Who wouldn't want to dissect a whale?

I 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 hands on knowledge of anatomy and ecology are starting to become imperiled (and it seems some people aren't even familiar with the wildlife in their backyards), though, and this week Nature features anatomist Joy Reidenberg. While the term anatomy might evoke thoughts of relatively delicate dissections, Reidenberg's main subjects are the rotting carcasses of cetaceans, her work requiring a balance of care and the occasional use of brute strength. It takes a special type of scientist to wade waist-deep in whale viscera and dissect organs that are as large as you are, and I'm certainly glad that the discipline of anatomy is still being carried on.

Indeed, Reidenberg recognizes that she's a rare kind of scientist, especially since studies in anatomy don't seem to bring in that much funding these days and interest in it is waning. From the Nature piece;

Although Reidenberg's work has informed researchers who study human throat maladies such as acid reflux, she admits that it is not the kind of thing that interests important backers such as the National Institutes of Health. In fact it's so hard to get gross-anatomy funding that many medical schools don't expect their professors to publish at all. According to the American Association of Anatomists and various anatomy department heads, this leads to a vicious circle with fewer academics seeing a future in anatomy and then even less funding. "Where is the next generation of anatomists coming from?" asks Reidenberg. "This is a big problem."

Other fields that are relatively cheap (i.e. they don't bring in a lot of money to universities because they don't require that much advanced equipment) have similar worries. I've been getting a general vibe from ecologists, anatomists, and other members of related disciplines that interest is flagging in science that involves field work and studies of morphology. There is no single reason for this, but I hope that whatever trend might be apparent is reversed. There is hope, though. I know of at least one student who is already an excellent naturalist, and I hope there are others like her out there.