Month: April 2020
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Throwback Thursday #5: ESCONI Juniors Booth at the Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show
This is Throwback Thursday #5. In these, we look back in the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have and contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please sent them to email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! —————————————————————————————————– Here are some pictures of the specimens at the Junior Booth for various Gem, Mineral, and Fossil…
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Nature: Palaeontologists Think They Have Found ‘The Most Dangerous Place’ in Earth’s History
Nature’s Science Alert has a story about the Kem Kem Group in eastern Morocco. Due to the shear number of large-bodied carnivores, abelisaurs, Spinosaurs aegyptiacus, Carcharodontonsaurus saharicus, Deltadromeus agilis, and several large crocodyiforms, it’s hard to imagine how one would avoid being eaten! The seeming overabundance of predatory versus herbivorous dinosaurs has become known as…
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Trilobite Tuesday #5: Are These Trilobite Eggs?
Scientific American’s “The Artful Amoeba” had a piece about trilobite eggs a few years ago. It seems that Markus Martin, an amateur paleontologist, discovered gold, or more specifically trilobite gold. Atlas Obscura has the more personal details of this fossil find. It what was once known as Beecher’s Bed, Martin found and then prepared some…
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Mazon Monday #5: The Mazon Creek Project
This is Mazon Monday post #5. Some of the information in this post was provided by John Liskey, former ESCONI member, who has generously donated fossil, mineral, and assorted junior material. Thanks, John! ———————————————————– The Mazon Creek Project was a program sponsored by Northeastern Illinois University. Founded in the 1960s, by the late Eugene Richardson…
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NYT: Fossil Shows Cold-Blooded Frogs Lived on Warm Antarctica
The New York Times Trilobites column has a story about the discovery of fossil frogs on Antarctica. The frog lived about 40 million years ago in what is now Seymour Island, which sits on the Antarctic Peninsula roughly 700 miles south of Tierra Del Fuego on South America. The specimen was found in 2015 by…
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PBS Eons: The Risky Paleo Diets of Our Ancestors
PBS Eons has a new episode. This one is about the “paleo” diet of Homo erectus. We can track our history of eating just about anything back through the fossil record and see the impact it’s had on our evolution. Throughout time, part of the secret to our success as a species has been…
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Fossil Friday #3: More Whitby Ammonites
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #3. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! For this week, we are going to…
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Throwback Thursday #4: Pictures From a Field Trip To St. Paul Stone Company on October 30th, 2010
This is Throwback Thursday #4. In these, we look back in the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have and contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please sent them to email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! The following pictures are from a field trip to St. Paul Stone Company in St. Paul, IN on…
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NYT: The ‘Profoundly Radical’ Message of Earth Day’s First Organizer
The New York Times has an article about the founder of Earth Day. The first event was held on April 22nd, 1970 and was very popular. New York City shut down parts of Fifth Avenue and 14th Street. It was created to get attention for environmentalism. I vaguely remember the event and was a member…
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Trilobite Tuesday #4: TheFossilForum: Open Access Trilobite Papers 1993–2020
TheFossilForum has a very long running thread entitled “Open Access Trilobite Papers 1993–2020”. That particular link has posts from user piranha from 2013 to the present. Here are a few of the most recent. This is an awesome resource! Check it out if you need access to a trilobite paper! February 26th, 2020 Geyer, G.,…
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Mazon Monday #4: Belotelson Shrimp
This is Mazon Monday post #4. These pictures are of a specimen of Belotelson magister collected by ESCONI member Rich Holm in late summer 2019 in Mazonia South Pit 11. It is a crustacean that lived about 307 mya. It was first described by Packard in 1886 from Mazon Creek material. Description: The Mazon Creek…
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Five Little Known Facts About the Field Museum
Mark Alvey, Academic Communications Manager and resident history buff, shares his favorite facts about the Museum. They are obscure, quirky, and all Field Museum—watch now! Our vast collections began in 1893 with the World’s Columbian Exposition and continue to fuel the work of our scholars.
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PBS Eons: When a Billion Years Disappeared
PBS Eons has a new episode on the Great Unconformity, which is a massive gap in sedimentary rocks worldwide. This event might help to explain what brought about the evolution of biomineralization… think bones, teeth, shells, etc. In some places, the rocks below the Great Unconformity are about 1.2 billion years older than those…
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Fossil Friday #2: Whitby Ammonites
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #2. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! The following pictures are from Whitby, which…
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Throwback Thursday #3: Field Trip To Pint’s Quarry in Iowa, May 1977
This is Throwback Thursday #3. In these, we look back in the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have and contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please sent them to email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! The following pictures are from a field trip to Pint’s Quarry in Iowa in May 1977. These photos…
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AMNH: Asteroid Crash Course Live
The American Museum of Natural History is hosting a video course on Asteroids. Catch it over on Youtube on April 17th, 2020 at 1:30 PM. Join Curator Denton Ebel this Friday, April 17, at 1:30 pm on YouTube for a watch party of the Museum’s popular video series exploring asteroids, meteors, and meteorites. Ebel…
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AMNH: Sir David Attenborough on Museum Collections – 360
The American Museum of Natural History has a video on Natural History collections. It’s narrated by Sir David Attenborough. You may know the American Museum of Natural History’s exhibits, but only a tiny portion of our world-class collection is on view. Go behind the scenes in 360 with Sir David Attenborough as he explains…
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Field Museum: Founders’ Council Virtual Event: Meet a Scientist Thursday, April 16, 3:30–4:30pm
The Field Museum is having a “Meet a Scientist” event on Thursday, April 16th, at 3:30-4:30 PM. Register and find the details here. Founders’ Council Virtual Event: Meet a ScientistThursday, April 16, 3:30–4:30pm Join us for our second virtual event in the Meet a Scientist series featuring Jim Louderman, Collections Assistant, Gantz Family Collections Center,…
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Trilobite Tuesday #3: Everything and Anything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Trilobites!
The website “A Guide to the Orders of Trilobites” has an amazing amount of information about trilobites. It’s been online since at least 2000. The website is run by Sam Gon III, a conservation biologist at TNC Hawai’i. He also does the Anomalocaris Homepage. You can order a copy of the website in book form. …
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Mazon Monday #3: Mazon Creek Fossils
This is Mazon Monday post #3. The following article by Mary Fairchild first appeared here. It’s a great historical summary of collecting Mazon Creek Fossils. Additionally, the slideshows of fossils hold some amazing specimens. There’s mention of everyone from George Langford Sr. to Eugene Richardson to Jack Wittry and many other notable researchers in between. …
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Quanta: A Rapid End Strikes the Dinosaur Extinction Debate
Quanta Magazine has an interesting piece about the extinction of the dinosaurs. The article is an interview with Yale Paleontologist Pincelli Hull. Her principle sub-field of study is marine plankton fossils. In the interview, she discusses some new evidence that the full blame for the K-T extinction lies with the asteroid that struck the Yucatan…
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Final Museum Madness voting for your Field Museum Favorite! @FieldMuseum
The final for the Field Museum Madness bracket is set, It's SUE vs the Fighting African Elephants! Who will win? Vote here by Monday, April 13th at 11:00 PM CDT. Game on! The top two Field Favorites have come down to SUE and the Fighting African Elephants. Both iconic members of our collection would love…
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Fossil Friday #1: Silurian Nautiloids from the Chicago Area
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #1. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! These are Silurian nautiloids from the Chicago…
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Throwback Thursday #2: Diamond in the Rough
The following poem appeared in the June 1952 edition of the “The Earth Science News”. It was written by Cullen K. Paddick, age 14. Come on out and get involved in ESCONI. Your efforts will always be appreciated! We can always use some helping hands! Diamond in the Rough A diamond in the roughIs a…
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Four New Species of Prehistoric Flying Reptiles Unearthed in Morocco
Smithsonian Magazine has an article about the recent discovery of not 1. not 2, but 4 new species of pterosaur. These animals were found in the famous Kem Kem fossil beds in southeastern Morocco. They lived about 100 million years ago during the middle Cretaceous Period. All the details are in a paper published in…
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Trilobite Tuesday #2: AMNH Trilobite Top Tens
The American Museum of Natural History has an interesting page titled “Trilobite Top Tens”. They have everything from Charles Walcott (NY Wolcott-Rust quarry and Burgess Shale), to Elrathia kingii (one of the most common trilobites), to Sir Roderick Murchison (rock star geologist from the 1800s). The categories are: The AMNH has a great website on trilobites. There is so much information……
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Mazon Monday #2: The Vanishing Mother Lode of Mazon Creek
The Friday, July 2nd, 2004 edition of The Reader featured an article titled “The Vanishing Mother Lode of Mazon Creek”. The full text of the article is available online. Unfortunately, it doesn’t include the pictures. This article was written by Mike Sula, no relation to long time ESCONI member Rob Sula. The article does a…
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LiveScience: ‘Warrior’ dinosaur with nasty gouge mark on claw uncovered in New Mexico
LiveScience has a story about a new species of carnivorous dinosaur. This new animal is called Dineobellator notohesperus and is a cousin to Velociraptors. It lived about 70 million years ago in what is now New Mexico. This particular specimen has a couple injuries, a nasty rib injury and a gash on its sickle-shaped claw,…
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Field Museum Special Event: Meet a Scientist Thursday, April 9 | 3:30-4:30pm
Founders’ Council Special Event:Meet a Scientist Thursday, April 9 | 3:30-4:30pm We hope this invitation finds you, your family, and friends safe. As a Founders’ Council donor, we are offering you this special opportunity. Join us for our inaugural Meet a Scientist virtual event featuring McCarter Collections Manager of Fossil Vertebrates, Bill Simpson. Bill will share his extraordinary involvement with…
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LiveScience: Remains of 90 million-year-old rainforest discovered under Antarctic ice
LiveScience has a story about a fossil rainforest under the ice in Antarctica. This forest was found in West Antarctica and dates to about 90 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period. The fossils show a tropical climate similar to New Zealand. Read all about it in a paper in the April 1st, 2020, edition…
