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Isotope results were confirmed by analyses of phytoliths collected from the same samples. Every site with phytoliths had grass phytoliths, and most had high proportions of potential or confirmed C4 grasses. At a few we saw evidence of forests, at one, evidence of palms! (9/16)

Our results also have implications for hominin origins. The venerable story, still promulgated today, that widespread forests gradually shrank, forcing the first hominins into new grassland environs, doesn’t mesh with the variety of habitats in Africa during the Neogene. (10/16)

Our analyses confirm, in the very places organisms interacted with their environments, what other studies (e.g., onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.111…) have shown more broadly: African landscapes were dynamic and varied over the course of the last 23 million years. (11/16)

Some of our results have important antecedents in the literature that have never fully taken root in the intellectual substrate of the discipline. The complexities of interpreting the fossil record mean that changing long-held views requires the most robust evidence. (12/16)

It is here that we see the importance, the necessity, of #collaboration in science. As you read these papers, ask yourself how interpretations would have differed if we only had data from one fossil site, or if we only used one or two paleoenvironmental proxies. (13/16)

A world-renowned neuroscientist once said to me, without preamble or context: “Science is friendship.” It has taken me years to unpack the meaning behind that simple phrase, but the depth of his insight became clear to me as the REACHE project developed. (14/16)

I am so grateful for the collaborators, associates, and friends who made this #ScienceResearch possible, including many not on Twitter as well as Dan Peppe @susy_cote Rahab Kinyanjui @WilliamELukens Caroline Strömberg Dr Emma Mbua Dr. Lauren Michel Amon Mugume @kevin_t_uno cliff ochieng (15/16)

Also deeply indebted to the myriad institutions and foundations that supported this work, including: National Museums of Kenya ugandamuseums TURKANA BASIN INSTITUTE U.S. National Science Foundation The Leakey Foundation Wenner-Gren Foundation The Leverhulme Trust NSERC / CRSNG National Geographic Society UMN Anthropology UMN Liberal Arts University of Minnesota (16/16)

Early break-up of eastern African forests shaped our ape ancestors newscientist.com/article/236893…

Wooded grasslands flourished in Africa 21 million years ago – new research forces a rethink of ape evolution theconversation.com/wooded-grassla… via The Conversation U.S.

#UW Undergraduate Research Symposium last Friday and the Stromberg lab undergraduates came to represent! We had 17 undergrads presenting on 12 different topics. And special shoutout to Caroline Strömberg for the Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award! #HuskyResearch

Happy to announce that Zoe Kulik, PhD passed her PhD defense this morning! Another synapsid paleontologist fledged. UWPaleo UW Biology Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture

From the very best nest!!

PhDone!! Thanks for six great years Christian A. Sidor and UW Biology

NEW The end-Cretaceous plant extinction: Heterogeneity, ecosystem transformation, and insights for the future — with Mónica Carvalho & Elena Stiles. @moccada College of EMS @Paleobot_Anist UMich Paleobotany Cambridge Prisms #paleobotany cambridge.org/core/journals/…

66 million years ago, an asteroid impact wiped out nearly 75% of life on Earth, including the non-avian dinosaurs. But a new paper finds that flowering plants weathered the cataclysmic close of the Mesozoic surprisingly well🌸☄️ My latest for NYT Science: nytimes.com/2023/09/12/sci…

🎉Great news! The new paper ‘Palms of the past: can morphometric phytolith analysis inform deep time evolution and palaeoecology of Arecaceae?’ in Annals of Botany by William Brightly and co-authors is now #free for a limited time. (1/8) 👉botany.fyi/ji8yrm #Paleobotany #AoBpapers

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