Category: ESCONI in the News
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ESCONI at Burpee Museum’s PaleoFest ’26
ESCONI was at PaleoFest ’26 last week. Joseph Bruno put together this nice little video. Ready for the paleo hordes! Here everyone is waiting on the Keynote Speaker, Jingmai O’Connor. Finn Lutz discussing his informative display. Scott teaching some earth science… Remember, Burpee is home of Jane the Nanotyrannus and they have other dinosaurs! See…
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Mazon Monday #286: There’s a Mother Lode of Fossils in Chicago’s Backyard, and It Could Hold Clues to the Evolution of Life on Earth
This is Mazon Monday post #286. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Last week, Mazon Creek, the Field Museum, and ESCONI were back in the news! WTTW, Chicago’s public television station, ran an article highlighting Mazon Creek. The story is an excellent read, exploring the scientific importance and new research of…
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Mazon Creek, Field Museum, and ESCONI in the News!
Mazon Creek, Field Museum, and ESCONI was in the news on multiple Chicago channels! FOX 32 CBS News NBC 5 Chicago One of the “world’s best fossil sites” is located just an hour outside of the Windy City, according to Chicago Field Museum researchers. Dr. Arjan Mann, assistant curator of early tetrapods at the Field…
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Mazon Monday #279: Prehistoric paradise hiding just outside Chicago
This is Mazon Monday post #279. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. When Arjan Mann and his lab at the Field Museum held a field trip to the Braceville spoil pile back in May 2025, he invited a ESCONI. Here is the story on Reuters. Near a riverbank in central Illinois,…
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Mazon Tuesday #271: Chicago Tribune: The world’s best-preserved fossils are right outside Chicago
This is Mazon Monday post #271. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. We have a bonus Mazon Monday this week—though since this second post falls on a Tuesday, we’ll call it Mazon Tuesday. On Monday, May 26th, the Chicago Tribune published an article highlighting Mazon Creek, the Field Museum, and ESCONI—a…
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Mazon Monday #260: Mazon Creek and the Field Museum in the News!
This is Mazon Monday post #260. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Sorry for the delay today. Typepad was having technical difficulties. WBEZ had a recent story about Mazon Creek fossils. Some of our favorite scientists at the Field Museum were mentioned in the article. Inside the fossil hunt: Digging for…
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Lauer Foundation: The integument of pelagic crocodylomorphs
From the ESCONI Members in the News Department: The Lauer Foundation has announced that they have published their first paper. It’s titled “The integument of pelagic crocodylomorphs” and is a detailed description of Metriorhynchidae integrument (skin) and how that group shows adaptations to a highly pelagic lifestyle. It was published in the journal Palaeoelectonica in…
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UChicago: Fish story for the ages: High schooler unearths rare fossil
The University of Chicago has a post about a recent Green River find. A very interesting gar fish skull was found this summer by a high school student in Lance Grande’s “Stones and Bones” program at the University of Chicago this last summer. The specimen comes from a fish estimated to be 8 feet long! …
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The Forgotten Paleontologist: A Commentary by Keith Robitschek
The discovery: Paleontological events are based on theory and evidence is required to prove that an event actually occurred. Today, the event that occurred sixty-six million years ago at the Yucatan peninsula has been proven through scientific research based on core samples at the impact site and iridium analyses in the K-Pg boundary that was…
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Former ESCONI Junior Rebecca Rogers Is Making A Mark In South Africa! #WomenInScience @FM_WomenInScience
This news story details how former ESCONI Junior Rebecca (Rogers) Ackermann is making having a big impact as a professor of Anthropology in South Africa. The video is of one of her lectures titled “The evolution of human diversity: The relative roles of chance, adaptation and ancient sex”. HERI’s Deputy Director Professor Rebecca Ackermann…
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ESCONI Student Research Grant 2019 recipient
The recipient of the ESCONI Student Research Grant for 2019 (administered by the Paleontological Society) is Lane Allen, an MS student at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, TX. The title of his research is "Paleolimnological Assessment of Harmful Algal Bloom Trends in Texas Lakes". Congratulations! Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) are responsible for economic losses in…
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Press Release: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fossil Flora of Mazon Creek, by Jack Wittry – Available Fall 2019!
ESCONI is pleased to announce its upcoming publication of Jack Wittry’s latest Mazon Creek book entitled, A Comprehensive Guide to the Fossil Flora of Mazon Creek. Since the 2006 release of Jack’s first book, The Mazon Creek Fossil Flora, much work has been done in the field and many new taxa have been discovered, some…
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Roy Plotnick: High impact paleontology
Roy Plotnick has another interesting article on Medium. In this one, he discusses the recent New Yorker article about “Tanis” site in the Hell Creek Formation. There is a good summary of the backstory of the actual discovery of the site. It was found by an old ESCONI member Rob Sula! Also mentioned are Paleo…
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Roy Plotnick: A Fossil Park for Illinois
Roy Plotnick has a great post on Medium about the Fossil Park proposal for the old Lone Star Quarry in Oglesby, IL. Anyone that visited the site in the past remembers the abundant fossils to be had. Brachiopods were just spilling out of the ground. The quarry was recently acquired by the Illinois Department of…
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Former ESCONI Junior hits the big time
Dr. Rebecca Rogers Ackermann is featured in September's issues of both Discover Magazine and Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-is-homo-sapiens-the-sole-surviving-member-of-the-human-family/ http://discovermagazine.com/2018/sep/hopeful-monsters
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New 245 Million Year Old Horseshoe Crab Discovered in Idaho by ESCONI Member
Live Science has a story about a new species of horseshoe crab. The crab lived during the Triassic Period about 245 million years ago. It was discovered by ESCONI member Trick Runions and is called Vaderlimulus tricki. The name stems from the shape of the head shield, which resembles the helmet worn by Darth Vader…
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ESCONI Member Jack Wittry Wins 2015 Strimple Award
ESCONI Member Jack Wittry (Field Associate, The Field Museum) has won the 2015 Strimple Award from The Paleontological Society. Jack has been an ESCONI member for many years. Among his many contributions are two important books that describe the Mazon Creek fossil flora and fauna. Congratulations Jack! The Harrel S. Strimple Award recognizes outstanding achievement in paleontology by…
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ESCONI Member In the News
Joseph Kubal, who is a member of ESCONI, was featured in the newspaper last week for his work in getting a Dupage county waterfall named: via MySuburbanLife: …Tucked away in the dense foliage of Waterfall Glen is a man-made wonder few guests, even locals, know about. But in the Darien and Lemont area forest preserve,…
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ESCONI President Receives Award
ESCONI President, Karen Nordquist, received the Sharon Sonnleitner Award for Outstanding Service and Service from the Mid-America Paleontology Society (MAPS) at their 36th annual conference.
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Mazon Creek in the News
From Chicago Tribune: … Before the time of the dinosaurs, long-nosed Bandringa sharks were leaving their freshwater homes to lay eggs in the shallow coastal waters of a long-gone sea that stretched over most of the American Midwest, according to a new paper published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology…. … In 1969, researchers discovered…
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News on ESCONI Member, Rob Sula’s Exhibit
Via Daily Herald: Mr. Nixon, the plaster cast skull of a triceratops, greets visitors to the "Dinosaurs: The Art and Science of Paleontology" exhibit running through May 3 at the Aurora Public Art Commission's third floor gallery at the David L. Pierce Art and History Center in Aurora. The prehistoric dinosaur isn't named after the…
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Tuscon Gem and Mineral Show Video
Via Geology.com, a video about the upcoming Tuscon Gem and Mineral Show (February 14 – 17, 2013):
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Sun Times Article on 2012 ESCONI Show
From the Chicago Sun Times an article about the ESCONI show this weekend: Kids seem fascinated by rocks and they’ll see plenty of them—many with surprises inside—at the Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois’ Gem-Mineral-Fossil Show, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 17, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, March 18, in Building…
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Article about ESCONI Show in TribLocal
TribLocal offers a way for community members to add news and events to their coverage. Anyone can become a contributor. Here is an article about this weekend’s ESCONI Show.
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Article About ESCONI Show & ESCONI Member
5 days ago from MySuburbanLife: Explore a different kind of antiques market, when the planet yields geodes, fossils and gemstones for a show by the Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois taking place at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. The club also presents expert lectures that draw people from across the suburbs and beyond…
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ESCONI Member Writes Article
ESCONI member, Eric Gyllenhaal, recently wrote an article, “I’m on Board with Project NOAH“. The article is an interesting read and includes a cute photo of white opossum.
