zhejiangopterus

Online home of Henry Thomas, paleontologist and overall natural history geek

Science communication and outreach

I always love connecting the public to science whenever the opportunity arises. I'm particularly drawn towards integrating scientific concepts into creative and fun things and other less traditional forms of education.

Those With Pycnofibres

Those With Pycnofibres is a blog where I write articles about natural history-related topics, ranging from pterosaur phylogeny to speculative evolution to the Late Paleozoic Icehouse. The subject matter varies based on what I have to say, frankly. Several articles are meant to digest complex scientific topics and share them in a style that the average reader may more easily understand.

Specposium

The Specposium is an informal virtual conference focused on speculative biology that I co-organize. The event contains a mixture of showcases of speculative biology projects (which anyone is welcome to share), presentations on biological and geological fundamentals that could be applied to these projects, and commentary on the genre. The first Specposium was held in 2021, and the utilization of Discord as a platform has generated strong engagement. I believe that speculative biology is a potentially powerful tool for science communication, because it takes a both strong understanding of evolutionary concepts and a strong imagination to create a scientifically sound speculative scenario. Visit the Specposium website for more information!

Right: The Spectipede, mascot of the Specposium. Designed by Charlotte Bowman.

Journal of Geek Studies articles

I have written several articles for the Journal of Geek Studies, an online magazine with the aim of relating science to popular culture.

Teaching experience

History of Dinosaurs

Over Summer 2018, I assisted with the development and conduction of an independent online course focused on dinosaur evolution (inclusive of Cenozoic birds!). I helped present lectures and grade assignments. The outcomes of this course were presented as a poster (PDF) at the 2018 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting.