Imagine that a “time machine” allowed you to go back in time — back exactly 64,999,995 years ago, just five years before the crash of the meteor that marked the end of the Age of the Dinosaurs. You have just enough time to do your field work, analyze your data, and write your Ph.D. dissertation. Your field work starts in the closest emerged land to the Chicxulub impact site. In no time at all you begin discovering new species of dinosaurs that are unknown from the fossil record, and you … [Read more...] about Field work during a mass extinction
Latest News
Judy Scotchmoor receives the Friend of Darwin award
The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) has awarded Judy Scotchmoor a Friend of Darwin award for her tireless commitment to evolution education. NCSE explains that the Friend of Darwin award "is presented annually to a select few whose efforts to support NCSE and advance its goal of defending the teaching of evolution in the public schools have been truly outstanding." Read more about Judy, the award, and other Friends of Darwin. … [Read more...] about Judy Scotchmoor receives the Friend of Darwin award
Cataloging the archives: Unearthing a type
This semester, one of the foci of the CLIR/UCMP Archive Project has been cataloging what are called “supplemental locality files.” These files contain materials (other than field notes) that are relevant to UCMP collections, such as polaroid pictures of fossil sites, letters of correspondence involving UCMP scientists, and environmental impact reports for land development proposed in areas with known fossil sites. As such, they are unique records of how collections came to be, and how … [Read more...] about Cataloging the archives: Unearthing a type
UCMP loses a long-time Friend and alum – Nestor John Sander
This morning I was saddened to learn that long-time Friend of UCMP, Nestor John Sander (AKA Sandy) passed away. He was nearly 98. Sandy graduated from Cal with a B.A. in paleontology in 1936 and completed his Masters in 1938. He then joined Standard Oil Company of California and was sent to Saudi Arabia the same year. There he was assigned to map the subsurface contours of a major anticlinal fold that is now the largest oil field in the world, Ghawar. This more than qualified him for an … [Read more...] about UCMP loses a long-time Friend and alum – Nestor John Sander
Bay Area Field Guide: Point Reyes
Point Reyes and the surrounding area in Marin County is a beautiful place to visit and learn about local geology, paleontology, botany and zoology. Marin County contains large outcrops of the Franciscan Complex rocks. These rocks, mostly Cretaceous in age, are a mélange of rocks that originated to the west and accreted to the California coast as the Pacific Plate subducted beneath the North American Plate. The Franciscan Complex includes metamorphics, chert, greywacke, shale and pillow basalts. … [Read more...] about Bay Area Field Guide: Point Reyes
Understanding Evolution and Understanding Science February updates
The UCMP's Understanding Evolution and Understanding Science websites have been updated for February with the following features: Evo in the News: Hybrid sharks aren't "trying" to adapt on Understanding Evolution examines the recent discovery of hybrid sharks near Australia and misconceptions about the discovery's meaning. Cells within cells: An extraordinary claim with extraordinary evidence on Understanding Science shows how an unlikely idea — that the merging of cells played a prominent … [Read more...] about Understanding Evolution and Understanding Science February updates
Paleo-cartoonist Hannah Bonner visits Berkeley
Writer and illustrator Hannah Bonner paid a visit to Berkeley on January 11 to discuss the scientific and creative processes behind her series of paleontology books for children. Born in and based out of Mallorca, Spain, Bonner received a degree in art and has since worked primarily as a freelance artist and illustrator. Her credits include creating artwork for Scholastic, WGBH, and the Smithsonian Institute. At the latter she met her UCMP host, Cindy Looy, who, along with Ivo Duijnstee, … [Read more...] about Paleo-cartoonist Hannah Bonner visits Berkeley
UCMP authors make NSF’s 2011 “Hit Parade”
The work that resulted in the Nature paper "Has the Earth's sixth mass extinction already arrived?" came in at #3 on a list of the year's top news and discoveries from NSF-supported research, as measured by NSF web visitor statistics. The paper's UCMP co-authors include Tony Barnosky, Susumu Tomiya, Brian Swartz, Charles Marshall, Emily Lindsey, Kaitlin Maguire, and Elizabeth A. Ferrer. See the complete NSF "hit parade." Read a PDF of the Nature paper. … [Read more...] about UCMP authors make NSF’s 2011 “Hit Parade”
Bay Area Field Guide: Tilden Park
I think it took us all by surprise to learn that Tilden Park contains several fossil localities and has a rich history with the UCMP. Don Savage, a former professor of paleontology and past chair of the Department of Paleontology at Cal, found a gomphothere jaw by Inspiration Point off Nimitz Way in 1961 and John C. Merriam collected the type specimen of Eucastor lecontei from deposits near Vomer Peak. Underlying the beautiful rolling hills of the park are terrestrial deposits of the Miocene. … [Read more...] about Bay Area Field Guide: Tilden Park
The Amber Files: Words from the University Explorer
"More than 300 years ago, Sir Francis Bacon spoke of amber as 'a more than royal tomb' for tiny insects. Twentieth century scientists may quite agree." But how do insects end up as amber fossils? What else is found in amber? How are these amber fossils prepared for study? The answers to these questions can be found in one of the hidden collections of UCMP's archives — the 1561st broadcast of "The University Explorer." This show was narrated by Hale Sparks, former head of broadcasting … [Read more...] about The Amber Files: Words from the University Explorer
Jere Lipps appointed as Director of The Cooper Center in Orange County
Becoming emeritus usually means an opportunity to slow things down a bit, but that has certainly not been the case for UCMP curators Jim Valentine, Bill Clemens, or Carole Hickman by any means. But starting a new job? Well, welcome to "retirement" defined by Jere Lipps! Jere has just accepted the position of Director of Orange County's John D. Cooper Center for Archaeological and Paleontological Curation and Research. The Cooper Center is a partnership between O.C. Parks and California State … [Read more...] about Jere Lipps appointed as Director of The Cooper Center in Orange County
Relicts of the Bug-men
What are bug-men and how did their existence benefit UCMP? Watch and listen to this slideshow about an obscure link recently discovered by UCMP micropaleontologist Ken Finger. Click cover page below to download the full article. … [Read more...] about Relicts of the Bug-men
Leslea Hlusko one of eleven UC Berkeley faculty named as AAAS Fellows
Congratulations to Leslea Hlusko, UCMP curator and Professor of Integrative Biology, on her selection as a 2011 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Leslea received this recognition for her distinguished contributions to the study of primate evolutionary biology, especially in relation to the integration of genetics and the fossil record. The list of fellows, released Tuesday, Dec. 6, by the AAAS, will appear in the Dec. 23 issue of Science. For more on … [Read more...] about Leslea Hlusko one of eleven UC Berkeley faculty named as AAAS Fellows
NeoMap: An important step toward answering macro-scale questions
In science we are often confined to studying processes that occur on local scales. This is a natural place to begin and there is great value in understanding local events and processes, but the ultimate goal, at least in my mind, is to synthesize all these smaller snapshots of how living things interact and respond to their environments into a cohesive, whole-world portrait. This kind of comprehensive understanding is particularly important in light of global climate change, which demands that … [Read more...] about NeoMap: An important step toward answering macro-scale questions
The Amber Files
Unbeknownst to some, UCMP is home to a large collection of amber-encased insect specimens. While some of the most famous amber fossils come from the region south of the Baltic Sea, the majority of UCMP’s amber collection hails from the Chiapas region of Mexico, illuminating never before captured environments of the Western Hemisphere. Spanning nearly two decades from the mid-1950s through the 1970s, efforts to collect and study these specimens were spearheaded through collaboration between the … [Read more...] about The Amber Files
The Proboscidea are here!
Grad student Kaitlin Maguire has researched and written a new feature on the Proboscidea — elephants and their relatives — for the UCMP website. This endeavor grew out of her recent work as a consultant on a 2011 exhibit at the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum. The exhibit focused on Lupé, the mammoth whose bones were discovered along the Guadalupe River in 2005. UCMP staff and students excavated the bones soon after the discovery. Kaitlin's primary research interest is in "… understanding … [Read more...] about The Proboscidea are here!
The eternal value of Natural History and the dazzling molecular promise
The advent of highly efficient and low cost sequencing techniques along with increased computing power have been important catalysts for the massive generation of genomic data (Davey et al., 2011). In parallel have come studies of gene expression and regulation, each of which has earned its own field such as "trancriptomics," "proteomics," "metabolomics," etc. (Zhou et al., 2011). In addition, the combination of these disciplines with ideas associated with graph theory has produced a new area of … [Read more...] about The eternal value of Natural History and the dazzling molecular promise
Cal Day 2011 Highlights!
Interested in learning more about fossils and what they can tell us about the history of life and how they inform our understanding of biodiversity and climate change? Well you're in luck! Just join us for Cal Day! Every April the UCMP and the entire campus is open to the public to engage with UC Berkeley's ongoing research. Check out the events during the 2011 Cal Day in the video below and be inspired to join us next year, April 21, 2012! … [Read more...] about Cal Day 2011 Highlights!
UCMP at the Bay Area Science Festival
UCMP joined the other Berkeley Natural History Museums, the Space Science Lab, Departments of Physics and Chemistry, SynBERG, nanotechnology experts, and a host of other science units as part of the campus-wide participation in the first annual Bay Area Science Festival – a 10 day celebration of science extending from San Jose to Santa Rosa! Dave Lindberg gave a great talk on The History of Kelp Forests: Global and Local Surprises at the November East Bay Science Café and Rosemary Romero … [Read more...] about UCMP at the Bay Area Science Festival
UCMP at the 71st Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology
The 71st Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology took place November 2-5 in the Paris Las Vegas Hotel on the dazzling Vegas strip, and UCMP's usual presence was as strong as ever. At least 18 Berkeley faculty, staff, graduate students, and undergraduates presented talks or contributed to posters highlighting the range of work UCMP and affiliates accomplish, from bird development to biogeography, ecosystem conservation to dinosaur histology. In case you missed out on all the … [Read more...] about UCMP at the 71st Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology