From National Geographic via ESCONI Yahoo Discussion Group: A specimen of Edmontosaurus regalis with soft tissue preserved is described.  

Via a post from Donald Baumgartner on the ESCONI Facebook page  – The Chicago Field Museum has a number of specimen photo galleries that you can explore from your own home. Talk about a back-seat, arm-chair fossil collector! Check it out at : http://fieldmuseum.org/explore/our-collections

Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art: Special Exhibit – Scottish Jewelry Features over 20 pieces from the Lizzadro Collection including antique crest and kilt pins, brooches and bracelets.  This unique lapidary art form was popularized by Queen Victoria in the 19th century.  The jewelry emphasizes Scottish symbolism and gemstones in handmade silver work. This Exhibit Ends January 26, 2014

Via an ESCONI board member, Bill Vinikour: A  Download Guide to the Geology of Will County to the area south of Chicago that includes the Braidwood site.

From Yahoo News via a member on the ESCONI Facebook page …The team was bone-hunting in Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta when Currie came upon what looked like a turtle shell sticking out from a hillside. Upon closer inspection, the fossil turned out to be a frill, the bony decorative headgear that surrounds the back of the head in ceratopsids. When the team excavated, they found the fossilized skeleton of a tiny dinosaur they identified as a Chasmosaurus belli, a species commonly found in the area. Drowning victim Amazingly, almost the entire skeleton was intact, although sometime in the past,…

Via Read/Write:  Today, 3D design software company Autodesk revealed an advance in technology that will let us get up close to our culture’s our rarest relics. With the Smithsonian X 3D Explorer, anyone with an Internet connection can examine, manipulate, and even print exact 3D models of a few of the Smithsonian’s most precious items. 

Here is an article about fossil dating. It includes a long list of links to other resources too. 

Via HASTAC: How will digital humanities impact archaeology and ancient history? One major opportunity linking DH and archaeology is the ever-increasing access we have to archaeological landscapes. This new project in Wales is a great example,http://www.cofiadurcahcymru.org.uk/arch/archwilio_pages/english/app.html. You can use tablets or mobile devices to see the archaeology underfoot for thousands of sites across Wales. At UCLA, we also have multiple DH projects that allow us to reconstruct architecture within its landscape, allowing new ways to analyze and explore, for example digital Karnak (http://dlib.etc.ucla.edu/projects/Karnak/experience). I am interested to see how people use these different models to create new analytical approaches. I…

From The Atlantic: 22 percent—essentially one in five—of sun-like stars have potentially habitable Earth-size planets. (Not all of those planets, however, may be rocky or feature liquid water, a presumed prerequisite for life. And it’s worth noting, as well, that the margin of error for that stat is plus or minus 8 percent.) Caveats aside, however, that is still an astoundingly large number.