UCMP and Department of Integrative Biology graduate student Tesla Monson, a second-year graduate student in the Hlusko Lab, is the host of a new talk show, The Graduates, on KALX Berkeley, kalx.berkeley.edu! KALX is a UC Berkeley and listener-supported independent radio station and an ideal platform for The Graduates, a show featuring Tesla interviewing UCB graduate students about their research. Debuting on Tuesday, April 8, at 9:00am, The Graduates will air every other Tuesday, from 9:00 am … [Read more...] about Following The Graduates on KALX Berkeley
Latest News
The geology and paleontology of the Caldecott Tunnel’s Fourth Bore
The fourth bore of the Caldecott Tunnel opened to traffic on November 16, 2013, and if you're an East Bay resident, chances are good that you've been through it once or twice (at least!). Did you realize that each time you drive through the tunnel you're passing through several million years of accumulated sediment that has been pushed up on its side? Want to know more about the rocks the tunnel cuts through and the fossils found in them? As part of an agreement between UCMP and the California … [Read more...] about The geology and paleontology of the Caldecott Tunnel’s Fourth Bore
Erica, PaleoPortal, and the National Fossil Day connection
Before coming to UCMP, Erica Clites — currently working on an NSF-funded project to rehouse and digitally image the orphaned USGS Menlo Park invertebrate collection out at the Regatta facility in Richmond — spent about two and a half years with the National Park Service. In 2010 she coordinated a nationwide outreach effort for the first NPS-sponsored National Fossil Day, which was held on October 16th this year. Read an interview with Erica about her work with the NPS on the Park … [Read more...] about Erica, PaleoPortal, and the National Fossil Day connection
Who lived here before the Giants?
For the third consecutive year, UCMP participated in the Bay Area Science Festival at AT&T Park as one of several Science@Cal exhibitors. The November 2, 2013, festival drew more than 28,000 science fans and Lisa White, Tripti Bhattacharya, and volunteer CJ Dunford staffed a UCMP table. With a theme of "Who lived here before the Giants?," the UCMP fossil display and activities were a big hit with the little fans! … [Read more...] about Who lived here before the Giants?
The 2014 UCMP Fossil Treasures Calendar is now available
Examples of the scientific illustrator's art Early this past year, as UCMP continued its efforts to catalog the museum's archival collections, a small collection of original scientific illustrations were rediscovered. These pieces represent the work of a number of talented scientific illustrators who produced images for the publications of UCMP curators, staff, and students between the years 1934 and 1991. All who saw these works were impressed by the skill, patience, and steady hand required … [Read more...] about The 2014 UCMP Fossil Treasures Calendar is now available
Encounters in the field: UCMP and the US Geological Survey
Hundreds of specimens from the former USGS Menlo Park Collection, now housed in the UC Museum of Paleontology, were collected in the pioneering days of geological and paleontological exploration of California. This includes fossils collected by Charles A. White, Timothy W. Stanton, Joseph S. Diller and other legendary figures at the US Geological Survey. The newly founded Department of Paleontology at UC Berkeley also led numerous expeditions and excavations of vertebrates in California in the … [Read more...] about Encounters in the field: UCMP and the US Geological Survey
Werning co-authors paper on growth in Parasaurolophus
Recent Ph.D. grad Sarah Werning, now in a postdoctoral position at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, was a major contributor to a paper released today on ontogeny in Parasaurolophus, a Cretaceous hadrosaurid dinosaur notable for the hollow, bony tube on its skull. The study centers around a remarkable skeleton of a baby Parasaurolophus (nicknamed "Joe") discovered in 2009 by Kevin Terris, a student at The Webb Schools in Claremont, California, in exposures of the … [Read more...] about Werning co-authors paper on growth in Parasaurolophus
UCMP hosts phylogenies and fossils workshop
On September 23-25, 2013, the UCMP hosted a workshop on Integrating Molecular Phylogenies and the Fossil Record supported by the France-Berkeley Fund. Led by UCMP Director Charles Marshall and Hélène Morlon from École Polytechnique in France, the workshop brought together leading researchers who are developing methods for inferring diversity dynamics using molecular phylogenies or fossil data. The gathering of approximately 25 people included UC Berkeley faculty and UCMP graduate students and … [Read more...] about UCMP hosts phylogenies and fossils workshop
A trip to New Mexico
Why New Mexico? Like someone else put it "it ain't new and it sure ain't Mexico!" So why make the trek? To attend the Carboniferous-Permian Transition Meeting! Five members of the Looy Lab piled into a van and drove all the way from Berkeley to Albuquerque. With the enormous number of meetings and conferences being organized, why did we decide to go to this particular one? I think there is a checklist that most people go over before they decide on which conference to attend. In random … [Read more...] about A trip to New Mexico
A whale of a find
The upper Miocene-Pliocene Purisima Formation near Capitola, California, is well known among avid fossil collectors and popular with beachcombers. While this seaside shallow marine deposit contains rich assemblages of clams, snails and other invertebrates, fossil vertebrates such as whales, fishes, and birds are the most prized. Happily this is a case in which amateurs and scientists have often partnered to exchange fossils and report findings. Fossil hunters Frank Perry, Stan Jarocki, and … [Read more...] about A whale of a find
Understanding Science is now in Portuguese
Você fala português? If so, you’ll be pleased to learn about Understanding Science’s new Portuguese translation, led by Unversidade de Lisboa Principal Researcher Nuno P. Barradas and his team. Nuno and colleagues recently promoted Understanding Science in Portuguese at a community science event in the town of Estremoz, east of Lisbon. Science on the Streets was organized by Portugal’s national agency for public awareness of science, Ciência Viva ("Living Science"), and the Understanding … [Read more...] about Understanding Science is now in Portuguese
Cataloging the archives: Paleontology specimen exchange
How do natural history museums build their collections? The UCMP's fossil collection is largely a product of decades of field work by past and present researchers. As the State's fossil repository, the museum also receives a large number of fossil finds from construction sites in California (for example, the Caldecott Tunnel). Another, perhaps less appreciated means of acquiring scientifically valuable specimens, is specimen exchange between institutions — it's a bit like a holiday gift exchange … [Read more...] about Cataloging the archives: Paleontology specimen exchange
Barnosky interviewed about climate change
Tony Barnosky, UCMP Curator and Professor of Integrative Biology, discussed a consensus statement to world leaders regarding global change, Maintaining Humanity's Life Support Systems in the 21st Century, this past week in an interview by KQED Science Editor Craig Miller. Barnosky has been working with the California Office of the Governor to promote science-based solutions to global change problems. With 15 other global change scientists he developed the scientific consensus statement, which … [Read more...] about Barnosky interviewed about climate change
Pollen may help solve the mystery of why a pre-Columbian city in Mexico was abandoned
My research focuses on the Holocene geological time period, the last 10,000 years of Earth history. An accurate picture of past climate can help us understand the relationship between past environmental change and ancient societies. In this post, I describe how my summer fieldwork and my broader dissertation project link summer rainfall, microscopic grains of pollen, and an ancient city in Mexico. The pre-Columbian city of Cantona is an impressive sight, even today. Located near the border of … [Read more...] about Pollen may help solve the mystery of why a pre-Columbian city in Mexico was abandoned
Engaging the next generation of geoscientists
Most Earth scientists have vivid memories of their first geological field trip, but how many can say their first experience was as a high school student on a trip led by 15 professors, professional scientists, and college students? Thirty lucky students from the Bay Area, El Paso, and New Orleans were selected to participate in a ten-day, geology-of-California field trip that started along the San Andreas Fault at Pt. Reyes National Seashore and ended at Yosemite National Park. Led by UCMP … [Read more...] about Engaging the next generation of geoscientists
Fossil bridging with the Girl Scouts
What Bay Area event brings together 5,000 eager girls, 50 exhibitors and a walk across the Golden Gate Bridge? Girl Scout Bridging! On Saturday, May 11, Lisa White, UCMP Director of Education and Public Programs, and Erica Clites, Museum Scientist, attended the annual Girl Scout event at Crissy Field in the Presidio of San Francisco. The Bridging is a symbolic event recognizing the transition from the Junior level of Girl Scouting to Cadette, and the girls — representing troops throughout … [Read more...] about Fossil bridging with the Girl Scouts
Marshall shows terrestrial mammal extinction due to Red Queen with new work published in Science
By studying 19 groups of Cenozoic mammals Charles Marshall and Tiago Quental tested and confirmed the Red Queen hypothesis. Red Queen is the hypothesis that states that groups must continue to adapt and evolve in response to their environments in order to survive. It's not just extinction events that threaten groups--it's also low rates of origination of new species. The new research (published in Science) shows that these mammal groups have experienced diversity declines in part due to their … [Read more...] about Marshall shows terrestrial mammal extinction due to Red Queen with new work published in Science
Warmer climates can lead to big lizards
Pat Holroyd and co-authors describe a new species of giant lizard in the latest issue of Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The fossil jaw bones of this lizard have been in the UCMP collection since the 1970s, but it took a while for them to be recognized as something special. The specimens are from an herbivorous lizard that lived in the warm climate of Asia 40 million years ago. Dubbed Barbaturex morrisoni, this lizard was much bigger than the largest herbivorous lizards alive today. The … [Read more...] about Warmer climates can lead to big lizards
Reports from Regatta: T.W. Stanton, prominent contributor to the USGS Invertebrate Collection
In the orphaned U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Menlo Park Invertebrate Collection, now housed in the UC Museum of Paleontology’s off-campus collections space in the Regatta Building, the work of prominent USGS collectors stands out. One of these dedicated and proficient invertebrate paleontologists was Timothy William Stanton, who amassed collections from over 100 localities, authored monographic research papers, and wrote more than 600 technical reports evaluating the age of collected … [Read more...] about Reports from Regatta: T.W. Stanton, prominent contributor to the USGS Invertebrate Collection
Small discoveries from the Caldecott Tunnel Project
Some of the most interesting fossils a paleontologist can find in the field are not necessarily the biggest. During construction of the fourth bore of the Caldecott Tunnel, scientists working with the California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) collected micro-vertebrate fossils, including teeth, jaws and even toes of small animals such as rodents and amphibians. Sediment thought to contain potential fossils was washed through mesh screens, and the remaining material was carefully … [Read more...] about Small discoveries from the Caldecott Tunnel Project