Paleontologist to lead U.S. national academy
Saturday, July 19, 2025 - 19:29
in Biology & Nature
Neil Shubin, an evolutionary biologist best known for discovering an important fish fossil, has been nominated to head the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS). He will take over next year with the academy already in turbulent, uncharted waters. Shubin, 64, is an associate dean at the University of Chicago. In 2006, he and colleagues published the discovery of a 375-million-year-old fish fossil that provided clues to the rise of amphibians. Previously provost at the Field Museum, Shubin was also interim co-director of the Marine Biological Laboratory. He continues to study the evolution of limbs and joints . ...