Laura Cooper
Postdoc investigating the plants of the past at the University of Edinburgh
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- Reposted by Laura CooperFounders of modern paleontology, and their contributions to systemic racism, classism and sexism (🧵) Henry Osborn (1857–1935), responsible for naming of Tyrannosaurus & Velociraptor; president of ANHM. Co-founder of the American Eugenics Society. Contributing to books later praised by Hitler.
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- Reposted by Laura CooperOpportunity for women students in paleontology! The Winifred Goldring Award will be presented to three women graduate students and the AWG Undergraduate Paleontology Award will be presented to a student pursuing a career in paleontology. Due April 30th. More information here: tinyurl.com/msdc3m68
- Reposted by Laura CooperI've seen fossils in some remarkable places, but this takes the prize: the benthic foram Nummulites in the base of the Great Pyramid of Giza. These massive blocks were quarried from the Eocene Mokkatam Formation when a relictual population of woolly mammoths still lived on Wrangel Island.
- Reposted by Laura CooperPlant Science Research Weekly -- Not a Fungi after all: new clues to the identity of Prototaxites (Science Advances) (Summary by Katarina Kurtović, katarinakurtovic.bsky.social) @sandyheth.bsky.social @transitionalform.bsky.social buff.ly/DwgUr2f #PlantaePSRW
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- Reposted by Laura CooperDorks
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- Here's the top view of the hat, with baby hippos and Prototaxites!
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- Thanks to Sandy for excellent supervision, to the very supportive lab group (who are also very creative with making my hat!) and the examiners for their rigorous questioning!
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- Reposted by Laura CooperImportant message here: 4 billion years of evolution was not teleological. It was not _meant_ to get to us or our world. It was doing it own thing in its own time #Biodiversity www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-g...
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- It's been great seeing everyone enjoying the paper and the thread! Just to add: 1 ) It's pronounced "Proto-tax-eye-tees" (not that it would mind being mispronounced) 2 ) Yes it does look like giant penis, but more interesting is that we don't know why or how it got to looking like a giant penis.
- Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below! Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage
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- Reposted by Laura CooperVery cool paper and thread exploring earth's ancient giant fungi-not-fungi "the first giant organisms on the Earth’s surface were not closely related to anything alive today. But despite its strangeness, in its time Prototaxites would have had an important role"
- Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below! Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage
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- Reposted by Laura CooperExcited to share our new investigation of Prototaxites! We found no support for a fungal affinity and instead suggest it is best considered an entirely extinct complex eukaryotic lineage Great team effort @transitionalform.bsky.social Corentin Loron, and many others! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- It was great talking with Cody Cottier for an article on our work for Scientific American! www.scientificamerican.com/article/myst...
- Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below! Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage
- 1 / 23 Prototaxites is known from some very large fossils, including columns over 8m tall. These fossils date from the end of the Silurian to the Late Devonian (425–365 million years ago). This makes Prototaxites the largest organism on the Earth’s surface before the appearance of tall trees.
- 2 / 23 What Prototaxites was has been debated extensively since its first description almost 170 years ago. It was originally described as a tree, but this was soon rejected. More recent researchers have described it as a fungus, due to its hypha-like structure and likely decomposer lifestyle.
