...

🌿 Photo 3 is a fertile frond of Osmunda regalis ("royal fern" )📍in Stockholm botanical garden, 2022. ⛏️ Osmundaceae are first recorded in the Permian (>250 Ma) & Osmunda in the Cretaceous or Paleogene 📄 Open access #paleobotany paper on their fossil record & phylogeny: doi.org/10.7717/peer...

🌿 Photo 1 shows leaves of Marsilea quadrifolia ("water clover"), an aquatic #fern with clover-like leaves📍in Padova botanical garden, 2014. ⛏️ Marsilea is first recorded in the Cretaceous 📄 Open access #paleobotany paper from which the photo comes: doi.org/10.2478/acpa...

And the answer was photo 2, which only shows cycads and grass. Watch this thread for 🌿the name of the ferns, 📍photo locations + ⛏️ photos and info on related fossils. Happy #FernFriday & #FossilFriday ! 🌿⛏️ 1/4

Four pages of rules and a cover is all you need. Well, maybe you can skip the cover.

I updated the minimalist roleplaying game Surviving Dinoworld, with better rules and in a smaller page count. Maybe you are inspired for a small town moved to the Jurassic - adventure? #dinosaurs #roleplayinggame ezequielvera.itch.io/surviving-di...

A little game ahead of #FernFriday 🌿 🤔 Only 1 of these 4 photos doesn't show any #fern. Can you find which one? I'll post the answer and more details tomorrow! #botany

A private collector of natural history goods asking public institutions to bid on their "collection" is probably not aware that they are putting on sale a public good they have claimed ownership of. And we should be the ones pushing to enact the public aspect of those goods.

Private collections of fossils and archaeological remains are a bunch of rocks and jars you liked from your trip to the beach that you show to your friends. The moment someone asks scientists or a museum to assess the collection, it starts regaining its value as a public good. 🧵

🌾 We're hiring a postdoc! Join the Stomatal Biology group in beautiful Bern @unibe.ch How do grass leaves spatially coordinate development of veins & stomatal rows? 2 years (plus possible extension), funded by @snsf.ch @dfg.de within @cerealcell.bsky.social RU5325 jobs.unibe.ch/job-vacancie...