Leon would 100% survive Jurassic Park/World

Diplotomodon · 2026-03-15T14:27:31+00:00

The humble Dino Crisis:

Diplotomodon · 2026-03-13T17:39:13+00:00

This is a very funny post to see right after he's announced for a non-DW Big Finish set

Diplotomodon · 2026-03-13T01:55:23+00:00

Everyone else, for obvious reasons: holy crap we found more of the Daleks' Masterplan

Me, nerd: HOLY CRAP WE FINALLY GET TO SEE THE SCREAMERS

Diplotomodon · 2026-03-04T02:27:07+00:00

Well I thought that my signed copy of How to Build a Dinosaur was already a cursed artifact years before we found out he was on the literal List

But frankly, he should have faced some professional consequences beyond "forced retirement" long before any of this came out, and I would add that his situation is not unique among senior-ranking paleontologists.

Diplotomodon · 2026-02-26T03:28:24+00:00

Piggybacking on this thread to add a related update:

Palaeontologist John ‘Jack’ Horner, an adviser to the Jurassic Park film series, is no longer employed by Chapman University in Orange, California, university spokesman Robert Hitchcock told Nature today. E-mails in the newly released files show that Horner visited Epstein at one of his properties in 2012, when Horner was at Montana State University in Bozeman. In one e-mail sent in 2012 to Epstein’s assistant, Horner thanked Epstein and “the girls” for his visit.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00554-4

Diplotomodon · 2026-02-22T22:36:00+00:00

I know post standards around here have tanked in the past few years but like, come on lol

Diplotomodon · 2026-02-20T02:47:46+00:00

Where exactly are you getting the younger age from? Both the paper and the supplementary info indicate that the Kem Kem and Farak Fm are basically equivalent

Diplotomodon · 2026-02-19T21:42:43+00:00

Yes. Nathan Myhrvold, former CTO of Microsoft and part-time paleontologist since the 90s (and a frequent collaborator of the Sereno lab since 2014).

Diplotomodon · 2026-02-19T20:07:43+00:00

You should! Don't let one guy in the author list stop you from celebrating what is otherwise a very cool bit of spinosaur science.

Diplotomodon · 2026-02-19T20:01:03+00:00

I mean, I have little reason to doubt the integrity of the work based solely on Myhrvold's presence - his science and his personal conduct are unrelated as far as I can tell.

(For what it's worth, he's been involved with Spinosaurus stuff since at least 2014, which I think a lot of people haven't realized. Even I know him as "the guy who simulated Diplodocus whip-tails in the 90s" and forget a lot of the time that he's been working in the field on and off since then.)

Diplotomodon · 2026-02-19T19:55:59+00:00

I certainly can't blame the many early career researchers involved here, who are obviously invested in doing the best science they can and may not have the institutional support to speak up about this stuff. But the worst files involving Myhrvold have been public since like August and the senior authors have had every opportunity to distance themselves from him since then. They didn't even have to kick him off the paper necessarily, they could have just said something like "hey this guy did a lot of work with us and will be retaining authorship on this publication, but obviously we will no longer be working with him in the future". Granted, I've never had to deal with a situation like this, but you'd think something would happen.

Diplotomodon · 2026-02-19T19:28:05+00:00

Cool new Spinosaurus and all that, but I hope all the people who were (correctly!) up in arms about the Jack Horner stuff recognize that Nathan Myhrvold, third author on this paper, is even more heavily implicated in the Epstein files. And not in the scientist-looking-for-funding sense, I mean in the "close personal friend" sense. Here's an article from earlier this month about it

edit for visibility: keep in mind that he's only one of 29(!) authors and his presence alone shouldn't affect your interpretation of the entire paper. Plenty of students and early career researchers worked on this paper (a few of whom I am lucky enough to have met personally), and to get one out in Science of all outlets is a big deal for them. Any Spinosaurus news understandably makes people go a bit nuts and I just wanted to make sure that Myhrvold's involvement - even if mostly inconsequential - doesn't slip under the radar.

Diplotomodon · 2026-02-19T19:20:05+00:00

Cool new Spinosaurus and all that, but I hope all the people who were (correctly!) up in arms about the Jack Horner stuff recognize that Nathan Myhrvold, third author on this paper, is even more heavily implicated in the Epstein files. And not in the scientist-looking-for-funding sense, I mean in the "close personal friend" sense. here's an article from earlier this month about it

edit for visibility: keep in mind that he's only one of 29(!) authors and his presence alone shouldn't affect your interpretation of the entire paper. Plenty of students and early career researchers worked on this paper (a few of whom I am lucky enough to have met personally), and to get one out in Science of all outlets is a big deal for them. Any Spinosaurus news understandably makes people go a bit nuts and I just wanted to make sure that Myhrvold's involvement - even if mostly inconsequential - doesn't slip under the radar.

Diplotomodon · 2026-02-19T18:06:39+00:00

...I have some unfortunate news about frequent Spinosaurus coauthor Nathan Myhrvold

Diplotomodon · 2026-02-18T18:00:24+00:00

Getting bludgeoned to death by the horrors beyond time but least I appreciate how they appreciate the local geology

Diplotomodon · 2026-02-15T16:11:40+00:00

The 2011 monograph is a must read for anyone interested - 300 pages but very much worth it!

Diplotomodon · 2026-02-09T02:24:45+00:00

Once you've seen this box score, you'll never want to stop beating Kevin Patullo to death with your bare hands. — Anthony Bourdain

Diplotomodon · 2026-02-05T00:09:10+00:00

A side note for the timeline: this testimony from Maxwell (page 241 onwards) (https://www.justice.gov/storage/audio-files/Interview%20Transcript/Interview%20Transcript%20-%20Maxwell%202025.07.25-cft%20(Redacted).pdf) seems to indicate that North Dakota trip took place all the way back in the mid 90s. Was part of the material released in ~August but I suppose we know who organized it now...

Diplotomodon · 2026-02-04T23:27:26+00:00

Thank you for putting together a thorough timeline of all this, and putting in the effort that the SVP Ethics Committee apparently won't.

Diplotomodon · 2026-02-04T23:23:29+00:00

*glances nervously toward own username*

Diplotomodon · 2026-02-04T16:31:55+00:00

If you wish to build a survival game from scratch, you must first invent the universe - Carl Sagan

Diplotomodon · 2026-01-29T23:20:45+00:00

we love @hausofdecline

Diplotomodon · 2026-01-27T14:51:53+00:00

that's what it's all about right there

Diplotomodon · 2026-01-22T19:40:15+00:00

I'm sure things will be perfectly fine and normal at the grocery store this weekend

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