On November 1, UCMP participated in Discovery Days at AT&T Park, the closing event of the annual Bay Area Science Festival. The museum has been a Science@Cal exhibitor at the Festival for four years running. This year, over 30,000 people enjoyed 200 free activities and exhibits at the Festival, a “science extravaganza.” The Festival is meant to entertain and inspire; it’s where visitors can unleash their inner scientist. … [Read more...] about UCMP participates in the Bay Area Science Festival for fourth straight year
Latest News
UCMP curator and Integrative Biology professor keeps attention focused on climate change and mass extinction
On November 30, the Smithsonian Channel will air the film Mass Extinction: Life at the Brink featuring UC Berkeley researchers Walter and Luis Alvarez, as well as UCMP’s Tony Barnosky; and Stanford University’s Elizabeth Hadly and Jon Payne. The film describes what we know about the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, how we know it, and how the Cretaceous-Paleogene and end-Permian mass extinctions relate to our present extinction crisis. Learn more at smithsonianchannel.com and … [Read more...] about UCMP curator and Integrative Biology professor keeps attention focused on climate change and mass extinction
UCMP expertise tapped for new KQED e-book series on climate change
KQED partnered with UCMP and Stanford University’s Precourt Institute for Energy to produce a four-part e-book series entitled Clue into Climate. Lisa White, UCMP’s Assistant Director for Education and Public Programs, says “These new e-books bring climate research to life and create greater access to information about climate and global environmental change in an easy to understand package.” The e-books explore the topic through a blend of high-quality media, interactive graphics and … [Read more...] about UCMP expertise tapped for new KQED e-book series on climate change
UCMP expands its Homecoming Weekend program
In previous years, UCMP’s involvement with UC Berkeley’s Homecoming Weekend was limited to a single tour of the collections (normally closed to the public), but this year, the museum decided to expand on that and offer something a little different for its Friends and donors. On Friday, October 10, Assistant Director for Collections and Research Mark Goodwin started things off with his annual tour of the collections, but that was followed by an afternoon lecture by UCMP Curator and Integrative … [Read more...] about UCMP expands its Homecoming Weekend program
The 2015 UCMP Fossil Treasures Calendar now available
UCMP and the development of the ichthyosaur quarry at Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park The focus for the 2015 calendar became Nevada’s Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park when a trove of 35 mm slides and black & white prints chronicling the development of the ichthyosaur quarry was found in the museum archives. These images, from the Charles L. Camp Papers, dominate the calendar, however, there are also slides from the collections of Sam Welles and Joe Gregory, images from the Huff family archives, … [Read more...] about The 2015 UCMP Fossil Treasures Calendar now available
Air-breathing snails, old and new
The UC Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) is home to more than five million invertebrate fossil specimens, a majority of them being marine in origin. While rehousing the US Geological Survey’s Menlo Park collections, I came across specimens of Actinella, a genus of terrestrial gastropod. The earliest known air-breathing gastropods in the fossil record appeared during the Carboniferous Period, Carboniferous being a reference to the abundant coal deposits formed at this time, 359 to 299 million years … [Read more...] about Air-breathing snails, old and new
New UCMP grant to curate the Pleistocene-Holocene McKittrick tarpit fossil collection
UCMP is pleased to announce the award of a new $149,713 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to curate, rehouse, and capture digital images of the important Pleistocene-Holocene McKittrick tarpit fossil collection from Kern County, California. The McKittrick tarpits were excavated by Cal scientists in the 1930s and yielded thousands of bones of extinct and extant mammals, birds, and reptiles. The area was eventually designated a California State Historical Landmark due to the … [Read more...] about New UCMP grant to curate the Pleistocene-Holocene McKittrick tarpit fossil collection
Paleontological field work and nuclear testing
In the mid to late 1950s, Charles L. Camp, Professor in the Department of Paleontology and former Director of UCMP (1930-1949), spent his summers working at what would later become Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park, about 55 miles north of Tonopah, Nevada, and 150 miles northwest of Yucca Flat at the Nevada Test Site. Beginning in 1951 and ending in 1992, the United States did extensive nuclear testing at Yucca Flat. There were 739 tests conducted there, resulting in Yucca Flat being called “the … [Read more...] about Paleontological field work and nuclear testing
New fossil footprint exhibit debuts online
Visit the new UCMP/University of Colorado online exhibit on fossil tracks! It is fascinating to consider that fossil footprints and trackways offer direct physical evidence that ancient animals passed through an area long ago. However, these trace fossils also provide important clues that shed light on several aspects of paleobiology, such as anatomy, locomotion patterns, behavior, and footprint preservation. The website provides basic information about the preservation of fossil tracks, how … [Read more...] about New fossil footprint exhibit debuts online
Global change consensus statement having a global impact
Over a year ago in a May 30, 2013, blog post, we reported on Professor of Integrative Biology and UCMP curator Tony Barnosky’s presentation to Governor Jerry Brown of a statement about global environmental problems and what people must do to ensure the health of the planet. That statement was written at Brown’s request after the Governor had heard about a Nature paper that Barnosky had coauthored with his wife, Stanford professor of Biology and UCMP research associate Elizabeth Hadly, and … [Read more...] about Global change consensus statement having a global impact
Making the Earth sciences engaging and relevant for broader communities
Historically, paleontology has been a male-dominated field. Over the past few decades, more and more women have entered the field, but female African-American paleontologists remain a rarity. Lisa White, UCMP’s Assistant Director of Education and Public Programs, is one of these rare women. She spent 22 years as a faculty member at San Francisco State University and held the titles of Professor and Associate Dean when she came to Berkeley in 2012. White was profiled recently in California, UC … [Read more...] about Making the Earth sciences engaging and relevant for broader communities
Flash! Grad student discovers how Ctenoides ales, the “disco clam,” flashes
Back in 2010, while diving in Indonesia, Lindsey Dougherty first witnessed the flashing behavior of the so-called “electric clam” or “disco clam,” Ctenoides ales. She decided then and there that the focus of her Ph.D. would be the study of these fascinating bivalve mollusks. Now, four years later, Dougherty reports in the British Journal of the Royal Society Interface just how the flashing works. A nice description of the mechanism and a video showing the flashing behavior is provided in … [Read more...] about Flash! Grad student discovers how Ctenoides ales, the “disco clam,” flashes
75-year-old sculptures by William Gordon Huff relocated
For the past three years or so I have been researching the life of sculptor William Gordon Huff. Never heard of him? That’s not too surprising since he didn’t have gallery shows and, to my knowledge, no major museum has examples of his work. But, if you do any traveling in California, there’s a good chance that you’ve seen Huff’s work without even knowing it, because most of his sculpture was public art, primarily in the form of bronze bas reliefs for historical plaques. Huff’s plaques can be … [Read more...] about 75-year-old sculptures by William Gordon Huff relocated
Where have all the mammoths gone? And why do we care?
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Africa? Probably a lot of big animals, right? Elephants and lions, zebras and cheetahs, hippos and rhinos, giraffes, and enormous herds of wildebeest moving across the savannah. Well, what a lot of people don’t realize is that for most of the past 50 million years, most of the world looked a lot like Africa! Not that long ago, Europe, Asia, and North and South America all hosted relatives of elephants, zebras, and lions inhabiting … [Read more...] about Where have all the mammoths gone? And why do we care?
Mighty microbes implicated in Permian mass extinction
Ninety-six percent of marine and 70% of terrestrial species died in the Permian mass extinction, which began about 252 million years ago and lasted for over 20,000 years. Geochemistry tells us that this extinction coincided with a severe and rapid change in the Earth’s carbon cycle, but this alone could not have been the cause of the extinction. Initially it was thought that carbon dioxide released by Siberian volcanism explained this change in the carbon cycle but the volcanic outgassing was … [Read more...] about Mighty microbes implicated in Permian mass extinction
Tracking down ammonites in the Denver, Colorado, area
In July 2013, I visited the Denver, Colorado, area to collect data from two collections housed at United States Geological Survey (USGS) facilities and the University of Colorado (CU) Museum of Natural History. The USGS collections are housed in the Core Research Center on the Denver Federal Center campus. The building is also a repository for a large collection of soil samples and approximately 1.7 million feet of drilled rock, sediment, and ice cores. The Museum of Natural History is … [Read more...] about Tracking down ammonites in the Denver, Colorado, area
Examining morphologic variation in varanid skulls through time and space
As a graduate student affiliated with the UCMP, there are many resources readily available to me. Not only does the museum have the largest university research collection, but the curators, museum scientists, and staff are some of the most knowledgeable and helpful anywhere. UCMP is recognized for taking care of its graduate students, and one of the ways they do it is by providing multiple funding opportunities. I applied to UCMP for funding last year in order to conduct museum travel for my … [Read more...] about Examining morphologic variation in varanid skulls through time and space
California pollen taphonomy and pollen trap study in Clear Lake, California
Pollen analysis (or palynology) has been used to study Quaternary changes in vegetation and climate in North America since the nineteenth century. Palynologists generally compare plant assemblages in spatial-time frames instead of focusing on particular plant species. These changes in plant assemblages across landscapes through time are a good indication of vegetation shifts caused by environmental changes. Besides using pollen assemblages to reconstruct parent plant communities in a particular … [Read more...] about California pollen taphonomy and pollen trap study in Clear Lake, California
The hunt for a Ph.D. thesis: Collecting Late Cretaceous plant fossils in New Mexico
"It ain't Mexico and it ain't new" [quoted from a postcard in a gift shop] Armed with hammers, chisels, pry-bars, boxes of newspaper, and sunscreen, two trusty assistants (recent graduate Meriel Melendrez and current undergrad Nicolas Locatelli) and I drove from Berkeley in our 4WD extra-long SUV heading for southern New Mexico. There, we met up with paleobotanist Dr. Gary Upchurch and crew from Texas State University and geologist Dr. Greg Mack from New Mexico State University for two weeks of … [Read more...] about The hunt for a Ph.D. thesis: Collecting Late Cretaceous plant fossils in New Mexico
Waterlogged wood on the seafloor and the critters that call it home
For a marine biologist, I spend a lot of time thinking about wood. What happens to it if it happens to wash into a stream? How much of it gets into the ocean? Where does it sink? What happens to it once it reaches the bottom? What animals are likely to make it their home? I’m far from the first to think about the role of wood in ocean systems. In fact, Darwin thought quite a bit about how plant material might make its way into the ocean and how long different kinds of wood might stay afloat … [Read more...] about Waterlogged wood on the seafloor and the critters that call it home