Since 2012 I have been writing for the Guardian on these pages and the forerunner of LWR, the Lost Worlds blog. It’s (generally) been a pleasure and privilege to help cover new and exciting discoveries like giant sauropods and fighting thick-headed dinosaurs, and especially new taxa including Regaliceratops and Nyasasaurus. In addition, it has given me a platform to talk about important issues in science communication and education (like my T. rex documentary and creationists being, shock, wrong) and other aspects of palaeontology and the biological sciences including the predictive power of evolution and why I think zoos are good. All that and why the Game of Thrones dragons wouldn’t be able to fly - what more could you ask for?
It has led to much discussion among scientists, generated huge numbers of comments and ideas and, I hope, generally given people access to ideas and details not normally coming through from more traditional journalistic reports on extinct species and the work of palaeontologists. Sadly, though, the Guardian is closing down the science blogs section of their site and so both Lost Worlds and Lost Worlds Revisited will be no more. It is not the end of my contributions though.
I have now been blogging for over ten years on various platforms and continue to write in various places. So if you want yet more on dinosaur and pterosaur evolution then there’s ten years of backlog to catch up on with other main palaeontology blog The Archosaur Musings, and my first book The Tyrannosaur Chronicles is available and my second popular science book should be out next year. I regularly turn up on various other blogs, in podcasts, on radio and even on TV so this will not be the end of my outreach, even if it means leaving this excellent platform.
All that really remains if for me to thank my fellow bloggers on the Guardian Science blogs, and though who have helped on the staff (especially Tash Reith-Banks) and of course my fellow Lost Worlds Revisited writers – Mark Carnall, Hanneke Meijer, Susannah Lydon and Elsa Panciroli. The science coverage here will be poorer without you.Bye!
