Spotlight on Paleontology

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Dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures are one of the first things that capture kids' interest in science, but the fascination doesn't end with childhood. Paleontology takes the spotlight on ScienceBlogs this week, where bloggers are highlighting its presence in the media and current events, the arts, and education. On Laelaps, Brian Switek responds to a pro-creationist article in the Telegraph with his post on the Aetiocetus, an ancient ancestor of the whale. Not Exactly Rocket Science's Ed Yong takes us back to the 1990s when Jurassic Park's "computer-generated reptilian actors" were all the rage; a decade later, Chinese paleontologists discovered that the ferocious Velociraptor may have had feathers and something like wings. Bioephemera features a "dinocamera from artist/photographer/metalworker/amateur time traveler Judith Hoffman," and the "Paleobet," an artistic tool for learning prehistory as well as the alphabet.

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Tyrannosaurus photoventris Judith Hoffman, 2009 This is just awesome! It's a dinocamera from artist/photographer/metalworker/amateur time traveler Judith Hoffman: That's a lens cap/shutter on his navel. He takes pinhole photos of the late Cretaceous using paper negatives. Here's one of the "photos…
This article is reposted from the old Wordpress incarnation of Not Exactly Rocket Science. In Jurassic Park, the role of Velociraptor was played by computer-generated reptilian actors, that bore little resemblance to the real deal. The actual dinosaur was smaller, slower and used its infamous claw…
On Laelaps, Brian Switek tells the story of a man who cooled off in an Ethiopian river against all advice, only to meet his death. Brian writes that "like our hominin forebears we can still be prey, and crocodiles are among the animals that have long considered us to be on the menu." Crocs were…
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,…