Brian Switek
Brian Switek is an ecology & evolution student at Rutgers University.
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Posts by this author
May 28, 2008
I really wish I had time to do some blogging on two new peer-reviewed papers that have just come out, one in PLoS and the other in Nature. Unfortunately I start a summer math course this evening and can't give all the cool new discoveries my full attention. That doesn't mean that you can't check…
May 28, 2008
A close-up of yesterday's photo of a laughing gull (Larus atricilla) preparing to dive after a fish (because Neil said he liked it so much). (Photographed May 17, 2008 at Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware.)
May 27, 2008
If I only averaged one new page each day, within a year I would have a whole book. My wife has said it over and over again and still I never feel quite satisfied with what I've written, almost as if I would expect myself to simply unload everything I knew in one sitting and have a book by the time…
May 27, 2008
Paleo-artist Michael Skrepnick
It is difficult for me to pick up a book about dinosaurs and not find some gorgeous artwork by artist Michael Skrepnick gracing the pages, if not the cover, of the book. He has created beautiful restorations of the distant past for Nature, National Geographic,…
May 27, 2008
The running for the top three entries of the Boneyard XX contest was extremely close, so close that I really had no idea who was going to win until I could add up all the votes. The winners are;
1st Place: Traumador
2nd Place: Tie! Emile and Scarlet Seraph
3rd Place: Nemo Ramjet…
May 27, 2008
I wonder when they're going to stage a similar commercial with Steve Carrell...
Speaking of Harrison Ford, the actor was just elected to the Board of Directors of the Archaeological Institute of America. Ford was elected to the position because of the attention his character Indiana Jones has…
May 27, 2008
A laughing gull (Larus atricilla) spots a fish and prepares to dive after it. (Photographed May 17, 2008 at Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware.)
May 26, 2008
Weezer - "Pork and Beans"
May 26, 2008
If you happen to be reading this blog, chances are you have at least heard of the "Watchmaker Argument" or "Argument From Design" before. The concept has a long philosophical history, but it is most often discussed in connection to William Paley who invoked the argument to open his book Natural…
May 26, 2008
Tomorrow I'll be putting up the next installment of my series of paleo interviews, this time with artist Michael Skrepnick. In the meantime, why not check out his website for a look at some of his work, which includes a restoration of the recently announced Gerobatrachus hottoni.
May 26, 2008
A close-up of a prickly pear, photographed May 17, 2008 at Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware.
May 25, 2008
A close-up of yesterday's "Photo of the Day." (Photographed May 17, 2008 at Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware.)
May 24, 2008
A small group of sandpipers takes off to find a better spot to feed. (Photographed May 17, 2008 at Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware.)
May 23, 2008
No, not really, but a new article in Scientific American suggests that what I do here has some physiological benefits. Personally I would think that spending less time at the computer and more time being active outside would be better for me, but I'm not going to get wrapped up in the "blogging is…
May 23, 2008
In the process of doing some research yesterday I came across some old books that are available for free download via Google Books. I know not everyone shares my particular affinity for yellowing 19th century science books, but if you do you might want to check out some of these titles;
Georges…
May 23, 2008
Time flies when I'm not working on my book. The past month has been especially hectic and, in many respects, nerve wracking, so my goal of being "professional" and writing every day went out the window. I successfully survived the spring semester, however, and now I can devote more of my time to…
May 23, 2008
A horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus), crawling along just below the tide line. (Photographed May 17, 2008 at Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware.)
May 22, 2008
Today I'm working on my book (hint: Gaudry and Hipparion), but here's a few links and other tidbits of interest for your consumption;
Indy 4 is out today. Now where is my fedora....
This week's issue of Nature is featuring a brand new transitional temnopondyl. I'll be blogging about this…
May 22, 2008
A horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) that had previously been stranded starts to make its way back to the surf. (Photographed May 17, 2008 at Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware.)
May 21, 2008
I've been using the phrase "textbook cardboard" a lot lately. I first picked it up after reading Gould's Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle, but the concept had been made clear to me even before Gould provided me with something to call it. All too often scientific legends are passed down as fact (i.e.…
May 21, 2008
When I think about taphonomy, the science that studies what happens to an organism after death (often summed up as "the laws of burial"), my thoughts most immediately turn to large scavengers, wind, and water. When an elephant dies on the African savanna, for instance, the carcass is sure to…
May 21, 2008
I haven't looked at my Sibley's to figure out what species this is yet, so for now all I can say is that it is a plover (and therefore a member of the Charadriinae). Shows how much I know. Wendy kindly informed me that this is a sandpiper (Scolopacidae), not a plover, although I'll still have to…
May 20, 2008
[Note: I've received all the papers but one, which I may be able to get directly from the author. Many thanks to everyone who sent in papers; hopefully I'll soon be able to share some good news about the end to which I'm using these resources.]
Many thanks to everyone who sent me the Ichnos paper…
May 20, 2008
A laughing gull (Larus atricilla) takes off. (Photographed May 17, 2008 at Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware).
May 19, 2008
[Note: I believe I have all the entries that have been submitted for this edition of The Boneyard. If yours is missing please let me know asap and I will put it in immediately.]
Early Saturday morning, before the sun burned off the last bit of moisture left by the previous night's rainstorm, my…
May 19, 2008
Last month I posted an interview with paleontologist Bob Bakker, and while the scientific questions I asked stirred some discussion (including a response to some of the points from Jack Horner) a number of readers got hung up on the last part of the interview dealing with science & religion.…
May 19, 2008
In previous years I have had the good fortune of looking for fossils in the Inversand marl pit not long after a rain storm, the water washing away the sediment around small fossil shells and thus placing them on top of a little, sandy pedestal. I saw something similar this past weekend along the…
May 18, 2008
I just got back from my weekend trip to Delaware. Friday night was absolutely miserable (cold, wet, half-cooked hot dogs for dinner, etc.), but by Saturday morning the weather had greatly improved. Unfortunately, however, a big storm had thrown off the rhythms of the up the annual horseshoe crab…
May 17, 2008
Blake Stacey has a review of The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing that is, simply put, and unalloyed pleasure to read. Indeed, it's so good that I have only two alternatives; try to improve my own reviews or commission Blake to start writing more of them!
Michael has the scoop about a…
May 17, 2008
Zeff, a female Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), photographed this past March at the Bronx Zoo.