Support for a science blog
Tetrapod Zoology has become one of my favorite blogs. It’s written by Darren Naish, who describes himself thusly:
Darren Naish – me – is, or was, a vertebrate palaeontologist, formerly based at the University of Portsmouth, UK. They still host my homepage, but have usefully deleted all the links to the pdfs I so lovingly uploaded (if you want pdfs of any of the papers listed there don’t hesitate to email me and ask: eotyrannus at gmail dot com). From 1997 to 2006 I worked on the predatory dinosaurs of the Lower Cretaceous of southern England, focusing for my phd on the basal tyrannosauroid Eotyrannus. A full monographic description of Eotyrannus will be published one day. Since completing the phd I’ve been trying to find a job in academia, but so far all applications have been unsuccessful. That’s pretty depressing; my future is uncertain.
I like dinosaurs very much, but they’re far from the only animals that I find interesting. I’m fascinated by all tetrapods and have some practical and research experience with Mesozoic marine reptiles, marine mammals, flightless birds and pterosaurs. I spend as much time in the field as possible, looking at real live tetrapods. I’m married and have a 5-year-old son.
Naish writes entertainingly on various issues in both paleontology (dinosaurs!) and modern zoology (vampire bats!), with occasional mixing of the two (giant extinct vampire bats!) and other side-trips (Godzilla!). He also utterly refuses to dumb down his work, and many of his postings contains long lists of academic citations.
Like many other bloggers, he’s made a quiet request for donations to keep his blog running. Consider helping Darren out; I have already. (Note: the ‘Make a Donation’ button is near the bottom of the left-hand column on his blog site.) ..bruce..