2020 is finally at an end, so it looks like it’s time once again to review the year in non-mammalian synapsid research!

You can tell 2020 was the worst because I didn’t describe a single new synapsid species this year. In part, that’s due to spending most of my energy on larger-scale synthetic projects, but I had a few new taxa that were supposed to come out and got delayed by #2020 stuff...
Thankfully my colleagues in the synapsid research community have not been so idle, naming 13 new species this year. The vast majority (9) were cynodonts, there were also 2 pelycosaurs, 1 dicynodont, and 1 therocephalian.
For new pelycosaurs the highlight was definitely the long-awaited description by Berman et al. of Martensius, the Bromacker caseid, a plesiomorphic early member of the group known from beautiful material: https://t.co/GUJRKvtNwc
No new biarmosuchians or dinocephalians (though watch out next year…), but there was one new dicynodont: a basal dicynodontoid, Taoheodon, part of an increasingly diverse upper Permian fauna from China: https://t.co/lpq2ElPADw
The new therocephalian, Caodeyao, is also from the late Permian of China, and is an unusual short-skulled form perhaps related to the enigmatic Russian Purlovia: https://t.co/DCc8lOUvqF
2020 was a very good year for African cynodont discoveries outside the Main Karoo Basin, with new taxa known from complete crania described from Namibia (Chiniquodon omaruruensis & Etjoia dentitransitus) and Zambia (Nshimbodon muchingaensis): https://t.co/7PjJFFLhBe
Other interesting new cynodonts were described from Brazil, India, and Poland, but the most surprising had to be the discovery of a cynodont (Kataigidodon) in the Chinle Fm. of Arizona, USA, an area where cynodont presence was long thought legendary: https://t.co/EsCNYFrdQQ
Moving beyond single specimens, the incredibly rich fossil record of Permo-Triassic synapsids has increasingly been leveraged for destructive sampling. Whitney & Sidor provided the first evidence for torpor in Antarctic Lystrosaurus based on tusk sections: https://t.co/1kmQDPf5Y3
Whitney et al. also demonstrated that gorgonopsians beat dinosaurs by tens of millions of years in originating one of the most specialized types of blade-like (ziphodont) teeth: https://t.co/zrDn19b9OI
Stable isotope analysis of dicynodont teeth by Rey et al. provided evidence for reliance on aquatic environments in the ecologically-enigmatic Endothiodon, with implications for its unusual distribution pattern: https://t.co/mXMPOKWpel
Macungo et al. also studied Endothiodon, describing extensive new material from what is proving to be an extremely interesting novel set of localities in Mozambique: https://t.co/HGYaKtHM2q
Jones et al. examined axial regionalization along the mammalian stem, the latest major output of from an extensive multi-year investigation into synapsid vertebral evolution: https://t.co/kE4K4qJyrn
Kümmel et al. reviewed synapsid wrist structure in exhaustive detail, rewriting the origin of the mammalian lunate bone: https://t.co/U1UqrGvl2k
With imaging labs largely shut down due to the pandemic, there was a distinct dip in CT-assisted detailed anatomical descriptions this year, but Pusch et al. did provide new info on the large predatory therocephalian Lycosuchus: https://t.co/5QH6ON3KCU
And Kerber et al. provided endocranial data from a new specimen of the extremely mammal-like Late Triassic Brazilian cynodont Prozostrodon: https://t.co/ntNtqfp26T
(There was also some biogeographic stuff published which we won’t discuss further and should probably be promptly forgotten.)
All in all, though, lots of solid, well-researched stuff, and particularly great to see so many papers coming from early-career researchers (indications that the future of synapsid research is bright…at least if we live in a society where these folks can get jobs…)
Hoping for tons more amazing discoveries in 2021, and to actually be able to hold a synapsid fossil in my hand once more! Lots of field/lab/collections time lost this past year, and though that’s all minor compared to human life, it sure would be nice to dig up some bones again…
Who knows, maybe I can make it back to the Karoo before next year is up, and get some good use out of the recent total overhaul of Permo-Triassic stratigraphy there (https://t.co/9eqbnkoaoR). Here's hoping!

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1. I find it remarkable that some medics and scientists aren’t raising their voices to make children as safe as possible. The comment about children being less infectious than adults is unsupported by evidence.


2. @c_drosten has talked about this extensively and @dgurdasani1 and @DrZoeHyde have repeatedly pointed out flaws in the studies which have purported to show this. Now for the other assertion: children are very rarely ill with COVID19.

3. Children seem to suffer less with acute illness, but we have no idea of the long-term impact of infection. We do know #LongCovid affects some children. @LongCovidKids now speaks for 1,500 children struggling with a wide range of long-term symptoms.

4. 1,500 children whose parents found a small campaign group. How many more are out there? We don’t know. ONS data suggests there might be many, but the issue hasn’t been studied sufficiently well or long enough for a definitive answer.

5. Some people have talked about #COVID19 being this generation’s Polio. According to US CDC, Polio resulted in inapparent infection in more than 99% of people. Severe disease occurred in a tiny fraction of those infected. Source:
Read this thread from @lilithsaintcrow. I really mean it. Just read it. Because if what she is saying is true (and I happen to think it is) it explains *so much*

An example using the Flat Earthers: A thread of many parts:


I'm firmly convinced that the flat Earth thing was started by some adolescent trolls with nothing more productive to do. They didn't believe it, but they thought it was entertaining to keep pretending that they did.

You can't engage with them, because they *are playing a game*. They think it's fun to see if they can get anybody to engage with something completely stupid as though it's true.

If you challenge them, the rules of the game state that they have to argue as hard and a spuriously as they like, but *never* to admit that the Earth is not in fact flat. I suppose you have to make up your own entertainment on 4chan or whatever hole this was conceived in.

It's annoying as hell, but I suppose it doesn't do much harm.. except to folks like this:

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1/ Here’s a list of conversational frameworks I’ve picked up that have been helpful.

Please add your own.

2/ The Magic Question: "What would need to be true for you


3/ On evaluating where someone’s head is at regarding a topic they are being wishy-washy about or delaying.

“Gun to the head—what would you decide now?”

“Fast forward 6 months after your sabbatical--how would you decide: what criteria is most important to you?”

4/ Other Q’s re: decisions:

“Putting aside a list of pros/cons, what’s the *one* reason you’re doing this?” “Why is that the most important reason?”

“What’s end-game here?”

“What does success look like in a world where you pick that path?”

5/ When listening, after empathizing, and wanting to help them make their own decisions without imposing your world view:

“What would the best version of yourself do”?
Funny, before the election I recall lefties muttering the caravan must have been a Trump setup because it made the open borders crowd look so bad. Why would the pro-migrant crowd engineer a crisis that played into Trump's hands? THIS is why. THESE are the "optics" they wanted.


This media manipulation effort was inspired by the success of the "kids in cages" freakout, a 100% Stalinist propaganda drive that required people to forget about Obama putting migrant children in cells. It worked, so now they want pics of Trump "gassing children on the border."

There's a heavy air of Pallywood around the whole thing as well. If the Palestinians can stage huge theatrical performances of victimhood with the willing cooperation of Western media, why shouldn't the migrant caravan organizers expect the same?

It's business as usual for Anarchy, Inc. - the worldwide shredding of national sovereignty to increase the power of transnational organizations and left-wing ideology. Many in the media are true believers. Others just cannot resist the narrative of "change" and "social justice."

The product sold by Anarchy, Inc. is victimhood. It always boils down to the same formula: once the existing order can be painted as oppressors and children as their victims, chaos wins and order loses. Look at the lefties shrieking in unison about "Trump gassing children" today.