laelaps | April 4, 2008This morning I set off for the MIND08: The Design and the Elastic Mind Symposium in New York City expecting discussions of the ways in which science influences art (and vice versa). What I got was... well... I don't really know what I got. The first two presentations I saw about the shape and origin of the universe were pretty good and at least entertaining, but after that came a spate of nearly incomprehensible presentations about art that somehow involved various mathematic theorems and natural designs.
The put it bluntly, most of the artists did not know how to effectively communicate.…
laelaps | April 4, 2008I'm headed out to the MIND08: The Design and the Elastic Mind Symposium in New York, so things will probably be a little light here today. I have no idea when I'll make it home, but you can expect a post about the day when I get back.
To keep things going a little bit while I'm out then, I'd like to know what you all have been reading lately. I'm almost done with Lucy, but today I'll be bringing along Bonebeds for the train ride. So far it's quite good, and seems like it would be a good companion to Exceptional Fossil Preservation.
laelaps | April 3, 2008
A cartoon of Diplodocus from Simpson's letter. The accompanying text reads (starting at the head); Diplodocus longus; CRANIUM, or to use the technical term, BEAN; Beaming Orbs; Neck like a tail; The Rest of Him (or Her as the case may be); Diplodocus tootsies; Relative size of a man (Homo sap) of relative size; Irregularity due to being dropped by nurse in infirmary; Tail like a neck; (From a late Jurassic Tintype).
Earlier today I reviewed Oliver Hay's ideas about the habits and posture of Diplodocus, and being that today was already history-heavy I thought it fitting to put up a poem by…
laelaps | April 3, 2008
A famous illustration of a swamp-bound "Brontosaurus" by Charles R. Knight. From Dinosaurs by William Diller Matthew (1915).
As I've been slowly reorganizing the mass of technical papers on my computer (1,600+ and counting), I've occasionally blundered into an old paper or two that I had forgotten about. I've already used two to create a somewhat superficial post about reconstructions of phytosaurs earlier today, so I'll run with the theme of paleontological reconstruction with Oliver Hay's ideas about the lifestyle of Diplodocus.
Published in 1908, the article seems like a good textual…
laelaps | April 3, 2008
The reconstructions of Brachysuchus and Rhytiodon compared. From Case 1931.
In the winter of 1931, University of Michigan paleontologist E.C. Case commissioned artist Carleton W. Angell to bring two phytosaurs to life. Even though phytosaurs as a group were still poorly defined, Case recognized that there seemed to be at least two morphotypes represented by different skull reconstruction. According to Case's summary, Rhytiodon (now called Rutiodon) represented a more lightly-built form that probably fed upon fish, while the more massive Brachysuchus (now often called Angistorhinus)…
laelaps | April 2, 2008I love fieldwork, I really do. Even though I do enjoy sitting at my desk with stacks of books, sifting through the text to soak in the technical literature, there's nothing like getting out into the field to study organisms (or the remains of them) whenever I have the chance. I've only been able to go fossil hunting twice (although I might return to Inversand next weekend) and last weekend I assisted some taphonomic processes, but admittedly I'm generally lacking in hands-on experience. With the weather warming up, though, I'm a bit hungry for some work outdoors.
Some people feel that gaining…
laelaps | April 2, 2008Although the initial flurry of posts about framing has died down, the debate about what framing is, is not, or should be continues. In an effort to go back to square 1, Chris has posted up a basic rundown of why framing is important, item #6 on the list getting to the heart of why this issue is so controversial;
Rather, you have to pare down these highly complex issues--or "frame" them--selectively highlighting just those aspects of the issue that will resonate with the core values of the particular audience (and there are different audiences, of course, and different frames will work for…
laelaps | April 2, 2008The release of the horrid film Expelled slithers ever closer, and it seems that the people behind the film are trying to surround the film with a sense of patriotism to get their target audience (fundamentalist Christians) to go see the film in droves. Indeed, they want everyone to start saying that the film will come out on "Freedom Friday" and start hounding local theaters to carry Ben Stein's box-office bomb. There's no indication yet whether any theaters near me are going to carry it, but even if they do I suspect that the propaganda piece is going to have a short, pitiful run.
laelaps | April 2, 2008Illustration, either through text or pictures, has always been important to explaining sciences like paleontology and evolution. In terms of pictoral illustration, books like Niles Eldredge's Fossils and Jean Baptiste de Panafieu's marvelous Evolution are stunning books that are as pleasing to look at as to read. Before glossy, lavishly-illustrated books were able to be produced, though, writers often had to construct evolutionary or paleontological "epics" to help draw the reader in to a better understanding of the topic at hand.
The construction of "Just-so" stories is abhorred, but the…
laelaps | April 2, 2008Although it started as part of holiday traditions in India, elephant polo has grown into a more regularly played sport, even having its own official association, the World Elephant Polo Association. Only Indian elephants (Elephas maximus) are used in the games, and the clip below shows the somewhat chaotic nature of the game;
laelaps | April 1, 2008One of the first things I was ever told about what makes reptiles different from mammals was that reptile teeth were the same all throughout their jaws (called a homodont condition) and that mammal teeth were different throughout their jaws (called a heterodont condition). The fact that mammals had fur, mammary glands, and had a high metabolism/constant body temperature were all obvious, but I had never heard about the difference in teeth. That was elementary-school simplification, though, and the fact of the matter is that the distinction is not so sharp. There have been both homodont…
laelaps | April 1, 2008I suppose today is as good a day as any to break the news to you all, especially since Janet has just made an announcement similar to the one I'm about to make.
As many of you are aware, my academic career has been rather rough, my university not being of very much help in preparing me for a career in vertebrate paleontology. This past week, I received notice that I have been in college for so long (and that my transcript is so poor), that I would have to start all over from freshman year again. 120 credits, gone in the blink of an eye. What's more, I'd have to pay double the regular tuition…
laelaps | April 1, 2008
A mother California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) lunges to bite her pup on the rear.
laelaps | March 31, 2008Someone has been kind enough to upload "Dinosaurs!: A Fun-Filled Trip Back in Time!" to YouTube and it has definitely made me feel a bit nostalgic. Now the trouble is that I've got "Mesozoic Mind" stuck in my head...
laelaps | March 31, 2008I love the concept of paleo-labs in museums where visitors can watch fossil preparators and paleontologists work on fossils brought in from the field (I've heard that the one at the Page Museum in L.A. is the best, although the one at the Academy of Natural Sciences isn't too shabby, either). If you live near Los Angeles and enjoy such exhibits, too, then you're in luck; the L.A. County Natural History Museum just opened the "Thomas the T. rex Lab" where you can see researchers working on the skeleton of a young Tyrannosaurus.
The preservation and restoration of "Thomas" is part of a larger…
laelaps | March 31, 2008
The skeleton of "Nichollsia" borealis. The left forelimb and scapula were accidentally destroyed during excavation, but otherwise the skeleton was kept intact. From Druckenmiller & Russell 2008.
Last week I mentioned that a very well-preserved Early Cretaceous plesiosaur named "Nichollsia" borealis* was recently described in the journal Palaeontographica Abteilung A, and one of the authors was kind enough to send a scan of the paper to me. What follows is a brief summary of the significance of the find.
*I put the genus name in quotes as Nichollsia is occupied by an isopod, and a new…