Studying climate change-induced mass extinctions in the deep geological past allows researchers to explore the impact of environmental crises on organismal evolution. One principal example is the Permian-Triassic climatic crises, a series of climatic shifts driven by global warming that occurred between the Middle Permian (265 million years ago) and Middle Triassic (230 million years ago). These climatic shifts caused two of the largest mass extinctions in the history of life at the end of the Permian, the first at 261myo and the other at 252myo, eliminating 86% of all animal species...

Tiago Simões, a researcher in the Stephanie Pierce lab and former Edward O. Wilson Biodiversity Postdoctoral Fellow, knew he found something special when he examined a fossil specimen collected decades ago. The fossil belongs to a previously unknown species of lizard-like reptile, representing the earliest evolving member of a lineage that today includes all lizards, snakes, and their closest relatives. The research was published in...

We are currently accepting applications for the Vertebrate Paleontology Technician and Preparator position. 

This role operates and manages the Paleontology Preparation Laboratory within the Museum of Comparative Zoology and cares for fossils in the vertebrate paleontology collection. 

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