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ESCONI Events January 2019
Read more: ESCONI Events January 2019Field trips require membership, but visitors are welcome at all meetings! Fri, Jan 11th ESCONI Junior Meeting, 7:00 PM College of Dupage – Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038B (Map) – Topic: Dinosaurs Fri, Jan 11th ESCONI General Meeting, 8:00 PM College of Dupage – Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038B (Map) – Topic: “Northern Illinois Earthquakes, and the recent induced seismicity in Oklahoma and Kansas” by Dr. Philip Carpenter from NIU Sat, Jan 19th ESCONI Paleontology Study Group Meeting, 7:30 PM College of Dupage – Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038B (Map) – Topic: “Sue, Version 2.0” by ESCONI…
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Feathers and Fur Fly Over Pterosaur Fossil Finding
Read more: Feathers and Fur Fly Over Pterosaur Fossil FindingAn artist’s rendering of a short-tailed pterosaur. Scientists say they were covered with fuzzy, fur-like insulating structures over their heads, torsos, limbs and tails. And on their heads and wings, three types of curved, thread-like fibers resembling modern feathers.CreditCreditYuan Zhang/Nature Ecology & Evolution The NY Times Trilobites blog has a story about a new pterosaur find. A paper in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution describes a couple pterosaurs that lived around 160 to 165 million years ago in what is now China. They were about the size of a modern day sparrow. The amazing detail of these fossils is…
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What Is a Shark Tooth Doing in the Neck of a Flying Pterosaur?
Read more: What Is a Shark Tooth Doing in the Neck of a Flying Pterosaur?LiveScience has an article about the curious discovery of a shark tooth. Back in 1965, the fossil of a large pterosaur, a Pteranodon, was discovered in the Smoky Hill Chalk formation in Kansas. The animal lived between about 86 and 83 million years ago. It had a wingspan of about 16 feet. It seems that a large shark, most likely Cretoxyrhina mantelli, tried to take a bite out this pterosaur, as one of its teeth was found embedded in the neck vertebrae of the flying reptile. A paper in the journal PeerJ details the findings. More than 80 million years…
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FOSSIL Project Newsletter Winter 2018
Read more: FOSSIL Project Newsletter Winter 2018Volume 5, Issue 4, Winter 2018|FOSSIL Project Newsletter Winter 2018
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Forbes: The Four Coolest Discoveries In Paleontology In 2018
Read more: Forbes: The Four Coolest Discoveries In Paleontology In 2018Forbes as an article about the four coolest paleontology discoveries of 2018.
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PBS Eons: Why Megalodon (Definitely) Went Extinct
Read more: PBS Eons: Why Megalodon (Definitely) Went ExtinctCheck out the new episode of PBS Eons over on YouTube. It’s about Megalodon and why it really is extinct. Don’t believe what you see during Shark Week! For more than 10 million years, Megalodon was at the top of its game as the oceans’ apex predator…until 2.6 million years ago, when it went extinct. So, what happened to the largest shark in history?
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The Brain Scoop: What Fossils Reveal about Today’s Climate Change
Read more: The Brain Scoop: What Fossils Reveal about Today’s Climate ChangeAnother episode of the Field Museum’s “The Brain Scoop” is up over YouTube. It is a discussion of climate change with a preview of the new Deep Time Hall at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. The new hall is scheduled to open on June 8th, 2019. Dr. Scott Wing spent a decade combing the hills in the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming to find fossil evidence of an extinction event that occurred in the Southern Ocean of Antarctica, 56 million years ago. Here, we talk with him and Dr. Kirk Johnson about how studying the…
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Notebaert Museum Show – Andrew Young Gallery Talks
Read more: Notebaert Museum Show – Andrew Young Gallery TalksIn late October this year, the Chicago Academy of Sciences – Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum opened the exhibition, Andrew Young: All This Land The show is comprised of 24 framed and sculptural pieces all completed in 2018 and has had a wonderful public reception thus far. It will run until February 3rd, 2019. Just this week, the museum finalized some dates for two gallery talks which will happen during regular museum hours and while all other exhibits/activities are open. Andrew will be present to introduce and further explain the artwork…
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ESCONI General Meeting on January 11th, 2019
Read more: ESCONI General Meeting on January 11th, 2019The speaker at our January ESCONI general meeting will be Dr. Philip Carpenter from NIU. The topic of his talk is Northern Illinois earthquakes, and the recent induced seismicity in Oklahoma and Kansas.
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SUE can’t wait to eat, er, meet you at their new suite starting 12.21.18
Read more: SUE can’t wait to eat, er, meet you at their new suite starting 12.21.18The Field Museum has a useful page for visiting SUE when the new exhibit opens on December 21st. First, a message straight from SUE: Staff have been working day and night to bring you the best holiday gift: ME. Because the world is wild with anticipation over my return, we expect a higher number of visitors between December 21 and January 6. To ensure your visit with me is the best it can be, I’ve asked the staff to write up some tips and hints. I look forward to being the highlight of your year.
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NYT: The Planet Has Seen Sudden Warming Before. It Wiped Out Almost Everything
Read more: NYT: The Planet Has Seen Sudden Warming Before. It Wiped Out Almost EverythingThe New Your Times has a good article about the Permian Mass Extinction on Carl Zimmer’s Matter blog. The story is in response to a new study published in Science. No real surprises as climate change was the driving force. And we may be repeating the process, the scientists warn. If so, then climate change is “solidly in the category of a catastrophic extinction event,” said Curtis Deutsch, an earth scientist at the University of Washington and co-author of the new study, published in the journal Science. Researchers have long known the general outlines of Permian-Triassic cataclysm. Just before the…
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Fossil Park Proposal For Lone Star Quarry Near Oglesby, IL
Read more: Fossil Park Proposal For Lone Star Quarry Near Oglesby, ILIn late October 2018, the old Lone Star quarries near Oglesby, IL (owned by Buzzi-Unicem) were acquired by the state with the intent of annexing them to existing nearby state parks. A proposal to create a fossil park in a portion of those quarries has been submitted to IDNR. There will be other groups with ideas of how the property should be developed, and we hope to show IDNR there is support for the idea of a fossil park. Please send comments on the Proposal to the following people at IDNR: Ryan Prehn (Ryan.Prehn@illinois.gov) George Bellovics (George.Bellovics@illinois.gov) Dawn Cobb (Dawn.Cobb@illinois.gov) Also, Mike…
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ESCONI Holiday Party 2018 Pictures
Read more: ESCONI Holiday Party 2018 PicturesHere are some pictures of the 2018 Holiday Party held on Friday, December 7th, 2018.
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Reminder: ESCONI Holiday Party will be held on December 7th, 2018 5:30 to 7:30 PM
Read more: Reminder: ESCONI Holiday Party will be held on December 7th, 2018 5:30 to 7:30 PMThe 2018 ESCONI Holiday Dinner will be held at Cozymel’s, 311 East Loop Rd, Wheaton on Friday December 7, 2018 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. We will be ordering off the menu and everyone is responsible for their own bill. There will be a drawing for door prizes. The general meeting starts at 8 PM in TEC 1038B. Our speaker is Dr. Peter Makovicky of the Field Museum. His talk is titled “Antarctic Dinosaurs”. If you plan to attend the dinner, please RSVP to Dave at fossil54@att.net There will be door prizes at the Holiday Party. The prizes include –…
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A Fresh Science Makeover for SUE
Read more: A Fresh Science Makeover for SUEThe new Sue exhibit is schedule to open on December 21st, 2018. It will include many new facts and clarifications. Those changes are nicely summarized in a new Field Museum blog post. Though SUE the T. rex’s fossils are a snapshot of life 67 million years ago, the science around extinct animals is rarely set in stone. SUE arrived here at the Field in 1998 and was unveiled in 2000, wowing the world as the largest, most complete Tyrannosaurus rex specimen discovered. But this didn’t mean scientists’ work was done; in a lot of ways, it was just getting started.…
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Montana: All Fossils Are Minerals
Read more: Montana: All Fossils Are MineralsThe Bozeman Daily Chroniclepeter has a story about the 9th circuit court ruling that all fossils in Montana are minerals. The AAPS is working with Peter Larson and an attorney to file an Amicus Brief. The goal is to as the court for an en banc hearing by a larger panel of judges to get this decision overturned. A recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Decision reclassified fossils as minerals. Fossils now fall under the purview of Mineral Rights, taking their legal ownership from the land or property owner and placing them under the domain of the property’s “Mineral Rights”…
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ESCONI Events December 2018
Read more: ESCONI Events December 2018Field trips require membership, but visitors are welcome at all meetings! Fri, Dec 7th ESCONI Holiday Party – Details are here. Get your RSVP in today! Fri, Dec 7th ESCONI General Meeting, 8:00 PM College of Dupage – Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038B (Map) – Topic: “Antarctic Dinosaurs” by Dr. Peter Makovicky of the Field Museum
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Reminder: ESCONI Holiday Party will be held on December 7th, 2018 5:30 to 7:30 PM
Read more: Reminder: ESCONI Holiday Party will be held on December 7th, 2018 5:30 to 7:30 PMThe 2018 ESCONI Holiday Dinner will be held at Cozymel’s, 311 East Loop Rd, Wheaton on Friday December 7, 2018 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. We will be ordering off the menu and everyone is responsible for their own bill. There will be a drawing for door prizes. The general meeting starts at 8 PM in TEC 1038B. Our speaker is Dr. Peter Makovicky of the Field Museum. His talk is titled “Antarctic Dinosaurs”. If you plan to attend the dinner, please RSVP to Dave at fossil54@att.net
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Do you have one of the new ESCONI T-Shirts yet?
Read more: Do you have one of the new ESCONI T-Shirts yet?We have new ESCONI shirts. Did you get one yet? They are available in children S (6-8) and adult sizes, S, M, and L. They are available at all meetings and some field trip. Get yours today!
ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show
Most Recent Post
- ESCONI April 2026 General Meeting via Zoom – “Life in the Devonian Period, The Age of Fishes”
The April 2026 General Meeting will be held on April 10th, 2026 at 8:00 via Zoom. At the meeting, Jessica Hull will present “Life in the Devonian Period, The Age of Fishes.” The Devonian Period was a crucial moment in the history of life. In this presentation, Jessica Hull will bring fossils to life by describing how they would have lived based on the most up to date research. Dunkleosteus fans won’t want to miss this!
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Field trips require membership, but visitors are welcome at all meetings!
| Friday, April 10th | General Meeting – 8:00 PM via Zoom. Jessica Hull will present “Life in the Devonian Period, The Age of Fishes.” |
| Saturday, April 11th | Junior Study Group Meeting – 2:00 PM, in person at the College of DuPage Technical Education Center (TEC) Building – Room 1038A (Map). Katherine Howard will present on Sand and Sediment Collecting. Specifics of this meeting are available from Scott Galloway, 630-670-2591, gallowayscottf@gmail.com. |
| Saturday, April 18th | Paleontology Study Group – 7:30 PM via Zoom and in person at the College of DuPage, TEC, Room 1038B (Map). Keith Robitschek will present “Digging the Marl of the Lance Formation.” |
| Friday, April 24th | MAPS Expo XLVII – Springfield, IL. |
| Saturday, April 25th | MAPS Expo XLVII – Springfield, IL. |
| Sunday, April 26th | MAPS Expo XLVII – Springfield, IL. |
| No meeting this month | Mineralogy Study Group |
