tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124660102011-04-21T23:42:55.093-05:00A Paleontology BlogKyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.comBlogger1571100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-10120088757350881602007-10-06T23:18:00.001-05:002007-10-08T19:23:58.066-05:00<span style="font-size:85%;"><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/07/sci_nat_enl_1191321247/img/1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/07/sci_nat_enl_1191321247/img/1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:85%;" ><b>"The sabretooth tiger may have looked a fearsome sight with its massive canines but its reputation takes something of a knock with a new piece of research.</b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:85%;" > Scientists who have studied the extinct creature's skull in detail say it had a relatively weak bite - compared with, say, a modern lion."<br /><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7023644.stm">Read the full article online at BBC News</a><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-1012008875735088160?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-84171844311074978332007-09-29T19:02:00.001-05:002007-10-08T19:24:52.088-05:00See these pictures and more at my new photography portfolio.<br /><br /><a href="http://palaeo_portfolio.carbonmade.com/">http://palaeo_portfolio.carbonmade.com/</a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2VpSAt43zfI/RwrKSZ0VtfI/AAAAAAAAACI/dNi_61X31jc/s1600-h/north+richland+hills.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2VpSAt43zfI/RwrKSZ0VtfI/AAAAAAAAACI/dNi_61X31jc/s320/north+richland+hills.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5119126343976859122" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2VpSAt43zfI/Rv7npp0VtYI/AAAAAAAAABA/xVOEZgCCx8k/s1600-h/spider+2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2VpSAt43zfI/Rv7npp0VtYI/AAAAAAAAABA/xVOEZgCCx8k/s320/spider+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5115780929525495170" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2VpSAt43zfI/Rv7np50VtZI/AAAAAAAAABI/bTcDlTE4bBQ/s1600-h/spider+new.jpg"><br /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-8417184431107497833?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-35959797327327011142007-09-20T20:53:00.000-05:002007-09-30T20:58:03.211-05:00Feathers aren't usually fossilized, but there are other clues that would indicate whether or not an animal had feathers. Apparently, Velociraptor is among those now. Someone call Spielberg!<br /><br />http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070920145402.htm<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/09/21/quill_knobs.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/09/21/quill_knobs.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><em><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); text-decoration: none;">Science Daily</a> —</em> A new look at some old bones have shown that velociraptor, the dinosaur made famous in the movie Jurassic Park, had feathers. The discovery was made by paleontologists at the American Museum of Natural History and the Field Museum of Natural History.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-3595979732732701114?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-67515391750525984592007-01-24T21:25:00.000-06:002007-01-24T21:27:04.143-06:00<span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">Article from <a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0124-shark2.html">mongabay.com</a><br />January 24, 20007</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos.mongabay.com/07/0124-shark_japan.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://photos.mongabay.com/07/0124-shark_japan.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">A rare frilled shark was captured live by fishermen off</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"> the coast of Japan. The toothy eel-like creature was taken to Awashima Marine Park in Shizuoka where it later died according to Reuters.<br /><br />The 5-foot (1.6 meter) long beast was believed to be ill because it was found in shallow waters. Generally the species, known as <i>Chlamydoselachus anguineus</i>, lives at a depth of 488-4550 feet (150-1400 m). It is considered a primitive shark, largely unchanged since prehistoric times.<br /><br />"We believe moving pictures of a live specimen are extremely rare," Reuters quoted an official at the park as saying. "They live between 600 and 1000 metres under the water, which is deeper than humans can go. We think it may have come close to the surface because it was sick, or else it was weakened because it was in shallow waters." </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-6751539175052598459?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-18849581444656104682007-01-15T13:11:00.000-06:002007-01-15T13:14:52.579-06:00Went to the army-navy surplus store the other day and bought meself some new boots for the upcoming dig season and beyond. They're good looking and are comfortable. They also sport these interesting ridges on the bottom of the shoe, which will hopefully help me climb up steep ledges with loose sediment.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2VpSAt43zfI/RavSmLCsuXI/AAAAAAAAAAY/d1e8ayAYmG8/s1600-h/Army+boots.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2VpSAt43zfI/RavSmLCsuXI/AAAAAAAAAAY/d1e8ayAYmG8/s320/Army+boots.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020337762875521394" border="0" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-1884958144465610468?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-22561074728823148172007-01-05T23:08:00.000-06:002007-01-09T16:52:57.790-06:00<p align="left">Daniel Perry<br /><span class="PublishDate">December 29, 2006</span></p> <p align="left"><span class="PublishDate"><a href="http://www.themonitor.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=17136&amp;Section=Valley">Article from themonitor.com</a><br /></span></p> <p align="left">EDCOUCH — Science is one of the most critical subjects Texas school administrators and teachers struggle with finding ways to boost students’ interests. But Tony Garza, principal of the Edcouch-Elsa school district’s Sixth Grade Campus, thinks he has found something to get his student’s attention: starting a club.</p> <p align="left">Garza, the Mile 17 North school’s principal since it opened four years ago, started its first Paleontology Club this year to help his students understand and get interested in the study of fossils and how they affect the Earth’s development.</p> <p align="left">The principal said it was important for the sixth-graders to get involved in something because it was a time of transition for them, from leaving elementary school to blossoming into middle school students. "I want to open up their eyes to different things," Garza said.</p> <p align="left">The club has nine students who said they all like science. The group began meeting twice a week in October and have so far glued wooden dinosaurs together and chiseled and hammered away at store-bought fossil replicas. "I think dinosaurs are cool," 12-year-old Kamicka Guerra said.</p> <p align="left">Members are using books, magazines and the Internet to create posters and write reports on dinosaurs. Garza said the finished posters would be placed in the school’s main hallway for other students to see. "It’s like history of the animals from prehistoric (times)," 11-year-old Jalisa Cuevas said. "They (dinosaurs) would look scary."</p> <p align="left">Eugene Salas, 11, said he became interested in the club because of dinosaur movies like <i>Jurassic Park</i>. He has the designation among his classmates as being the club’s Tyrannosaurus Rex expert. "Scientists still don’t know if they are cold blooded or warm blooded," Salas said.</p> <p align="left">One of the club’s goals is raising money to take a field trip to visit natural history museums in Austin. The group is gathering funds now selling ice cream after school. "They are hungry," Garza’s daughter, 11-year-old Kayla, said about her classmates.</p> <p align="left">The club’s students also stay busy in the school’s Student Council, Karate Club, band and mariachi. "But this club is better, of course," Salas said.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-2256107472882314817?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-43590914891832740962006-12-24T22:39:00.000-06:002007-01-05T23:08:22.564-06:00...from Palaeos Bios. I will be out of town following Christmas day and will be out until January 2nd. A very happy holidays to all the blog readers.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.davidpatterson.com/Disney/dinosanta.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.davidpatterson.com/Disney/dinosanta.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-4359091489183274096?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-46257963873290357772006-12-23T23:05:00.000-06:002007-01-05T23:06:22.123-06:00<p style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong></strong></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />T'was time for a field trip and all through the houses<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">All the members were packing and calming their spouses;<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">The backpacks were packed up and loaded with care<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">In hopes that the fossils would really be there.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Those rockhounds were nestled all snug in their beds<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">While visions of Trilobites danced in their heads.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">They'd polished their hard hats and packed their sunscreen,<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">And tried to foresee all the things unforeseen.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">When out of a sound sleep I woke with a start,<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Wondering if it's the time to depart.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Away to the window I flew like a flash,<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Grabbing my chisel and hammer to smash.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">The moon still was shining, can this be for real?<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">A carload of fossilers, all filled with zeal!<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Their eyes how they focused, their smiles full of zest,<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Their cheeks were all flushed as they pictured their quest.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">You'd best get a move on, came the command,<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">They're out there, they're waiting to jump in your hand!<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Then in a twinkling I joined this odd grouping,<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">With their digging, and sawing, and scraping, and stooping.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Away to the quarry we drove with intent,<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">We paused at the edge, then began our descent.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">As I climbed over boulders, scraping my shin,<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">I pictured the treasure troves hiding within:<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">The Gastropods, Cephalopods, Trilobites, Snails,<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">The Crinoids </span><span style="font-size:100%;">and Blastoids, and tiny feet trails.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">From the top of the quarry to the lowest of washes,<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Wearing my sunscreen and sometimes galoshes,<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">We brave all the hurdles from bee stings to rain,<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">And comments from friends that we're all quite insane.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Be that as it may, when the time rolls around,<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">All of us die-hards will likely be found<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">In places like road cuts, and creek beds, and quarries,<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Digging up fossils, and sharing our stories.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Soon we will head home all dusty and tired,<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">We'll think of the specimens we just have acquired.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">We'll store them in basements, and boxes, and cases,<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Ignoring the shocked looks on family faces.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">For a couple of weeks we'll be tranquil and docile,<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Then our eyes will glaze over when we hear the word Fossil.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Then they'll hear us exclaim as we drive out of sight,<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Happy hunting to all; we'll be back Sunday night!<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Donna Cole<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">North Coast Fossil Club<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">May, 1997</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-4625796387329035777?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-68514627939380181932006-12-20T08:21:00.000-06:002006-12-20T16:42:30.160-06:00<span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Prehistoric 'two-headed Chinese dragon' revealed</span> <div>Wednesday, 20 Dec 2006<br /><a href="http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/news/science/prehistoric-two-headed-chinese-dragon-revealed-$1032469.htm">Article from inthenews.co.uk</a><br /><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.inthenews.co.uk/photo/photo-x-$13837$180.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.inthenews.co.uk/photo/photo-x-$13837$180.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Palaeontologists have unveiled the fossilised skeleton of a two-headed dinosaur that roamed the earth about 100 million years ago (MYA).<br /><br />But before it gets added to the pantheon of prehistoric beasts occupied by luminaries such as Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops, scientists point out the dinosaur was only 70mm tall and died at a very young age.<br /><br />Publishing their findings in the Royal Society journal, the Chinese palaeontologists discovered the specimen in the famed dinosaur stamping grounds of Yixian Formation in the north-east of the country, with its mixture of volcanic and sedimentary rocks an ideal place for fossils to be preserved.<br /><br />They explain that the fossilised remains of the infant, possibly an aquatic diapsid such as Sinohydrosaurus lingyuanensis or Hyphalosaurus lingyuanensis, is the first time that axial bifurcation – where reptiles develop two heads and necks – has been observed in dinosaurs.<br /><br />The condition occurs relatively commonly in turtles and snakes as a result of the species' regenerative qualities when suffering an embryonic lesion.<br /><br />Many extraordinary fossils from the Yixian Formation have later been exposed as fakes, but the scientists from the Shenzen Palaeontological museum insist the fossilised remains of the infant, which would have grown to 1m long, are genuine.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-6851462793938018193?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-81080960847642932072006-12-19T20:40:00.000-06:002006-12-19T21:27:45.138-06:00<span style="font-weight: bold;">According to Discover Magazine<br /></span>Includes first paragraph of all stories.<br />2 in the top 10... wow.<br /><br /><span id="article_text"> <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">7) Scientists Get Inside the Mind (and Genes) </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">o</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">f the Neander</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">thal<br /></span></p> <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.foxnews.com/images/194100/0_21_neanderthal_human.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.foxnews.com/images/194100/0_21_neanderthal_human.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p> <p>For a span of 200,000 years or more, Neanderthals thrived from Gibraltar to Uzbekistan. Big-brained and robust, they weathered the depths of the last ice age, only to vanish around 30,000 years ago, about when modern humans entered Europe. Did the new arrivals annihilate the natives, or were Neanderthals absorbed by interbreeding? Two studies offer new perspectives on the nature and fate of the Neanderthals. One is a project devoted to analyzing Neanderthal DNA; the other is a reconstruction of hunting strategies that suggests the Neanderthals were not slow-witted brutes unable to compete with modern humans.<br /></p> <p><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">9) Ancient Fish Fills Missing Link<br /></span></span></p> <p><span id="article_text"><p><span><span id="article_text"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.osel.cz/_popisky/s_1144364961.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.osel.cz/_popisky/s_1144364961.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></p></span></p> </span>Excavations carried out over six years in the treeless, grassless, soil-less Ellesmere Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, 750 miles from the North Pole, have yielded a remarkable treasure: a 375-million-year-old, scaly, fin-legged, flat-headed, swivel-necked creature called <i>Tiktaalik roseae.</i> Named after the Inuit word for "large shallow-water fish," <i>Tiktaalik</i> fills in one of the most significant gaps in evolutionary history—the transition between swimming fish and the first animals to walk onto land.<br /><span id="article_text"> <p><br /></p> <p><span><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">37) Little Lucy Found<br /></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://pro.corbis.com/images/42-17350419.jpg?size=67&uid=%7B9d2b7f55-a605-4f05-b2ec-b5d49236f689%7D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://pro.corbis.com/images/42-17350419.jpg?size=67&uid=%7B9d2b7f55-a605-4f05-b2ec-b5d49236f689%7D" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span>When paleoanthropologist Zeresenay Alemseged of the Max Planck Institute in Germany first saw what appeared to be tiny hominid remains encased in 3.3-million-year-old sandstone in northern Ethiopia—just miles from where the famous Lucy skeleton was found 32 years earlier—he knew he had found something special. After five years of painstakingly extricating bones from sandstone, he was rewarded with the near-complete skeleton of a 3-year-old female <i>Australopithecus afarensis</i>, the oldest remains of a child hominid ever found.<br /></p> <p><br /></p> <p><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">40) New Dinosaur King Rears Its Head<br /></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bioone.org/archive/0272-4634/25/4/figure/i0272-4634-25-4-888-f01.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.bioone.org/archive/0272-4634/25/4/figure/i0272-4634-25-4-888-f01.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><i>Tyrannosaurus rex</i> slipped further in the ranks of terribleness with the enthronement of a bigger, badder king of the dinosaurs: Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, a gigantic predator that stalked Africa around 100 million years ago and whose head alone was almost six feet long. After examining skull fragments of Spinosaurus, paleontologist Cristiano Dal Sasso of the Civic Natural History Museum in Milan, Italy, and his colleagues estimated that the whole animal would have measured between 52 and 59 feet from tip to tail, as much as a dozen feet longer than the largest known T. rex...<br /></p> <p><br /></p> <p><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">59) Fossilized Frog Marrow Found<br /></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://pro.corbis.com/images/AF004575.jpg?size=67&uid=%7B4e52974c-953e-47b2-8cf7-45c97ee89c76%7D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://pro.corbis.com/images/AF004575.jpg?size=67&uid=%7B4e52974c-953e-47b2-8cf7-45c97ee89c76%7D" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p>n August researchers examining fossils in the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid reported the first example of fossilized bone marrow, found in 10-million-year-old remains of frogs and salamanders. Because of the way the slabs containing the bones were fractured during preparation, they revealed a clean cross section of bone, in which the red of the bone marrow and the yellow of the fatty marrow were clearly visible.<br /></p> <p><br /></p> <p><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">66) Hobbit Wars Heat Up<br /></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://pro.corbis.com/images/DWF15-980465.jpg?size=67&uid=%7Bbe75b8ec-61ac-4fb3-87c0-b539f2838772%7D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://pro.corbis.com/images/DWF15-980465.jpg?size=67&uid=%7Bbe75b8ec-61ac-4fb3-87c0-b539f2838772%7D" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p>When small, humanlike bones were discovered in a cave on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, anthropologists knew they had found something exceedingly odd. But what? A new species of dwarf people? A colony of pygmy freaks? Half-joking, some researchers simply referred to the remains as "hobbits."<br /></p> <p><br /></p> </span> <p><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">85) Dodo's Lost World Resurrected<br /></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/051223/051223_dodo_hmed3p.hmedium.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/051223/051223_dodo_hmed3p.hmedium.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>While a few dodo bones and one skeleton remain in museums, they aren't enough to tell biologists exactly why or how the birds went extinct more than 300 years ago. So Dutch geologist Kenneth Rijsdijk was thrilled when he unearthed a cache of 3,000-year-old dodo bones on the island of Mauritius last December. By July he had more good news: The seven-acre site holds a near-complete fossilized ecosystem, including plants, bacteria, reptiles, mammals, and other birds. "There's a lot of potential to reconstruct their world," Rijsdijk says. "What did it look like, and what was the effect of man?"<br /></p> <p><br /></p> <p><span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">94) Tough Times for Tyrannosaur Teens<br /></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><span><span id="article_text"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://pro.corbis.com/images/UT0029582.jpg?size=67&uid=%7Bd4bb9595-0e93-4f5c-96f6-c246faf9299a%7D"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://pro.corbis.com/images/UT0029582.jpg?size=67&amp;uid=%7Bd4bb9595-0e93-4f5c-96f6-c246faf9299a%7D" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p>Life was rough for teen tyrannosaurs, according to Florida State <span>University paleontologist Gregory Erickson. Analysis of a trove of North American dinosaur fossils shows a highly elevated death rate among tyrannosaurs who had recently reached sexual maturity, which occurred between the ages of 14 and 18. "Love may have been a dangerous game for these animals," Erickson says. Competition for mates and nesting sites probably took a toll: Only 2 percent of <i>T. rex</i>'s relatives survived all the way to reach their maximum life span of about age 30.<br /><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-8108096084764293207?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-38119038990606524582006-12-18T20:28:00.000-06:002006-12-19T20:38:31.307-06:00<span style="font-weight: bold;">Tyrannosaurus relative found in Mongolia's Gobi Desert<br /></span><a href="http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_entertainment/178944.html">Article from The Hankyoreh</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><br />An international team supported by the Gyeonggi provincial government has excavated a rare dinosaur fossil in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.hani.co.kr/imgdb/resize/2006/1219/1166419687_116641963049_20061219.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://img.hani.co.kr/imgdb/resize/2006/1219/1166419687_116641963049_20061219.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a> <p align="justify"> </p> <p align="justify"> Hwaseong City in Gyeonggi Province and an international dinosaur excavation team led by Lee Yung-nam, a researcher of the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, said on December 17 that they had excavated 8-kilogram fossil of the Tarbosaurus. The Tarbosausus is an ancestor of the Tyrannosaurus. </p> <p align="justify"> </p> <p align="justify"> This is the first time that an entire fossil of the Tarbosaurus, which lived during the Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic era about 80 million years ago, has been found. The academic community thinks that with the find, it can accurately confirm for the first time what the rare dinosaur looked like. Its entire appearance has not yet been confirmed due to the fact that fossils of its pelvis and tail region have not been found until now.</p> <p align="justify"> </p> <p align="justify"> </p> <p align="justify"> </p> <p align="justify">In addition, the team found a gastrolith - a stone in the abdominal cavity that aided digestion - in the fossil, which marks the first time this stone has been found in the remains of a carnivorous dinosaur. The fossil, which has already left Ulan Bator, will arrive in Incheon by boat via Tianjin in China. Twenty-five dinosaur experts from seven countries took part in the exploration, and the excavation work lasted for 35 days beginning on August 30.<br /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gondwanastudios.com/img/img0070.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.gondwanastudios.com/img/img0070.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Example of a <span style="font-style: italic;">Tarbosaurus</span> skull </p> <p align="justify"> </p> <p align="justify"> The exploration was supported by Hwaseong City, which holds the nation’s largest fossil of dinosaur eggs. The city will pay an additional 2.5 billion won (US$2.7 million) to fund further excavation at the Gobi Desert site for the next five years. </p> <p align="justify"> </p> <p align="justify"> Regarding the find, Dr. Lee Yung-nam said that it would help dinosaur research regarding the Korean peninsula, as scientists have only been able to guess which dinosaurs lived on the peninsula because only fragments of remains have been found until now. </p> <p align="justify"> </p> <p align="justify"> Hwaseong City plans to display the fossil in a dinosaur museum due to be established in the city. Choi Yeong-geum, the mayor of Hwaseong, anticipates that his city will become South Korea’s hub for dinosaur research. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-3811903899060652458?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-52121987137930364572006-12-18T19:59:00.000-06:002006-12-18T20:20:25.724-06:00<b>Christopher Lee<br />From <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/17/AR2006121700936.html">Washington Post</a><br /></b><p>Mammals may have taken to the skies much earlier than previously believed, according to research published last week in Nature.</p> <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/12/13/science/mammal.500.1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/12/13/science/mammal.500.1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Paleontologists have recovered a fossil of a previously unknown bat- or squirrel-size creature that lived in Mongolia about 125 million years ago. It bears evidence that a skin membrane stretched between the animal's front and rear limbs, providing enough lift for it to glide through the air. The creature, which weighed less than a pound, also apparently had a long, stiff tail that could be used like a rudder in flight, researchers found.<br /></p> <p>The animal, which is not a direct ancestor of flying squirrels, bats or any other living mammals, lived tens of millions of years before the earliest confirmed record of bats taking wing about 51 million years ago. Before now, the earliest known gliding mammal, a rodent, lived 30 million years ago.<br /></p> <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/12/13/science/13mammal.l.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/12/13/science/13mammal.l.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p> <p>The research, led by Jin Meng, associate curator at the American Museum of Natural History's division of paleontology, shows that there was greater diversity among early mammals than scientists had thought. Indeed, the fossil's discovery points to the existence of an entirely new group of mammals, researchers said.</p> <p>"This new evidence of gliding flight in early mammals is giving us a dramatically new picture of many of the animals that lived in the age of the dinosaurs," Meng said.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-5212198713793036457?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-34887480257669229712006-12-07T21:17:00.000-06:002006-12-11T19:25:27.685-06:00<span style="font-size:85%;">A new link has been added to the right side bar.<br />You can access it here:<a href="http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/mazon_creek/"> Mason Creek Fossils</a></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/mazon_creek/gallery/roll03/nodules.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/mazon_creek/gallery/roll03/nodules.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-3488748025766922971?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-39343968780056733352006-12-05T19:16:00.000-06:002006-12-11T19:27:23.183-06:00<span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" ><a href="http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=17501">From American Chronicle</a><br /></span><p style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Evangelicals claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, but evangelicalism in this country is a cult of personality. Evangelicals follow the truth as interpreted by James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggart, Rick Warren, Billy Graham or Pat Robertson.<br /></span></p> <p style="text-align: center; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.csicop.org/si/2006-06/leakey.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.csicop.org/si/2006-06/leakey.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> Richard Leakey, paleoanthropologist</span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">If Jerry Falwell declared that Hillary Clinton is a witch, before you could say, “Praise the Lord”, his congregation would start collecting twigs so they could burn her at the stake. In Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, you will find a “Jerry Falwell” museum. Falwell’s ministry is not dedicated to the “glory of God” but to the exaltation of Jerry Falwell.</span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Evangelicals’ belief system is based not on empirical evidence, but on myths, fables and wishes. Therefore televangelists retain control of their flocks, not by appealing to reason, but by playing on their emotions and fears .</span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">“Help keep this ministry on the air! Send us your donations! We are fighting the godless sodomites so they won’t destroy the family!” The truth is the enemy of evangelicals; they will do anything to hide and bury the truth.<br /></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">“Famed paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey is giving no quarter to powerful evangelical church leaders who are pressing Kenya’s national museum to relegate to a back room its world-famous collection of hominid fossils showing the evolution of humans’ early ancestors.</span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Leakey called the churches’ plans ‘the most outrageous comments I have ever heard.’ The museum’s collections include the most complete skeleton yet found of Homo erectus, the 1.7-million-year-old Turkana Boy unearthed by Leakey’s team in 1984 near Lake Turkana in northern Kenya.”</span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Quotation from Skeptical Inquirer: "Evangelicals can’t debate evolution, or almost any other subject, appealing to reason or logic — they resort to emotional appeals and pernicious lies. “Don’t let them teach our children that we evolved from monkeys!”</span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">And of course they seek to bury the truth. We must adopt the resolve of Richard Leakey and not give in to the bullying tactics of the evangelicals. We must counter the “Praise the Lord” of the evangelicals with our own mantra: Let truth and reason prevail.</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-3934396878005673335?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-39577180917290026022006-12-04T18:59:00.000-06:002006-12-11T19:15:18.880-06:00<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6206204.stm">From BBC News</a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><br />A 65m-year-old nest of dinosaur eggs has sold to an unnamed buyer at auction in Los Angeles for $420,000 (£212,000).</b></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> The nest contains 22 broken eggs, 19 of which are in embryonic form, with some of the tiny raptors clearly visible. </span> <p> <span style="font-size:85%;">The nest was discovered in Guangdong, southern China, in 1984 and scientists there had appealed to Bonhams not to allow the auction. A Chinese dinosaur expert quoted on state news agency Xinhua said the nest should be returned for research.<br /></span></p> <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/americas_enl_1165230793/img/1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/americas_enl_1165230793/img/1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">The top estimate by auction house Bonhams &amp; Butterfields for the nest was $220,000 but it almost doubled that. The name of the buyer would not be released, the auction house said. </span></p> <p> <span style="font-size:85%;">The nest, encased in sandstone, dates to the Cretaceous-era and was sold in 2003 to an American collector, who restored it.Xing Lida, a dinosaur expert with the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, had urged Bonhams not to proceed with the auction. </span></p> <p> <span style="font-size:85%;">He said Chinese fossils were often broken up to make them easy to conceal and carry out of the country, destroying important scientific information. </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Xinhua quoted a dinosaur expert at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Gerald Grellet-Tinner, as saying the nest should be housed in a museum in China.<!-- E BO --> </span><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-3957718091729002602?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-63099476041636270632006-12-03T21:05:00.000-06:002006-12-03T21:16:40.196-06:00<span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2VpSAt43zfI/RXOQv_LCoLI/AAAAAAAAAAM/uyqRFFPwZ-M/s1600-h/paleontology+title+presentation.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2VpSAt43zfI/RXOQv_LCoLI/AAAAAAAAAAM/uyqRFFPwZ-M/s320/paleontology+title+presentation.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5004502765024747698" border="0" /></a><br />The above photo is from my powerpoint presentation that I used during my first class presentation with a public school. I taught a freshman class of P/AP biology students that were beginning the unit on evolution. I came in on a Monday to focus on teaching them about fossils and the history of life on Earth and how it is an important piece of evidence for Darwin's theory.<br /><br />I am very proud of my work. I took the whole day off to teach every class, going through 75 slides in an hour and a half. The students were attentive and asked several, good questions. They also gave several, positive comments about my lecture/teaching style after the lesson. The teacher (formally my own teacher) also had several good things to say.<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-6309947604163627063?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-87727963112992622512006-12-03T20:40:00.000-06:002006-12-03T20:54:18.962-06:00<span style="font-size:85%;">I will be attempting to revive my active posting to this blog. I'm currently visiting the colleges that I am most interested in: Oklahoma Norman and Texas Austin. OU is nice because I can get a BS in geology with a concentration in paleontology. While Texas does not have this option, it does happen to have one of the finest schools for the geosciences in the country, with a large sum of donation money that they have yet to use. I could always work for a BA in geology in order to specialize more deeply in a particular area of the geosciences, that being paleontology of course. The Geology (Walter) Library at Texas is amazing. They have a huge paleontology section with access to several paleo-related journals.<br /></span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/buildings/graphics/buildings/geo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/buildings/graphics/buildings/geo.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;">Jackson School of Geosciences, UT Austin</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Sarkey Energy Center, OU Norman</span></span> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://geology.ou.edu/images/sec_big.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://geology.ou.edu/images/sec_big.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-8772796311299262251?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1162616250155180542006-11-03T22:54:00.000-06:002006-11-03T22:58:22.656-06:00<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fossils from ancient sea monster found in Montana</span><br />By Evelyn Boswell, MSU News Service<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><font><br /><a href="http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=4229">Press Release from MSU News</a><br /><br />BOZEMAN -- A fossil-hunting trip to celebrate a son's homecoming resulted in the recent discovery of an ancient sea monster in central Montana. Believed to be approximately 70 million years old, its skull and lower jaw represent the first complete skull of a long-necked <i>plesiosaur</i> found in Montana, according to Montana State University experts. The skull is said to be one of the best specimens of its kind in North America.<br /><br /></span></span><font><font><font><font><font> </span></span></span></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/images/articles/hires/img200611031162585983-0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/images/articles/hires/img200611031162585983-0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">(MSU photo by Jay Thane)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font> <span style="font-size:85%;"><font><br />"It's a very important specimen," MSU paleontologist Jack Horner said at the Museum of the Rockies where the fossil rests in boxes. "We have been looking for it for a long, long time."<br /><br />Ken Olson of Lewistown said he and his son, Garrett, found the fossils in mid-August about 75 miles northeast of Lewistown. Since Horner was in Mongolia, Olson said he prepared the fossils himself and delivered them to Horner about three weeks later. Olson, a retired Lutheran pastor, has long collected fossils for the museum. Two of his best finds are the large <i>Torosaurus</i> skulls displayed there.<br /><br />Horner said the head of a short-necked <i>plesiosaur</i> was found previously in Montana, but he had been waiting for the discovery of a complete long-necked <i>plesiosaur</i> skull. Both were ancient sea reptiles that lived during the time of the dinosaurs.<br /><br />"This critter is one of the long, ridiculously long-necked <i>plesiosaurs</i>," said Pat Druckenmiller, an MSU expert in marine reptile fossils. Druckenmiller, who described a new <i>plesiosaur</i> called <i>Edgarosaurus</i> from southern Montana in 2002, was part of a Norwegian expedition in August that mapped the location of several giant fossils in the Arctic. He is now an adjunct instructor in the Department of Earth Sciences at MSU.<br /><br />Based on other fossils of this type in the world, the new Montana fossil could have had as many as 50 to 70 vertebrae in its neck, Druckenmiller said.<br /><br />"If the skull is 40 centimeters long (about 15.75 inches), the neck could be seven to 10 times that length," he said. Druckenmiller will be in charge of examining the <i>plesiosaurs'</i> skull and lower jaw. One of his first steps will involve looking at them Monday, Nov. 6, in a CT scanner at Bozeman Deaconess Hospital, Druckenmiller said. Among other things, he wants to see if the skull is a new type of <i>plesiosaur</i> that hasn't been scientifically described. He also wants to better understand why it needed the enormously long neck. He hopes, too, that the teeth will give clues to its diet.<br /><br />"This is basically the first good <i>elasmosaur</i> (long-necked <i>plesiosaur</i>) skull found in Montana," Druckenmiller said. "That, of course, is really neat. In fact, I would say this is one of the top five skulls of an <i>elasmosaur</i> in North America."<br /><br />The skulls of long-necked <i>plesiosaurs</i> are not often found with the rest of the skeleton because they are one of the first parts of the body to fall off after death, and because they are relatively small and fragile compared to the rest of the animal, Druckenmiller said. Ken Olson said he and his son were digging in Bearpaw Shale on Bureau of Land Management property when they saw edges of the neck vertebrae sticking out of the marine rock. They continued to dig and found the skull and jaw.<br /><br />They were looking for fossils, Ken Olson said, because Garrett had just returned home from Zambia after two years in the Peace Corps. The elder Olson wanted to do what the two had done together many times -- go looking for fossils. They found and excavated the skull and jaw in one day.<br /><br />Horner said the new fossils come from extinct animals that lived in a seaway that once existed where Montana is today. Partly because of its significance, he plans to send three extra paleontology crews into the field next summer. One of them, a "wandering crew," will be devoted to the site where the Olsons found the <i>plesiosaur</i> fossils. Jamie Cornish, marketing director at the Museum of the Rockies, said the museum expects to display the skull in its new exhibit, "Dinosaurs Under the Big Sky." The exhibit is scheduled to open in mid-June.<br /><br /></span></span><font><font><font><font><font>Evelyn Boswell<br /><span style="font-size:85%;">(406) 994-5135 or <a href="mailto:evelynb@montana.edu">evelynb@montana.edu</a></span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-116261625015518054?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1162426309969689972006-11-01T18:09:00.000-06:002006-11-01T18:11:49.983-06:00<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Fossil Is Missing Link in Elephant Lineage</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><a href="http://www.physorg.com/news81625033.html">Article from Physorg</a><br /><br />A pig-sized, tusked creature that roamed the earth some 27 million years ago represents a missing link between the oldest known relatives of elephants and the more</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> recent group from which modern elephants descended, an international team that includes University of Michigan paleontologist William J. Sanders has found.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/Fig1B-Eritreum_m2-m3_sm.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/Fig1B-Eritreum_m2-m3_sm.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">The group's findings, to be published this week in the <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</i>, suggest that mastodons and the ancestors of elephants originated in Africa, in contrast to mammals such as rhinos, giraffes and antelopes, which had their origins in Europe and Asia and migrated into Africa. The dating of the new fossil, discovered in the East African country of Eritrea, also pushes the origins of elephants and mastodons five million years farther into the past than previous records, Sanders said.<br /><br />From 35 to 25 million years ago, representatives of the group known as proboscideans (which includes elephants, mastodons and their close relatives) lived only in Africa and Arabia, and most of them were palaeomastodonts. These animals were shorter and smaller than today's elephants, with short trunks and tusks and simple teeth that were all in place at the same time, as human adult teeth are.<br /><br />After 25 million years ago, larger proboscideans such as mastodons and gomphotheres---the ancestors of modern elephants---dominated the scene. Elephant-sized, with long tusks and trunks, these advanced proboscidans had more complex teeth that emerged more slowly, so that each quadrant of the mouth had only one or two functional teeth in place at a time.<br /><br />"The new fossil from Eritrea is important because it shows aspects of dental anatomy in common with the advanced group, including molars with more cusps and complex crowns and the delayed maturation and emergence of molars," said Sanders, an assistant research scientist in the U-M Museum of Paleontology. But the creature that the new fossil represents also had characteristics in common with palaeomastodonts, namely smaller body size and a jaw structure that suggests shorter tusks and trunk.<br /><br />"In age and anatomy it is exactly the sort of intermediate evolutionists would expect to bridge the gap between archaic and advanced proboscideans," Sanders said.<br /><br />Source: University of Michigan<br /><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-116242630996968997?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1162160639800430672006-10-29T16:08:00.000-06:002006-10-29T17:09:53.260-06:00<span style="font-size:85%;">I had a very successful trip this past Saturday down in Glen Rose, Texas visiting the FossilMania convention. Had several individual tables set up with all sorts of good stuff. The pictures below are what I eventually ended up purchasing. I also managed to meet up with my good friend Wes Kirpach, who was the AP bio teacher involved with the Plano West <span style="font-style: italic;">Xiphactinus</span> excacation; make a visit to Dinosaur Valley State Park and buy a few more things at the Native American convention right next door to</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> FossilMania.<br /><br /><br /></span> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">My desk as of today: pictured are North Sulphur fossils, </span><span style="font-size:85%;">clams from the</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> Plano Xiphactinus excacation, and my new spoils from the fossilmania convention.<br /></span></div> <span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/my%20desk.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/my%20desk.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/Oreodont.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/Oreodont.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/Oreodont.jpg"><br /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/Pecopteris.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/Pecopteris.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/Crabs.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/Crabs.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/Mortoniceras.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/Mortoniceras.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></div> <span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/Mosasaur.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/Mosasaur.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/Mosasaur.jpg"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/Green%20River%20fish.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/Green%20River%20fish.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/Trilobites.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/Trilobites.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/Ammonites.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/Ammonites.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-116216063980043067?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1162161123879051362006-10-27T16:26:00.000-05:002006-10-29T20:05:25.736-06:00<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Smithsonian Refuses To Exhibit Ethiopia's Fragile 'Lucy' Fossil</span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><div id="byline">By <a href="http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/jacqueline+trescott/" title="Send an e-mail to Jacqueline Trescott">Jacqueline Trescott</a></div>Washington Post Staff Writer<br />Saturday, October 28, 2006<br /><br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/27/AR2006102701753.html">Article from Washington Post</a><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">Plans for a six-year U.S. tour by "Lucy," one of humanity's earliest known ancestors, have hit a major snag. Earlier this week the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Ethiopia and the Houston Museum of Natural Science announced an agreement to include Lucy in a tour of several hundred Ethiopian relics. But at least two major U.S. museums now say the bones should not be moved and they don't want to show them.<br /></span> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2006/10/27/PH2006102701760.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2006/10/27/PH2006102701760.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></p><span style="font-size:85%;"><font><font><font><font> </span></span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font>Rick Potts, the director of the Smithsonian's Human Origins Program and an influential paleoanthropologist, said he and many other scientists agree that Lucy is too fragile to travel. He said the Ethiopian artifacts would not come to the Smithsonian.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size:85%;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><span style="font-size:85%;">The International Association for the Study of Human Paleontology, a group affiliated with UNESCO, passed a resolution in 1998 saying such fossils shouldn't be moved outside the country of origin. The resolution, unanimously approved by representatives of 20 countries, including Ethiopia and the United States, said replicas should be used for public display.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><span 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style="font-size:85%;">Potts, who has led major excavations in East Africa for more than 25 years, said fossils should be moved from their vaults "only under the most compelling scientific reasons." (He keeps a cast of Lucy in his laboratory at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.) A spokesman for the American Museum of Natural History in New York also said that museum would not accept the 3.2-million-year-old fossilized 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style="font-size:85%;"></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><fon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Shubin, provost of the Field Museum in Chicago, said the museum's officials hadn't discussed the possibility of exhibiting Lucy on the planned tour. "This is a hot potato because there are a lot of issues institutions have to confront. These are rare fossils, very fragile, and they can be damaged or lost," he said. Shubin said the scientific group's aversion to Lucy being moved "would be front and center" in the museum's discussions.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size:85%;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></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style="font-size:85%;"></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><fon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style="font-size:85%;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span></span></span></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font>Potts said he also objected to the use of the fossil as a tourist attraction. "The value of these things to the scientific community comes first," said Potts. Joel Bartsch, president of the Houston Museum of Natural Science, said there are no plans to cancel the tour. The museum is paying most of the costs and expects other museums will want to display the artifacts. The agreement calls for 11 venues, including Houston.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size:85%;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font> 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style="font-size:85%;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span></span></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font>"I am quite confident all the slots will be filled," Bartsch said. "I respect the opinions of the scientists, but museums travel irreplaceable, rare objects every day."</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size:85%;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span></span></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font>He said his museum has shown the Dead Sea Scrolls, treasures from the Vatican and other fragile objects with no problems. Details of the tour, which will start in Houston next September, are not final.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size:85%;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span></span></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font>About 40 percent of a female skeleton was discovered near Hadar, Ethiopia, in 1974 by Donald Johanson and Tom Gray. Lucy stood roughly 3 feet 6 inches tall and weighed about 62 pounds. The bones are kept in a vault in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The fossil's name comes from the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," which was playing during the party celebrating the discovery.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-116216112387905136?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1162163031469217382006-10-25T16:55:00.000-05:002006-10-29T17:03:51.486-06:00<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Terror Birds: Bigger and Faster</span> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">By Erik Stokstad</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2006/1025/4"><em>Science</em>NOW Daily New</a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />25 October 2006<br /></span></p> <span style="font-size:85%;"> Think of an ostrich on steroids, then add the ferocious hunting skills of an eagle. That's roughly the picture of extinct South American birds called phorusrhacids, or terror birds, that lived from 60 million to 2 million years ago. This week in <i>Nature</i>, two paleontologists describe the largest known skull of a terror bird and say that one of the bird's leg bones shows that the predator was quick on its feet as well as deadly.<br /></span> <h2><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/birds/phorus.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/birds/phorus.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a></h2> <span style="font-size:85%;">The specimen was found in 2004 by a high school student in the small Patagonian town of Comallo, Argentina. He brought it to the Paleontology Museum of Bariloche, which contacted Luis Chiappe of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, who has done ex</span><span style="font-size:85%;">tensive fieldwork in Patagonia. The skull is complete--a first for giant terror birds. At 71.6 centimeters long, th</span><span style="font-size:85%;">e skull is about 10% larger than that of the previous record holder, a giant terror bird called <i>Brontornis</i>. Like other terror birds, the tip of the beak curves into a deadly hook. "There's little doubt it was used for killing prey and tearing apart chunks of flesh," Chiappe says.</span> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"> A leg bone, called the tarsometatarsus, was found with the skull. Whereas the same bone in a terror bird called <i>Paraphysornis</i> is only 31.5 cm long, the new leg fossil measures 43.7 cm long. The bone's slenderness indicates that the creature was "a relatively swift runner," Chiap</span><span style="font-size:85%;">pe says. The new find counters the traditional notion that terror birds always became stockier when they evolved to larger sizes, he adds. And big it was: Extrapolating from the leg bone, Chiappe and colleague Sara Berte</span><span style="font-size:85%;">lli estimate that the newly discovered bird stood 3 meters tall.<br /></span></p> <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://svt.se/content/1/c6/68/84/54/monsterfagelkombo_380.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://svt.se/content/1/c6/68/84/54/monsterfagelkombo_380.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"> Chiappe and Bertelli say the 15-million-year-old fossil is a novel species, but they haven't yet disclosed the name they've picked for it. They'll do that in a longer paper, which they have submitted to the <i>Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology</i>.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"> Julia Clarke of North Carolina State University in Raleigh notes that the new fossil adds to the diversity of terror birds. "You can have a large animal that's built for speed," she says. Herculano Alvarenga of the Museu de Historia Natural de Taubaté in São Paulo, Brazil, says that terror birds such as <i>Brontornis</i> probably ate carrion, but that the longer-legged ones were good runners and hunters.</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-116216303146921738?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1160871805653947752006-10-14T19:06:00.000-05:002006-10-14T20:13:40.106-05:00<span style="font-size:85%;">North of Ladonia<br />Fannin county, Texas<br />North Sulphur River<br />Gulf Series<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">Taylor Group<br />Ozan formation<br />middle Campanian<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/NSR.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/NSR.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/NSR%20satelitte.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/NSR%20satelitte.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">Today I took my first ride up to the North Sulphur River south of Paris, Texas. The directions to get there from the Dallas metroplex a much easier than I had planned on. I eventually reached the 34 bridge that crosses the river, descended down into the dry river bed itself, and began the trek on the northeastern side of the bridge. The vast majority of finds were jet black fragments of straight shelled ammonites, <span style="font-style: italic;">Baculites.</span><br /><br />Unfortunately though, my time was restrictive for this week and I did not get the chance to reach the "Red zone" or any other well known outcropping near bridge 2990. So no typical chambered ammonites either. Regardless of that, I had a good time. I really am fasinated by the faunal assemblage of the Western Interior Seaway in northeast Texas.<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-116087180565394775?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1160350103579752942006-10-08T18:21:00.000-05:002006-10-08T18:29:20.956-05:00<span style="font-size:85%;">Dallas Paleo's monthly meeting will take place this Wednesday at Brookhaven to take part in a geology class lecture with Brookhaven community college students. I'll also likely be visiting the North Sulphur River just outside of Paris to pick up some Marine Cretaceous fossils and then some. Lastly, here is a picture from my most recent visit to the <span style="font-style: italic;">Xiphactinus</span> quarry in Plano. Found one gi-normous clam in the chalk that was worth a picture too.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos-740.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v50/137/27/1549020163/n1549020163_30004740_8392.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://photos-740.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v50/137/27/1549020163/n1549020163_30004740_8392.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/clam%20in%20the%20rock.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/clam%20in%20the%20rock.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />Last but not least: Go Dallas Cowboys! Beat dem' Philly Eagles! ;-)<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-116035010357975294?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1160140067812580482006-10-06T08:03:00.000-05:002006-10-06T08:07:47.830-05:00<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> 'Monster' fossil find in Arctic</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="byl"> By Paul Rincon </span> <br /> <span class="byd"> Science reporter, Article from the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5403570.stm">BBC News</a><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Norwegian scientists have discovered a "treasure trove" of fossils belonging to giant sea reptiles that roamed the seas at the time of the dinosaurs.</b></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> The 150-million-year-old fossils were uncovered on the Arctic island chain of Svalbard - about halfway between the Norwegian mainland and the North Pole. The finds belong to two groups of extinct marine reptiles - the plesiosaurs and the ichthyosaurs.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/sci_nat_enl_1159893339/img/1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/sci_nat_enl_1159893339/img/1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />One skeleton has been nicknamed The Monster because of its enormous size. These animals were the top predators living in what was then a relatively cool, deep sea. Palaeontologists from the University of Oslo's Natural History Museum discovered the fossils during fieldwork in a remote part of Spitsbergen, the largest island in the Svalbard archipelago. Jorn Harald Hurum, co-director of the dig, said he was taken aback by the sheer density of fossil remains in one area. </span> <p> <span style="font-size:85%;">"You can't walk for more than 100m without finding a skeleton. That's amazing anywhere in the world," he told BBC News. Dr Dave Martill, a palaeontologist at the University of Portsmouth, UK, commented: "These sites are very unusual. To find that many individuals is a remarkable thing - that's a bonanza." </span></p> <span style="font-size:85%;">Ichthyosaurs bore a passing resemblance to modern dolphins, but they used an upright tail fin to propel themselves through the water. Plesiosaurs are said to fit descriptions of Scotland's mythical Loch Ness monster. They used two sets of powerful flippers for swimming and came in two varieties - one with a small head and very long neck, and another with a large head and short neck.<br /><br />The short-necked varieties are known as pliosaurs. The discovery of a gigantic pliosaur, nicknamed The Monster, was one of the most remarkable discoveries of the expedition. Its skeleton has dinner-plate-sized neck vertebrae, and the lower jaw has teeth as big as bananas.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> The skeleton is not yet fully excavated, but its skull is about 3m long, suggesting the body could be more than 8m from the tip of its nose to its tail. </span> <p> <span style="font-size:85%;">"What's amazing here is that it looks like we have a complete skeleton. No other complete pliosaur skeletons are known anywhere in the world," said Dr Hurum. </span></p> <span style="font-size:85%;"> The researchers even found evidence of an attack on one of the creatures. An ichthyosaur tooth is embedded in a neck vertebra from one plesiosaur belonging to the genus <i>Kimmerosaurus</i>.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> The fossil hoard comprises 21 long-necked plesiosaurs, six ichthyosaurs and one short-necked plesiosaur. The bones were unearthed in fine-grained sedimentary rock called black shale. </span> <p> <span style="font-size:85%;">"Everything we're finding is articulated. It's not single bones here and there, and bits and pieces - these are complete skeletons," said Dr Hurum. </span></p> <p> <span style="font-size:85%;">After death, the carcasses came to rest in mud at the bottom of the deep ocean, where little or no oxygen was present. Dr Hurum said an unusual chemistry of the mud could have been responsible for the remarkable preservation of the specimens: "Something happened with the chemistry that's really good for bone preservation. Some skeletons are pale white even though they're in black shale - they look like 'roadkill'." </span></p> <p> <span style="font-size:85%;">The marine reptiles found in the Norwegian archipelago are very similar to ones known from southern England. Dr Hurum said the animals could have been living in the same ocean and he now plans to compare the Arctic finds with those from Britain. The Svalbard excavation was led by Dr Hurum and Hans Arne Nakrem, also of Oslo's Natural History Museum. The museum plans to return to the field site in the summer of 2007 to resume excavations. </span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-116014006781258048?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1159235735615807512006-09-25T20:50:00.000-05:002006-09-25T20:55:35.630-05:00<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subway Sleuth Clears Dinosaur of Cannibalism</span><br />John Noble Wilford<br />September 26, 2006<br /><br />Full Article on <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/26/science/26dino.html?ref=science">The New York Times online</a><br /><br />A graduate student in paleontology was standing on the downtown subway platform at the American Museum of Natural History stop. He idly inspected the bronze cast on the wall of one of the museum’s dinosaurs.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/09/26/science/dino.1.650.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/09/26/science/dino.1.650.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />The student, Sterling J. Nesbitt, was surprised to see what looked like crocodile bones that had presumably been the dinosaur’s last feast. This set in motion a re-examination of two specimens on display in the museum’s Hall of Dinosaurs, and wiped clean a dinosaur’s reputation that had been besmirched by suspicions of cannibalism.</span> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">Museum paleontologists found that the exhibited predatory dinosaur, Coelophysis bauri, had in fact not eaten one of its own. “Our research shows that the evidence for cannibalism in Coelophysis is nonexistent,” Mr. Nesbitt said in an interview, “and the evidence for cannibalism in other dinosaurs is quite thin.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">In one of the two suspected specimens, the bones of the dinosaur’s last meal, lying inside the skeleton where its stomach would have been, were not those of a juvenile Coelophysis or any other dinosaur. The review showed the bones were of a small crocodile. “The femur was the key,” Mr. Nesbitt said. “I knew this wasn’t a dinosaur that had been eaten.” </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">The re-examination of the second fossil specimen disputed the assumption that the bones in the stomach area of a Coelophysis were of a cannibalized young dinosaur. The scientists said the bones were outside the dinosaur’s ribcage, and from an animal perhaps too large to have been eaten whole.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">The verdict of not-guilty of cannibalism was delivered last week in the journal Biology Letters of the Royal Society of London. The lead author is Mr. Nesbitt, a doctoral student at Columbia and the museum.The two Coelophysis specimens were excavated in New Mexico in 1947 by a dinosaur-hunting party from the museum. The bones that appeared to lie within the dinosaurs’ bodies led Edwin H. Colbert, a museum paleontologist in those days, to assume these animals had been cannibals.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">Mark A. Norell, the museum’s curator of paleontology and a co-author of the report, said, the new research was a reminder that it is not always necessary to go all the way to the Gobi Desert to learn something new about dinosaurs. For his part, Mr. Nesbitt said: “It’s pretty lucky. It was an example of serendipity.” And, he added, it helped to be alert while waiting for the subway train. </span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115923573561580751?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1158946217002182872006-09-22T12:19:00.000-05:002006-09-22T12:30:17.006-05:00<div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Two new links have been added to the "Old Stuff links" column on the right hand side of the blog.<br /></span></div> <span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><a href="http://www.ashfall.unl.edu/index.html">Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park</a><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.ashfall.unl.edu/images/amy_drmarie.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.ashfall.unl.edu/images/amy_drmarie.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.trilobites.info/Utah.htm">Wheeler shale Trilobites (a.k.a. U-Dig fossils outside of Delta, Utah)</a><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.trilobites.info/utahquarrylg.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.trilobites.info/utahquarrylg.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115894621700218287?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1158941808751297562006-09-22T11:11:00.000-05:002006-09-22T11:18:12.016-05:00<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Remains of earliest child discovered</span><br /><a href="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2006-09/22/content_694520.htm">Article published on the ChinaDaily website</a><br /><br />LONDON - A 3.3 million-year-old skeleton of the earliest child ever found shows the ancient ancestor of modern humans walked upright but may also have climbed trees, scientists said on Wednesday.<br /><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2006-09/22/xin_450903220851653166443.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2006-09/22/xin_450903220851653166443.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">A scientist holds a skull named "Selam" of a fossil discovered in an area of Ethi</span><span style="font-size:85%;">opia called Dikika, September 20, 2006. A 3.3 million-year-old skeleton of the earliest child ever found shows the ancient ancestor of modern humans walked upright but may have also climbed trees, scientists said on Wednesday.<br /><br />They found the well-preserved remains of a three-year-old girl of the species Australopithecus afarensis -- which includes the fossil skeleton known as "Lucy" -- in the Dikika area of Ethiopia, 400 kms northeast of the capital Addis Ababa.<br /><br />"It represents the earliest and most complete partial skeleton of a child ever found in the history of paeleoanthropology," said Dr Zeresenay Alemseged, of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.<br /><br />The skull, torso and upper and lower limbs, including the hand,</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> show both human and ape-like features. The state of the ancient bones suggest she was buried in a flood which may also have caused her death. The remains provide the first evidence of what babies of early human ancestors looked like. The nearly complete skeleton will also provide information about the child's height and structure.<br /><br />"This child will help us understand a lot about the species to which it belongs," said Alemseged, leader of the international team of scientists who reported the findings in the journal Nature. "The lower part of the body, which includes the foot, the shin bone and the thigh bone clearly shows us that this species was an upright walking creature," he told Reuters.<br /><br />But some of the features from the upper part of the body, incl</span><span style="font-size:85%;">uding the shoulder blade and arms are more ape-like. The fingers are long and curved which suggest she might have been able to swing through trees.<br /><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42109000/jpg/_42109050_afar_alemseged_203.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42109000/jpg/_42109050_afar_alemseged_203.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">"The finding is the most complete hominid skeleton ever found in the world," Zeresenay Alemseged, who is head of the Paleoanthropological Research Team, told a news conference in Addis Ababa. He said the fossil was older than the 3.2-million-year-old remains of "Lucy" discovered in 1974 and described by scientists as one of the world's greatest archaeological finds.<br /><br />"The new bones belong to a three-year-old girl who lived 3.3 million years ago, 150,000 years before Lucy," Zeresenay said. The fossil has been named "Selam," which means peace in Ethiopia's official Amharic language. Dr Simon Underdown of Oxford Brookes University in England described it as a massively exciting discovery of a juvenile "Lucy." "This tremendous fossil will make us challenge many of the ideas we have about how and why we came to walk on two feet," he said.<br /><br />An analysis of the sediment in which the remains were found enabled researchers to build a picture of the type of environment in which the child lived. It was a lush area with flowing water, forests and grassland which was also affected by volcanic eruptions. The range of habitats was suitable for hippos, crocodiles and relatives of the wildebeest.<br /><br />"We can see from the sediment that the region was very much characterized by a mosaic of environment that ranged from forests and woodlands near the rivers, to seasonally flooded grasslands to a flood plain that would have supported more open vegetation," said Dr Jonathan Wynn of the University of South Florida who dated the sediments surrounding the remains.<br /><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115894180875129756?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1158237998906185472006-09-14T07:34:00.000-05:002006-09-14T07:47:03.556-05:00<span style="font-size:85%;">The September auction meeting for the Dallas Paleontological Society was, in my humble <span class="noline">assessment, a great </span>accomplishment. Ninety items ranging from fossil cabinets, outdated library books, <span style="font-family:georgia;">miscellaneous fossils collections down to a single metal detector. I was particularly interested in a field guide book with choked full o illustrations and photographs of mineral and fossil specimens. I also came away with several other </span>knickknacks including other books and small marine, invertebrate fossils. I had a great night at the auction.<br /><br />I was also wished a happy date-late 17th birthday by Brian and the rest of the society.<br />Thanks all.<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115823799890618547?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1158238069851438982006-09-12T07:47:00.000-05:002006-09-14T07:47:49.853-05:00<span style="font-size:85%;">Today was my birthday. I turned 17.<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115823806985143898?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1157857639958125092006-09-09T22:03:00.000-05:002006-09-09T22:07:19.960-05:00<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Steve Irwin</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">22 February 1962 – 4 September 2006</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/800px-Steve_irwin_at_Australia_zoo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/800px-Steve_irwin_at_Australia_zoo.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>You will be missed mate... but not forgotten.</span><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115785763995812509?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1157857371892600152006-09-09T21:58:00.000-05:002006-09-09T22:02:51.906-05:00<span style="font-size:85%;">Please pardon me for my lack of relatively recent post. School has since started and has pinned me down with all sorts of work for the year ahead. I promise more post will come soon with the passing of this semester. Remember that this is my junior year and so I will be posting more updates on my college search. I will also participate more with the Dallas Paleontological Society, hopefully putting in more pictures of field trips and society meetings as they come and go.<br /><br />Until then...<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/dawn.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/dawn.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115785737189260015?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1157248695600848652006-09-02T20:55:00.000-05:002006-09-02T21:01:51.903-05:00<!-- �߾� ���� --><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Brazil's Biggest Dinosaur</span><br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">This week Maxakalisaurus Topai went on display in Rio de Janeiro</span><br /> Ana Maria Brambilla<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Article from <a href="http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=4&no=314488&amp;rel_no=1">OhMyNews</a><br /><br />The Brazilian paleontologist Alexander Kellner is a dinosaur hunter. His latest treasure is a specimen that is some 80 million years old. Officially named "Maxakalisaurus Topai," Kellner's dinosaur is the 16th prehistoric animal discovered on Brazilian ground. After four years of research and preparation, the dinosaur is now on display at the National Museum of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.<br /><br /></span> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://image.ohmynews.com/down/images/1/brambilla_314488_1%5B511520%5D.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://image.ohmynews.com/down/images/1/brambilla_314488_1%5B511520%5D.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>© 2006 Alexander Kellner<br /></span></div> <span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size:85%;">"Seven researchers were involved. For the technical aspects, more than 15 volunteers, students, paleoartists and technicians pitched in," Kellner said.<br /><br />This is the biggest dinosaur ever discovered in Brazil. Its weight is about nine tons and it measure about 13 meters in length. Maxakalisaurus Topai lived on land in the middle of Brazil, in a region called Triangulo Mineiro. On completing the research, many people were excited about the idea of seeing the dinosaur completely mounted.<br /><br />"Boyfriends and girlfriends of the technical team were involved, as well as many volunteers that fell in love with the project and helped us to realize it," Kellner said.<br /><br />Even the paleontologist's children participated in the expeditions. His boys, Alexandre, 13 and Guilherme, 11, followed their father to Minas Gerais state where Maxakalisaurus Topai was found. In an interview with a Brazilian magazine, Kellner said he wanted to teach his children respect and to know the importance of paleontology. Speaking to OhmyNews this week, Kellner said that the repercussions of this discovery inside the scientific community are enormous.<br /><br />"We have just discovered a new species, contributing to a better understanding about dinosaurs from a part of the world where scientists still know very little," he said.<br /><br />Maxakalisauros Topai is a dinosaur closely related to the Saltasaurinae, an evolved group of dinosaurs with long tails, small skulls and voluminous bodies. Cleaning the skeleton, removing layers of sediments and encasing all the parts took Kellner and his team more than three years. Part of this job began when they were still digging the bones out of the ground. It took 18 months to assemble the bones and then a further 30 days to prepare the exhibition hall.<br /><br />Some of the bones have tooth marks on them, which leads scientists to conclude that the dinosaur may have been gnawed on by carnivores after its death. In Kellner's opinion the exhibition of Maxakalisaurus Topai is a landmark in Brazilian paleontology that will attract attention from researchers worldwide. The National Museum is now running a competition among children to let them choose a nickname for Maxakalisaurus Topai.<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115724869560084865?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1156209539207900942006-08-21T20:08:00.000-05:002006-08-26T11:32:07.213-05:00<span style="font-size:85%;">A bit delayed. No worries though, I will soon be back up to speed with the news. I am also possibly looking into a new format so I can make quotes easier to distinguish from my typical rambles.<span style=""> </span>I will promise however that the same color configuration will be used, the typical black and shades of beige.<span style=""> </span>Any suggestions with links are welcome.<br /></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Whale fossil sports fierce teeth</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><span class="byl">Elli Leadbeater</span></span></p> <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4797679.stm">From BBC News | Science/Nature</a><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Palaeontologists have discovered a bizarre whale fossil in Australia with a set of fearsome teeth. </b></span><span style="font-size:85%;">The specimen has surprised scientists because it </span><span style="font-size:85%;">belongs to the group known as baleen whales. </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Modern day baleen whales are all placid, plankton eaters, but the new fossil shows the group were not always the ocean's gentle giants.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> Details of the 25 million-year-old find appear in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> The small, large-eyed baleen whale used a fully developed set of teeth to hunt its prey. </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Scientists had thought that two groups of ancient whales evolved drastically different </span><span style="font-size:85%;">eating habits more than 34 million years ago.<br /><br /></span> <div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/hottopics/images/whaleskullg.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/hottopics/images/whaleskullg.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Rodney Start, Museum of Victoria</i></span><br /></div> <span style="font-size:85%;"><br />They believed ancient whales that fed by filter feeding evolved to become today's enormous but passive baleen whales, and those that hunted became the ocean's giant predators, the toothed whales. Toothed whales include the killer whale, sperm whale and dolphin, whereas baleen whales are typified by the humpback and blue whale. The new specimen shows that ancient baleen whales probably hunted prey like their toothed relatives.</span> <p> <span style="font-size:85%;">Modern-day baleen whales are named after their characteristic baleen, a comb-like structure between their jaws which allows them to filter tiny plankton from the sea to eat. Baleen is made of a substance called keratin, just like our fingernails and hair. "Specialised skull features tell us that this fossil is undoubtedly a baleen whale," said lead researcher Erich Fitzgerald of the University of Monash in Victoria, Australia. </span></p> <p> <span style="font-size:85%;">"Surprisingly, it appears that the original features of baleen whales did not include the filter-feeding apparatus." Instead, the newly-discovered ancient whale probably used its large, sharp teeth to capture and chew prey, which it located using its large eyes.<br /></span></p> <p> <!-- S IIMA --> <span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></p> <span style="font-size:85%;"> <!-- E IIMA --> </span> <div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41439000/jpg/_41439543_juju_procb_416.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41439000/jpg/_41439543_juju_procb_416.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Image: Erich MG Fitzgerald</i></span><br /></div> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">"It's always been known that ancient baleen whales had teeth, but this fossil is very important because it looks like the teeth were not used for filter feeding," commented Mark Uhen, head of research at the Cranbrook Institute of Science in Michigan, US. The fossil represents a previously unknown species, named <i>Janjucetus hunderi</i> after its teenage finder Staumn Hunter, who noticed it in an exposed boulder while surfing in 1997.<br /><i><br />Janjucetus hunderi</i> lived between 25 and 9 million years ago after the last common ancestor of the toothed and baleen whales. The species also has unusual hearing. Unlike modern baleen whales, this animal's hearing was probably specialised to detect very high-pitched sounds. This is similar to toothed whales, who now "echolocate", producing high-pitched soundwaves and listening to the echos to find prey. </span></p> <p> <span style="font-size:85%;">Janjucetus' living descendents, the baleen whales, appear to have lost this ability, possibly because they no longer hunt large prey. Instead, their ears detect the very low-frequency bass sounds which we associate with whalesong. Despite its high-frequency hearing, the unusually large eyes of Janjucetus suggest that it probably used sight to find food items. </span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115620953920790094?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1156024857803860342006-08-20T13:05:00.000-05:002006-08-21T20:01:01.783-05:00<span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.spore.com/">http://www.spore.com/</a><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.spore.com/images/screens/screen_5_big.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.spore.com/images/screens/screen_5_big.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.spore.com/images/screens/screen_2_big.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.spore.com/images/screens/screen_2_big.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span>The new video game by TheSims creator Will Wright now has a wesbite. </span><span style="font-size:85%;">SPORE™ is an epic journey that takes you from the origin and evolution of life through the development of civilization and technology and eventually all the way into the deepest reaches of outer space.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">Look for updates to the SPORE™ site next week for the Leipzig Game Conference.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115602485780386034?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1156021430162549182006-08-19T15:39:00.000-05:002006-08-19T18:06:18.076-05:00<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/DSCN2935.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/DSCN2935.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Myself with our new products this year: the "man bag." An Austrian gas mask bag to be correct.<br /></span></div> <span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/DSCN2889.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/DSCN2889.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Mr. Phil Manning of Manchester (possible graduate advisor?) and myself<br /></span> </div> <span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/DSCN2880.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/DSCN2880.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Neal Larson (aka the ammonite guy) and myself<br /></span> </div> <span style="font-size:85%;"><br />Pardon my random absence over the last 16 days. School has started up again and it has been a helluva week securing</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> everything back into a fashionable order. Being my junior year, I am attempting at compressing all of my activities into my very active schedule: varsity tennis, visits to middle and elementary schools to teach kids palaeo, all my advanced placement courses I'm taking this year, church youth group and orchestra etcetera. I am checking and double checking to make sure my senior year is exactly how I want it...or at the very least as best as possible.<br /><br />I have signed myself up for AP (advanced placement) Biology with in adjacent independent study course and Anatomy. I really want to take AP Environmental sciences as well, but my school district's lack of competent scheduling and demand of certain credits has disabled my ability to take such a course. I'm not happy about it either. Regardless, it also appears as if I will be relatively busy with examinations: AP Biology test, SAT subject test Biology E/M. I will be taking the 'E' version of the biology SAT by the way, which is more focused on ecological biology and evolution, as opposed to molecular biology and evolution.<br /><br />This junior year, however, will be the year of college campus visits. I have already obtained the visit necessities list from the CollegeBoard site and I am prepared to venture off to some new school of thought. If you happen to be admissions director to a certain college and reading this blog post, please feel free to send me some of your school's information pamphlets. The decision to visit a particular college will vary with factors such as distance and cost to getting there and in the focus on my particular subject interest: evolutionary biology, osteology, phylogenetic systematics and</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> vertebrate paleontology.<br /><br />Cheers.<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115602143016254918?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1154654624995562182006-08-03T19:39:00.000-05:002006-08-03T20:45:14.436-05:00<span style="font-size:85%;">It is not a usual thing for me to do, to blast creationist with their ideas of palaeontology and fossils. As a Christian I feel embarrassed that others of the faith would go so far as to damn those who accept evolution and consider it evil and anti-God. Creationism has really become red in tooth and claw more than nature ever has done. Such attacks can be seen on the <a href="http://talkorigins.org/origins/feedback/">feedback page of the TalkOrigins site.</a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/sack_evolution.2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/sack_evolution.1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span> <div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Some groups are more conservative and do not make such vicious attacks on evolutionist, albeit they seem to consider themselves the only people who interpret the evidence correctly and are likely to have very, fallacious information on the topic of the history of life on Earth. <a href="http://palaeosbios.blogspot.com/2006/07/apologetics-of-arbitrariness.html">I've already pointed this out on another post that you can read about here.</a> My only desire to see this new creation museum stems from my curiousity to see how these people have approached the issue of evolution and the interpretation of the evidence.</span><br /> </div> </div> <span style="font-size:85%;"><br />I certainly dislike the comments made by the ICR president </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span id="intelliTXT"><span id="intelliTXT">John Morris concerning evolution. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span id="intelliTXT"><span id="intelliTXT">The article says that Morris believes the <span style="font-weight: bold;">museum will affirm the doubts many people ha</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span id="intelliTXT"><span id="intelliTXT"><span style="font-weight: bold;">ve about science, namely the notion that man evolved from lower forms </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span id="intelliTXT"><span id="intelliTXT"><span style="font-weight: bold;">of life.</span> "Americans just aren't gullible enough to believe that they came from a fish." Morris goes around using the <a href="http://palaeosbios.blogspot.com/2006/07/progession-to-perfection-is-wrong.html">same damned </a></span></span><a href="http://palaeosbios.blogspot.com/2006/07/progession-to-perfection-is-wrong.html">delusion that is completely wrong of evolutionary theory (which I have subsequently posted about too--view by clicking here)</a> and shows how high these sorts of folks put humans on the pedestal of importance. The real underlying issue is that much of the human race thinks high of itself when compared to the rest of nature. We often define progress in a way that hinges on our view of ourselves, a way that relies on intellect, culture or the emotion that humans experience.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/124747041_d474900bae_o.4.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/124747041_d474900bae_o.4.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">These Creation groups are full of anthropocentrism, regarding humans as the central element of the universe and interpreting reality exclusively in terms of human values and experience. They are simply repeating the acts of the Church and the </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Roman Inquisition that resisted </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Galileo discoveries of heliocentrism</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> in the 1600's.<br /><br />America is lucky. If there was no seperation of church and state, I would bet that we would be seeing modern day Galileos and Scopes still defending the science that only trys and seek for the truth of the natural world we live in. It's not about being anti-God, but most Creationists sure act as if that is the case.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">'Creation Museum' Seeks to Disprove<br />Evolution, Paleontology, Geology<br /><br /></span>Complete article on <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,206456,00.html">FOXnews.com</a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><br /><span id="intelliTXT"><b>PETERSBURG, Ky. — Like most natural history museums, this one has exhibits showing dinosaurs roaming the Earth. Except here, the giant reptiles share the forest with Adam and Eve. </b></span>That, of course, is contradicted by science, but that's the point of the $25 million Creation Museum rising fast in rural Kentucky. Its inspiration is the Bible — the literal interpretation that contends God created the heavens and the Earth and everything in them just a few thousand years ago.<br /><br /></span> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://info.detnews.com/dn/pix/2005/09/27/asec/as27-creationmuseum-0905n_09-27-2005_ES8P9TV.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://info.detnews.com/dn/pix/2005/09/27/asec/as27-creationmuseum-0905n_09-27-2005_ES8P9TV.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;">Ken Ham standing in front of the new Creation Museum<br /></span></div> <span style="font-size:85%;"><span id="intelliTXT"> <p>"If the Bible is the word of God, and its history really is true, that's our presupposition or axiom, and we are starting there," museum founder <b>Ken Ham</b> said during recent tour of the sleek and modern facility, which is due to open next year. Ham, an Australian native who started the Christian publishing companyAnswers in Genesis in the late 1970s, said the goal of his privately funded museum is to change minds and rebut the scientific point of view.<br /></p> <p><span id="intelliTXT">"Genesis is not science," said Mary Dawson, curator emeritus of vertebrate paleontology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. "Genesis is a tale that was handed down for generations by people who really knew nothing about science, who knew nothing about natural history, and certainly knew nothing about what fossils were."<br /></span></p> <p><span id="intelliTXT"> <p>John Morris, president of the Institute for Creation Researchin San Diego, an organization that promotes creationism, said the museum will affirm the doubts many people have about science, namely the notion that man evolved from lower forms of life. "Americans just aren't gullible enough to believe that they came from a fish," he said.</p></span></p> </span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115465462499556218?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1154304841615040502006-07-30T19:11:00.000-05:002006-07-30T19:15:11.960-05:00<span style="font-size:85%;">Now available at <a href="http://palaeoportfolio.blogspot.com/">http://palaeoportfolio.blogspot.com/</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/hominid%20skull%20in%20the%20ground.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/hominid%20skull%20in%20the%20ground.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">I have started a new palaeo- blog. While at Palaeos Bios I post current events and my rambles, I will begin to post my own illustrations and sketches at the new Palaeo Portfolio. The concept is simple. Palaeos Bios publishes news articles, events and my ramblings of the palaeontology world. PalaeoPortfolio publishes merely my day-to-day illustrations and sketches of all things paleontology.<br /><br />Of course the most you will find here are skeletal drawings, since I'm no Robert Bakker or Greg Paul when it comes to putting flesh on the bones. And yet I find that there is no copying or end to the possibilities of what you can draw with bones. You might notice after a while that I have a particular subject matter that I am most interested in when I illustrate. I am anxious to see the progress of this site as I hope others are. Until my next post...<br /><br />Cheers.<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115430484161504050?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1154222024639178402006-07-29T20:03:00.000-05:002006-07-29T20:15:09.336-05:00<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Giant Dinosaur Discovered in Argentina</span><br />John Roach<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">Article from <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/07/060728-giant-dinosaur.html">National Geographic</a><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> Argentinean scientists have discovered gigantic neck, back, and tail bones from one of the largest dinosaurs ever to roam the Earth. </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Most impressive is a back vertebra that measures 3.48 </span><span style="font-size:85%;">feet (1.06 meters) tall and 5.51 feet (1.68 meters) wide, according to Fernando Novas. The paleontologist announced the find at the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences in Buenos Aires on July 21.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span> <div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/07/puertasaurus-reuili-dinosaur/images/primary/novas-461.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/07/puertasaurus-reuili-dinosaur/images/primary/novas-461.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Photograph courtesy Fernando Novas</span><br /></div> <span style="font-size:85%;"><br />The new species is one of the titanosaurs, a group of plant-eating sauropod dinosaurs that walked on four feet and are known for their long necks and tails.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> Based on analysis of the vertebrae and comparison with smaller, better-known titanosaurs, the paleontologist believes the new find was 11</span><span style="font-size:85%;">5 to 131 feet (35 to 40 meters) long and weighed between 88 and 110 tons (80 and 100 metric tons). Its chest alone was nearly 16 feet (5 meters) in diameter, about the size of an entire modern-day elephant. </span> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">Novas led the research team that discovered the 70-million-year-old bones in Argentina's Santa Cruz Province, located in the country's southern Patagonia region. He named the species <i>Puertasaurus reuili</i> in honor of two fossil hunters who discovered and prepared the specimen: Pablo Puerta and Santiago Reuil.<br /></span></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/07/puertasaurus-reuili-dinosaur/images/primary/plaster-461.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/07/puertasaurus-reuili-dinosaur/images/primary/plaster-461.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Photograph courtesy Fernando Novas</span><br /></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"> "<i>Puertasaurus</i> is one of the biggest dinosaurs ever found," Novas, who is also a researcher with Argentine science organization CONICET, said in an email interview. Novas said that only one of the titanosaurs rivals <i>Puertasaurus</i> in size: <i>Argentinosaurus huinculensis,</i> which was found in northwestern Patagonia and lived 90 million years ago. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">The newly described fossils, which also include a neck and two tail vertebrae, were excavated in 2001. Novas and colleagues Leonardo Salgado, Jorge Calvo, and Federico Agnolin describe the species in the current issue of the journal <i>Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia."</i> Other team members include Novas's students Gastón Lo Coco, Juan Canale, Alejandro Haluza, and Juan Goroso. The National Geographic Society helped finance the research.<br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/07/060728-giant-dinosaur_2.html">Continue the rest at National Geographic News</a><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115422202463917840?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1154043165630773772006-07-27T18:28:00.000-05:002006-07-28T15:29:47.126-05:00<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" xmlns="http://purl.org/atom/ns#"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><embed id="VideoPlayback" style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 326px" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"> </td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td><p><span style="font-size:85%;"></span> </p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">Here is another video of the new video game about evolution, Spore. Same thing applies here. Click the red X on your browser to stop the blog music in order to watch the video properly. Refresh the page to start the blog music again.<br /><br />Will Wright guides an audience at the 2005 Game Developer's Conference about his new invention. Though the video is a little over half and hour, it is very entertaining to watch. You can scan over it too and still see a lot of what the game is all about. Very creative stuff. I am thoroughly impressed and anticipate the release of Spore.<br /><br />Cheers.</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115404316563077377?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1154042516717140752006-07-27T18:19:00.000-05:002006-07-27T18:22:21.920-05:00<span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >Australian 'Nessie' fossils found</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5220784.stm">From BBC News</a><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5197076,00.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5197076,00.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Australia was once home to ancient reptiles that swam in huge icy lakes, fossil evidence suggests.</span> The large, carnivorous reptiles lived 115 million years ago, during the age of the dinosaurs, when much of the continent was covered in water. Fossils of two new species of plesiosaur were discovered near Coober Pedy in South Australia. Plesiosaurs are popular in science fiction and are said to resemble Scotland's mythical Loch Ness monster. The Australian specimens are described in recent editions of the journals Biology Letters and Palaeontology.<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >One, known as Umoonasaurus demoscyllus, was about 2.4m (7.2ft) long and had crests on its head, perhaps for display or mating purposes. "Imagine a compact body with four flippers, a reasonably long neck, small head and short tail, much like a reptilian seal," said the lead author of the two papers, Dr Benjamin Kear of the University of Adelaide. The other species, Opallionectes andamookaensis, grew to about 5m (16ft) long and had small needle-like teeth.<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >Some 30 fossils were discovered at an opal mine near the outback mining town of Coober Pedy. </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >They are made up of the mineral opal, which filled the spaces left by bones when the original fossil-bearing rock was dissolved away by acidic ground water. The fossils include several skeletons and a complete skull of Umoonasaurus, and a partial skeleton of Opallionectes.<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >They are thought to be of juvenile animals, suggesting the lake was a breeding and nursery ground.<br />Scientists believe sea-dwelling adults returned to the shallow inland waters to breed and raise their young. At the time, Australia was much colder, and the inland ocean would have frozen over in places during the winter. Scientists believe the creatures might have evolved mechanisms to cope with the harsh climate, such as a faster metabolic rate. They were carnivorous, feeding on fish and squid.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115404251671714075?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1153936543078005842006-07-26T12:18:00.000-05:002006-07-27T20:37:39.483-05:00<span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man's knead,<br />And then of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed:<br /> Yea, the first Morning of Creation wrote<br />What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read.<br /><br />The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, LXXIII<br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" ><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/evolution.5.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/evolution.5.png" border="0" /></a></p></span><p></p> <span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >Another ramble a mere 16 hours after the other. Same conditions apply here. </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >Reports of typos or scientific inaccuracies in the comment section are appreciated. Vielen Dank zu alle. Please pardon any mistakes. I did not get the time to read over this ramble just yet...</span><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" ><br />Being an evolutionists and yet a believer in the Christian God, you can imagine that I get confused looks from time to time.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>Several wonder what my actual beliefs are.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>They ask how I can find compatibility without compromise.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>Of course most of these questions come from my fellow, curious Christians.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>I have luckily never crossed paths with a person of faith who is worried for me or insist that I recant evolution.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>Most of my Christian brothers and sisters are simply mislead about the concept of evolution and seem to be thoroughly interested in how I go about accepting both concepts into my lifestyle.<br /><br />I think the reason that most creationists have a hard time handling the concept of evolutionary change is because it is indeterministic. It's not random however. Random is where something has no specific pattern, purpose, or objective. Yet evolutionary change has a purpose, to provide all living organisms the chance to adapt to their specific environment. Another example of </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >indeterminism is the location of a single electron in an electron cloud. The precise location cannot be determined exactly. However, it is possible to tell in what specific region of the cloud it is likely in ( hence the common solar system model of an atom used in high school textbooks ).</span><p><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >No one could have ever predicted the endless forms of life that have populated the Earth since the beginning of creation. </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Gould once commented that if we could somehow "rewind the tape" of evolution and let it play again, chance would favor a different selection of that original multitude, and the world would be a very different place from the one we see around us.</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" > And there in lies the "problem" to many Christians.<br /><br />Christians are taught in Sunday school that their God knows everything. He knows you before you are born, how many hairs are on your head and what will happen to you in your own lifetime. God has planned everything from the beginning. So what would God choose a method to create life that doesn't</span><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;" > one hundred percent guarantee our appearance? Also, why would God choose a method of creation that ( had ) taken nearly 4 billion years before the first humans made their debut? Well, I find answers to all of those questions. Most of my reasoning comes from the Bible itself.<br /><br />First let us answer the question why God would risk us humans not appearing by using the </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >indeterministic process of evolution with no direction by natural selection. Cause and effect. Natural chance. Much of the Christian faith assumes that God was and is an active deity. It is understood that Christianity is almost quite the opposite of deism, where it is believed a deity created the Universe and left it to its own accord. The Christian God actively pursues a loving relationship from us humans so much, that he is willing to come down and die for our sake.<br /><br />So why God use a method of creation that is </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >indeterministic and not directed by Himself? Well perhaps we should go back to Sunday school and recall one very important fundamental aspect to the enigma. God knows <span style="font-style: italic;">everything</span> before it happens<span style="font-style: italic;">. </span>God could have easily set natural selection and evolution in motion, knowing that some day his ultimate creation would appear. This creation --us-- is special because we can form a relationship with the creator of the Universe. We should also recall that many Christians don't look at human history as guided by or completely worked on by God. We look at the events of history as chance, that it is by the actions of humans that certain events happen. We rarely, if at all, credit God with these events in history. God was not responsible for the Holocaust. Humans were. God was not responsible for the atomic bomb. Humans were. This gets into a point that I will end with on this post.<br /><br />Now let us look at the next question. Why would God use a process that took so long to get to us, if his ultimate purpose <span style="font-style: italic;">was </span>us.<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>Why couldn't God have just put us there in the first place. Why the wait? Well, there is a simple answer to this question. In fact, it is an answer that should make perfect sense if read scripture carefully. God works in natural ways. In the creation story of Genesis, God mysteriously places life on Earth and tells it to multiply and be fruitful. To me this means to populate and regenerate and grow and evolve and adapt. Of course the "kinds" to me just make sense as the family clades or larger clades.<br /><br />There are other instances that show how God works naturally. God instructs Noah to build the ark. The God of the Judeo-Christian faith is all powerful. He could have easily created it himself. But he didn't. He has a simple mortal man do it form him. Then we have Jesus. Jesus taught his doctrine using parables, many of them dealing with natural processes like the seeds on the path. The appearance of Jesus and the method of his murder were also naturally. He [ Jesus ] appears in Middle East on the coast of the Mediterranean. When it came time for the likes of the Apostle Paul, word of Jesus's teachings could easily be spread throughout the trade routes of the "Great Sea." Jesus also appears during Roman rule and </span><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;" >conveniently suffers death by Roman crucifixion, considered by many torture experts to be one of the more excruciating deaths known to history. The symbolism to Christianity is significant in this case.<br /><br />Something else about Jesus makes an interesting point. People question why God would wait billions of years for us to appear through evolution, but then why do they not ask the same question about the arrival of Jesus. God <span style="font-style: italic;">knew </span>we were going to sin and that we were going to separate ourselves from him. Why not just send Jesus down to Earth immediately following the fall in Eden? Why wait thousands of years of mankind going to hell before eventually deciding to send Himself down as the savior? We may never know, but God had his reasons. Why wait? God waits and plans things out naturally and with plan and purpose.<br /><br />Going back earlier to the topic of chance and the events in human history. Just so we can become famaliar again with the subject, I'll simply repeat the last couple of statements already made. </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >We should also recall that many Christians don't look at human history as guided by or completely worked on by God. We look at the events of history as chance, that it is by the actions of humans that certain events happen. We rarely, if at all, credit God with these events in history. God was not responsible for the Holocaust. Humans were. God was not responsible for the atomic bomb. Humans were.<br /><br />God not only works naturally. God does his best to keep out of our personal lives, but still try to win our love. Everyone has probably heard the case. God's love for us is so great, that he allows us to choose that relationship with him. He give us total control of our personal lives and does his absolute best to let us keep that free will. Following this scenario then, it is easily understandable why God choose a </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >indeterministic process to guide the creation of life, ultimately leading to our chance appearance. Had God wanted our lifestory planned out they way he wished it, then the world would be controlled by a plain and predictable </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >determinism. We would not have free will, and more importantly, a </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >deterministic world cannot allow room for unnatural occurences. Most Christians refer to these events as miracles.<br /><br />So God used evolution for several reasons. He knew it would eventually produce us even though the process is </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >indeterministic. He let natural selection take its precious time because that is how he wanted it. It even says so in Genesis: "Be fruitful and multiply." And God choose to use an </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >indeterministic process to create life in a </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >indeterministic universe so that we could have complete freedom and choice in our lives.</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" > </span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115393654307800584?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1153932961463377452006-07-26T11:31:00.000-05:002006-07-26T12:01:48.273-05:00<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fossil frogs yield 'soft tissues'</span><br />Science reporter Helen Briggs<br /></span><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Scientists have extracted marrow from the bones of frogs and salamanders that died 10 million years ago in the muddy swamps of north-eastern Spain.</b> The first fossilised bone marrow known to science provides a rare insight into the make-up of prehistoric animals.<br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/_41933132_frog_gsa_203.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/_41933132_frog_gsa_203.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></p> <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5214798.stm">Article from BBC News</a><br /></span><p> </p> <p><!-- E SF --><span style="font-size:85%;">It is preserved in remarkable detail; usually only hard tissue such as bone survives in the fossil record. The soft tissue may yield traces of protein and DNA, researchers report in the journal Geology. Bone marrow is the tissue that fills the centre of large bones, acting as a factory for producing new platelets and red and white blood cells. It contains two types of cells: haematopoietic (which can produce blood cells) and stromal (which can produce fat, cartilage and bo</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ne). The ancient bone marrow was preserved in 3D, retaining the original texture and red and yellow colour of haematopoietic and fatty marrow. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">"Finding soft tissue like this is so important because it gives an insight into the physiology of ancient organisms, and how their bodies worked," said team member Maria McNamara of University College Dublin,"The fact that we've got red bone marrow in the salamander shows that their blood cells were produced in the bone marrow; in the modern salamander it is not, it is produced in the spleen."<br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">The frogs and salamanders were foun</span><span style="font-size:85%;">d in a fossil-rich deposit dating back to the Miocene Epoch, the period of time that extends from about 5.3 to 23 million years ago. Ms McNamara, and colleagues in the UK, Spain and US, say the bone marrow was preser</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ved because the bones acted as a protective shell, preventing microbes from invading and breaking the soft tissue down.<br /></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">They believe many other examples of preserved bone marrow will be found, raising the possibility of investigating the proteins and DNA of prehistoric animals. "It is very exciting because with this organic material we can look for traces of organic molecules, protein and possibly even DNA," the Dublin researcher said, "There are potentially a lot more of these types of tissue preserved and much more chance for other palaeontologists to find protein and DNA." </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">The discovery of traces of ancient soft tissue has proved controversial in the past. Many finds have turned out to be little more than mineral deposits. Last year, US researchers extracted some flexible filaments that resembled blood vessels from dinosau</span><span style="font-size:85%;">r bone. They also found traces of what look liked red blood cells. The bone belonged to a <i>Tyrannosaurus rex</i> specimen that was at least 65 million years old<span style="font-weight: bold;">.<br /><br /></span></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115393296146337745?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1153884192075512602006-07-25T21:06:00.000-05:002006-08-03T23:28:15.660-05:00<span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >New ramble. =-) Reports of typos or scientific inaccuracies in the comment section are appreciated. Vielen Dank zu alle.<br /><br />Perhaps the most common misconception of evolutionary theory w</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >ould</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" > be that evolution is not a case of continual progression from primitive organism to advanced organism. It is not a ladder. Rather, the evolution and eventually speciation of living thin</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >gs is --and</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" > should be viewed as-- more of a tree with multiple branches. Evolution is not a matter of chance in an organism until it reaches perfection. </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >The most commonly known imagery of this </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >misconception is the unfortunate prim</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >ate to human illustration.<br /><br /></span> <div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bible.ca/tracks/ape-man-line-up.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.bible.ca/tracks/ape-man-line-up.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">The common and incorrect dipiction of chi</span><span style="font-size:85%;">mp to</span> man.<br /></div> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/wrong%20human%20phylogeny.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/wrong%20human%20phylogeny.gif" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">The correct depiction of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Homo sapiens'</span> evolutionary lineage<br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;" >Evolution occurs when it becomes vital that an organism adapt to its chang</span><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;" >ing surroundings. Climate changes, rivers shift their course and mountains rise and fall with erosion, new alien</span><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;" > species invade and compete with native organisms. An adaptation that evolved from one si</span><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;" >tuation or environment doesn't work as well as other traits made for another scenario. Fitness is linked to environment</span><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;" > and not to progress.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/wrong%20phylogeny.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/wrong%20phylogeny.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/not%20a%20progression.0.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/not%20a%20progression.0.png" border="0" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The correct ( left ) and incorrect phylogenies shown.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;" >The concept of perfection does not exist in the natural world. Organisms only progress and evolve to a point in which they fit comfortably into a niche within the environment. From there, they need not continue evolving but remain static in change until it is otherwise necessary. For example, taxa suc</span><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;" >h as </span><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;" >mosses, protists, fungi, sharks and crayfish have changed little over the course of geologic time. All of these living things have found a niche that has required little change over time. They are --to put it in the words of Kenneth Miller-- all winners of evolution. "The microscopic bacteria that sit on the edge of my coffee mug are just as much winners as I am." I envy Miller's choice of words.</span><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;" ></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/punk%20eek%202.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/punk%20eek%202.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;" >Punctuated equilibrium on paper<br /></span></div><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;" >Thus the reason for the concept of punctuated equilibrium. Though the highly celebrated idea was never original in context ( Darwin himself proposed the idea --see Chapter 4, page 152 of <em>The Origin</em> ), it puts in words exactly what evolution is and what it is not. Evolution occurs when necessary. Natura</span><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;" >l selection is merely a personification of environmental change that forces living organisms to adapt. Once an organism evolves to obtain a unique trait to match its needs in that environment, evolutionary change slows down. Eventually, those said organisms would need to evolve again to the physical changes in the environment. Little change <i>punctuated</i> by rapid change. Punctuated equilibrium.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;" ><br />Continuing on our reasoning for why evolution is not about obtaining perfection, let us now view the natural constraints that render any pure 'perfection' as impossible. Natural</span><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;" > selection can only operate with what is available. Thus the idea that a random characteristic of an organism can appear almost spontaneously is infeasible. The jaws of tetrapods were first originally modified from ear bo</span><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;" >nes and the first ears evolved from fish gills. If a gene for a particular trait is not in the population from mutation or gene flow, the evolution of this characteristic will not occur.</span><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/060118_ear_comparison_02.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/060118_ear_comparison_02.jpg" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;">The evolution of ears from fish gills<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;" >There is also the case of natural occurring trade offs. The evolutionary change in one trait might work for the organism better, but there is always the possibility of it negatively affecting another characteristic. I give credit to Berkeley's page on understanding evolution for the example. Cheetahs are well known for being the fastest land animal today and are capable of </span><span style="font-size:85%;">accelerations faster than a Lamborghini. Of course, the cheetah could always evolve to go faster.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Yet in order to increase speed in the species, natural selection would have two options. The cheetahs' metabolism would need over-excessive amounts of energy not easily accessible in the habitat or the leg lengths of the cheetah could increase to cover more distance but fall into the risk of having slimmer, more hazardously delicate bones. Hence, there would be no 'net increase' for the cheetah to become faster than it is now.<br /></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/cheetah.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/cheetah.jpg" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;">A <i>Acinonyx jubatus </i>( <span style="font-weight: bold;">cheetah</span> )</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> in action<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">To end this discussion on a light note, it is because evolution is not a continual, ladder-like progression that we can appreciate the vast diversity of life on Earth. It is with the ever-changing surroundings on this planet that life must continue to adapt and produce new varieties of organisms to maintain ecological balance. Darwin has perhaps put this into the most poetic of words:<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />'There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.'<br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115388419207551260?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1153789881166667412006-07-24T20:11:00.000-05:002006-07-26T12:18:23.170-05:00<span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>NOTICE:</strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><em><strong>Mute</strong></em> the blog music by clicking the stop button ( or the red 'X' ) located in your browser tool bar above. This will make it easier to hear the sounds on the video. To begin blog music again, refresh the page.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><embed src="http://youtube.com/v/7aVuFd2K55w" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="350" width="425"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Here is the publicity trailer for the newly designed "Spore." Designed by TheSims creator Will Wright, this soon-to-be-released video game apparently allows the player to recreate history as they wish. The game starts off as a microorganism, which soon can be edited to 'evolve' into any desired creature possible.<br /><br />Eventually you get to levels with a population of your little critters and can play in a similar fashion, as done in the Civilization games. I must admit that I am interested in this game. I first heard about it through a friend, and then I noticed the article for it in my latest Discover magazine. How ironic that the evolution of the creatures in “Spore” require the work of an intelligent designer.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> =-p<br /><br />I will continue to post videos and information concerning this fascinating new game.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115378988116666741?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1153863159844040182006-07-24T12:44:00.000-05:002006-07-30T22:03:00.106-05:00<span style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Creationists who study paleontology (rather unfortunately ) pride themselves in believing that they alone interpret the evidence correctly amongst evolution dogma. Yet creation ministries like the following group are too well known for their outlandish claims and judgements in the evolutionary and geologic sciences.<br /><br />It is no wonder why they avoid direct debate with serious professionals. Rarely have I seen any interaction between the two sides. It is embarrassing even for someone like me, a person of Christian faith myself. I highly suggest people read <em>Finding Darwin's God</em> by Kenneth Miller. I found it to be an excellent read.<br /><br />All quoted material is from </span><a href="http://www.creationexpeditions.org/?"><span style="font-size:85%;">Creation Expeditions</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;">:<br /><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></span><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" face="georgia"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.creationexpeditions.org/gallery/albums/WorldHeadquarters/decnl15.jpg"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.creationexpeditions.org/gallery/albums/WorldHeadquarters/decnl15.jpg" border="0" /></span></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center;font-family:georgia;" align="center" ><span style="font-size:85%;">The allosaur "Ebenezer" of </span><a href="http://www.creationexpeditions.org/?"><span style="font-size:85%;">Creation Expeditions</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center;font-family:arial;" align="center" ><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><i><span style="font-family:Georgia;">Evolutionists theorize that the </span></i><span style="font-family:Georgia;">Edmontosaurus<i> died millions of years ago, and some have recently speculated that this was a partially feathered type of dinosaur which eventually evolved into modern birds. The Creation Expedition team believes their discovery challenges such theories</i></span></b></span></p><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><i>Edmontosaurus</i> is a hadrosaurid from the uppermost Cretaceous period of North America and is far removed from the dinosaurs thought to be the predecessors of modern day aves. No serious dinosaur paleontologist has ever considered an animal like this to bear feathery integument. Aves ( birds ) are theorized to have evolved from a clade of theropods known as the Maniraptora and are thought to have first evolved in the Jurassic. Few paleos believe feathers existed outside the larger coelurosaurian clade that contains the Maniraptora.</span><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" face="arial"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/pic_edmontosaurus2.jpg"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/pic_edmontosaurus2.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><i face="georgia">Edmontosaurus </i><span style="font-family:georgia;">and</span><i style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia"> Tyrannosaurus</i></span><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;"><br />© Doug Henderson</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center;font-family:georgia;" align="center" ><b><i><span style="font-size:85%;">“Buried in the same strata with Ezekiel were evidences of animals which, by evolutionary standards, should not be there, including garfish and turtles. The deposition of the animal, the fossilization and preservation of the skin, the full articulation of the animal, and the fact that it appears to be part of a fossil graveyard, all point to the relatively recent death of Ezekiel."</span></i></b></p><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">A clich'ed argument that can be retorted by elementary students. The statement assumes that taxa ( turtles in this case ) that had evolved before the first dinosaurs should not appear ith the dinosaur fauna. This is completely illogical. It would suggest that dinosaurs were the only existant organisms during the time of burial. Most depositional environments that preserve fossils are fluvial and contain several aqueous organisms in and of themselves. If and when a dinosaur happened to die and fall into a body of water, it would likely become deposited along with any other organism that has died in those waters.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;">The preservation of other organisms in the same rock layer is nothing special, nor does it prove a recent burial event. It simply is a coincidental preservation of multiple contemporaries. Burial by other means ( like a mass flood ) would differ greatly and show signs in the strata. Also, pristine preservation doesn’t always necessarily mean fast burial. Some finely detailed fossils can be preserved when an organism dies in an anoxic lake bottom where little or no process of decay occurs. Lakes also cotain fine sediments and silt that preserve fine details in a fossil organism. Peat bogs are also generous preservatives.<br /><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;"></span><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><b><i><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;">The beautifully-preserved skull, with its magnificent crest intact, measured almost four feet in length.</span></i></b><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Edmontosaurus</i> is not known to have a crest, nor is one visibly seen on the skull obtained by the Creation Expeditions. God knows <i>what</i> the DeRosa and Lyndall families are looking at.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><i><span style="font-family:Georgia;">“It was a few days before we knew for certain what kind of a dinosaur we had discovered. But the pelvic bones gave it away. Once we found them, we knew we had some form of Hadrosaurus. It was clearly a bipedal ornithopod, not a quadruped.”</span></i></b><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family:Georgia;"></span></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>Edmontosaurus</em> was almost certainly a consistant quadruped. If there was ever a time when <em>Edmontosaurus</em> walked with only its hindlegs, it would have likely been in a sprint. Also<i>, Hadrosaurus </i>is its own genus. The correct terminology would be hadrosaurid.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><b><i><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;">Dinosaur skin is a very rare find for paleontologists. The Sternberg family found dinosaur skin samples in 1908. This was a surprising discovery for evolutionists. In the following years, two more finds of mummified dinosaurs would be attributed to the Sternbergs. The hunt for dinosaur skin has continued, about one-tenth of one percent of all dinosaurs collected have skin. If evolution were true, how could dinosaur skin survive exposed to the elements for millions of years to the present?</span></i></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><strong><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em></strong><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><o:p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://unearthingtrex.com/media/prep01_block-h/image/dsc_9208.jpg"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://unearthingtrex.com/media/prep01_block-h/image/dsc_9208.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;">Newly found skin impression from a Montana tyrannosaur</span><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;"><br />© 2004 BHIGR, Inc.</span><o:p></o:p></span></o:p></span></p><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;">Indeed, skin <i>impressions</i> are considered to be a rare discovery because it takes very fine sediment to preserve them. Fine limestone in the Solnhofen of Germany and the even finer ash and sandstones from the Liaoning are capable of preserving the <i>impressions</i> of organic materials such as the microscopic aktinofibrils of a pterosaur wing to the feather integument of non-avian theropods.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;">However, the preservation of the <i>impressions</i> of dinosaur skin do not act as a hinderance to the theory of evolution. As I've already brought up, it is not the actual membranous tissue that is preserved but the<i> impressions</i> made by that tissue.</span><span style="font-family:Georgia;"></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> The organic material would have already rotted away, but not before it left an impression in the fine sediment that would eventually become solidified by geologic pressures.</span></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115386315984404018?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1153777938463721182006-07-21T16:46:00.000-05:002006-07-26T00:00:33.876-05:00<span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>Ancient humans 'followed rains'</strong><br />By Science reporter Helen Briggs</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>Prehistoric humans roamed the world's largest desert for some 5,000 years, archaeologists have revealed. </strong>The Eastern Sahara of Egypt, Sudan, Libya and Chad was home to nomadic people who followed rains that turned the desert into grassland. When the landscape dried up about 7,000 years ago, there was a mass exodus to the Nile and other parts of Africa. The close link between human settlement and climate has lessons for today, researchers report in Science.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/The%20Sahara.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/The%20Sahara.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5192410.stm"><span style="font-size:85%;">Report from BBC News Science/Nature</span></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">"Even modern day conflicts such as Dafur are caused by environmental degradation as it has been in the past," Dr Stefan Kropelin of the University of Cologne, Germany, told the BBC News website. "The basic struggle for food, water and pasture is still a big problem in the Sahara zone. This process started thousands of years ago and has a long tradition." </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">The Eastern Sahara, which covers more than 2 million sq km, an area the size of Western Europe, is now almost uninhabited by people or animals, providing a unique window into the past. The settlers left their mark with art. Dr Kropelin and colleague Dr Rudolph Kuper pieced together the 10,000-year jigsaw of human migration and settlement; studying more than 100 archaeological sites over the course of 30 years. In the largest study of its kind, they built up a detailed picture of human evolution in the world's largest desert. They found that far from the inhospitable climate of today, the area was once semi-humid. </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Between about 14,000 and 13,000 years ago, the area was very dry. But a drastic switch in environmental conditions some 10,500 years ago brought rain and monsoon-like conditions. Nomadic human settlers moved in from the south, taking up residence beside rivers and lakes. They were hunter-gatherers at first, living off plants and wild game. Eventually they became more settled, domesticating cattle for the first time, and making intricate pottery. </span><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5192410.stm"></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115377793846372118?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1153783752227670712006-07-13T18:21:00.001-05:002006-07-27T20:46:53.516-05:00<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/1600/sue%20in%20situ%20more%20detail.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/827/1039/320/sue%20in%20situ%20more%20detail.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">© 2006 Kyle Lindsey</span></div> <div align="left"><br /><a href="http://ic3.deviantart.com/fs11/i/2006/196/6/f/Sue_in_Situ_by_Kiezel.jpg"></a><span style="font-size:85%;">The skull of the <em>Tyrannosaurus rex</em> specimen FMNH PR2081 (=BHI 2033) or 'SUE.' The cranial material is drawn in the position that it originally laid in during its preparation by Terry Wentz. The muzzle is compressed ventrally immediately following the orbits due to geologic pressures. The massive block of siltstone to the right contains pelvic elements.<br /><br />My favorite feature of this skull is the paleopathology found on the right side of the skull. Notice if you can the abnormal swelling in the postorbital, excess bone growth that fills in the bottom half of the orbital, apparent case of exostosis of the jugal and the small lump on the ventral side of the angular. I find this to be possible, if not likely evidence for a full facial bite. Ouch.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><p><span style="font-size:85%;">Original sketches were done with a General's Woodless Graphite Pencil<br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115378375222767071?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1155324926554557672006-06-23T14:31:00.000-05:002006-08-11T14:35:54.386-05:00<span style="font-size:85%;">Freaking awesome...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://scienceblogs.com/afarensis/upload/2006/06/Spider%20web.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://scienceblogs.com/afarensis/upload/2006/06/Spider%20web.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>From New Scientist:</span> <blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">Palaeontologists who found the amber sliced it into three thin sections, revealing at least 26 silk strands, some interconnected. The web is not complete enough to be firmly identified as an orb web, with a spiral strand wound on radial spokes. But Grimaldi says the fragments are consistent with orb webs. "It's a geometrically complex web, certainly not a random assortment of strands like a cobweb. It was certainly in one plane," he told New Scientist.</span></blockquote><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115532492655455767?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1150171648606139072006-06-19T23:05:00.000-05:002006-07-25T17:54:43.516-05:00<span style="font-size:85%;">A Poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2001-11-16/pols_feature-2.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2001-11-16/pols_feature-2.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">I met a traveller from an antique land</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Who said:—Two vast and trunkless legs of stone</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Tell that its sculptor well those passions read</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">And on the pedestal these words appear:</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Nothing beside remains: round the decay</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">The lone and level sands stretch far away.<br /><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115017164860613907?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1150479948522154922006-06-16T12:30:00.000-05:002006-07-24T20:49:35.363-05:00<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">China fossils fill out bird story<br /></span><a style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5085686.stm">Article from BBC New</a><a style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5085686.stm"> Science / Nature</a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Exquisite Chinese fossils support the idea that the ancestors of modern birds may have lived on water.</b></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> Five 110-million-year-old specimens of </span><span style="font-size:85%;">the grebe-like <i>Gansus yumenensis</i> are described in the journal Science.<br /><br /><br /></span><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/sci_nat_enl_1150417187/img/1.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/sci_nat_enl_1150417187/img/1.jpg" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;">Image: Mark A Klingler/CMNH<br /></span></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />The detail in their preservation, such as the bone structure and even foot webbing, indicates the animals were well adapted to an aquatic existence. Scientists say <i>Gansus</i><!-- E SF --> is the oldest known member of the group that includes modern birds. They believe this makes its story a critical one in under</span><span style="font-size:85%;">standing the evolution of avian species. </span><p><span style="font-size:85%;">"Every bird living today, from ostriches... to bald eagles, probably evolved from a <i>Gansus</i>-like ancestor," Matthew Lamanna, of Carnegie Natural History Museum in Pittsburgh, US, told a news conference on Thursday.</span></p><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Gansus yumenensis</i> was first described from a fossil leg found in 1983. The new finds, however, give scientists an almost complete view of the animal. All they lack now is an example of a skull. The specimens come from a quarry near the town of Changma, in China's Gansu Province, about 2,000km (1,200 miles) west of Beijing.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> Co-author Jerald Harris, of Dixie State College of Utah, said the animal w</span><span style="font-size:85%;">as very modern in its appearance. </span><p><span style="font-size:85%;">"If you took most of the bones in its body, including famous piece</span><span style="font-size:85%;">s like the breastbone and the wishbone, and put them next to those of a modern bird, you'd have a lot of difficulty telling them apart," he told the BBC Radio 4's Leading Edge programme. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">"<i>Gansus</i> would probably have looked very much like a grebe or a diver, or certain kinds of ducks. It had webbed feet and it had fairly powerful legs. We can tell that from looking at the bones in the knee area. This tells us it was a very well-adapted diving or swimming-type bird."<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.geotimes.org/current/gansus1.jpg"></a></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.estadao.com.br/banco/img/livre/2006/06/1222006061515060415birds.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.estadao.com.br/banco/img/livre/2006/06/1222006061515060415birds.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">According to Harris, these adaptations all demonstrate how the <i>Gansus</i>branch of the family tree, the structurally modern birds called ornithuromorphs, split from the enantiornitheans (or "opposite birds"). Enantiornitheans were among the famous feathered fossils found in northeastern China during the 1990s. The analysis implies that the line that would become modern birds left the land and became adapted to life on the water and then, at a later date, came back onto land. </span></p><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><p><span style="font-size:85%;">"At the same time that <i>Gansus</i> was around, the types of birds you have found living on land, perching in trees, belonged to a second branch of the bird evolutionary tree that went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous," he explained.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">"This is interesting because that means the lineage to modern birds had to either out-compete these birds - which we call opposite birds - for the niches of living on land, or wait for them to go extinct and then take over those niches; to come back out of the water and go back to living again on land."</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115047994852215492?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1150512385072619432006-06-13T21:31:00.000-05:002006-06-16T21:50:37.903-05:00<div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:85%;">Retired FSU professor captures a 'living fossil' on video</span></strong></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;">Public release date: 13-Jun-2006<br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-06/fsu-rfp061306.php"><span style="font-size:85%;">Full press release from EurekAlert</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.rinr.fsu.edu/rockrat/"><span style="font-size:85%;">Videos of the animal on FSU's website</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br />TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The first images of a live specimen of a small, furry animal once believed to have gone extinct more than 11 million years ago have been captured during a Southeast Asian expedition led by a retired Florida State University researcher.<br /></span></div><p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></p><span style="font-size:85%;"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/web/1193_web.jpg" border="0" /></span> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Courtesy of David Redfield</span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;">The remarkable video and photos shot by David Redfield, a professor emeritus of FSU's science education faculty, and Thai wildlife biologist Uthai Treesucon are being hailed as historic images documenting a true "living fossil," the Laotian rock rat.<br /><br />The Laotian rock rat is so called for its only known habitat -- limestone outcroppings in Central Laos -- and the appearance of the animal's head and face, which sport long whiskers and beady eyes like those of a rat. (To view photographs and video of the Laotian rock rat, visit </span><a href="http://www.rinr.fsu.edu/rockrat"><span style="font-size:85%;">www.rinr.fsu.edu/rockrat</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;">.) </span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12466010-115051238507261943?l=palaeosbios.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Kyle Lindseynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12466010.post-1150234511825982482006-06-13T16:29:00.000-05:002006-06-23T11:43:57.536-05:00<div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>Judge rules lease of land where T. rex was found is invalid</strong><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">From </span><a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/3960711.html"><span style="font-size:85%;">Chron.com</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The remains of a juvenile Tyrannosaurus </div><p align="left">rex unearthed from northwest South Dakota in 1998 eventually could be headed back to the state. A federal judge has ruled that a lease between Harding County and the team of fossil hunters that dug up the fossil, nicknamed Tinker, was invalid because it did not follow South Dakota law.<br /></p><p align="left"></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/297/8739/1024/tinker_skull.jpg" border="0" /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />Ken Barker, a Belle Fourche attorney representing Harding County, said the effect of the order is that the county owns Tinker and any other dinosaurs found on its site. "Our motion said we owned it. Their motion said they owned it," Barker said. "The judge said there was never a lease, so we, Harding County, own it."</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">But the homecoming for Tinker, 65 million years old and believed to be about 90 percent complete, is not certain. The T. rex is sitting in storage in Pennsylvania under the jurisdiction of a federal bankruptcy court after the man hired to restore the fossils filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><span style="font-size:85%;">Barker said he's filing paperwork to have the court relinquish Tinker to the county. He and Harding County State's Attorney Robert Haivala have traveled to Pennsylvania to photograph and videotape the fossil, but they have not seen the T. rex since it landed in bankruptcy court. </span><span style="font-size:85%;">"That's one of the things we're going to ask them to verify, that they're being appropriately stored in the interim," Barker said.</span><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://prehistoricsillustrated.com/images_tm/Tinker1+copy.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Copyright © of Todd Marshal</span>l</span><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">Harding County filed a federal lawsuit in August 2004 against dinosaur hunter Ron Frithiof of Austin, Texas, and several other parties. The suit alleged the team wrongfully and illegally removed the skeletal remains from county