Glyptocrinus decadactylus Crinoid Calyx Fossil

 

This picture is of a crinoid calyx fossil called Glyptocrinus decadactylus (Hall, 1847). Picture was taken in 2016 at Indiana University Department of Geology. The fossil dates to the Ordovician Period and was found in the Alger Formation of Ohio, USA. Thanks to Kenny for the picture.

Coralliochama orcutti Bivalve Fossil

 

This picture is of a rudist bivalve fossil called Coralliochama orcutti (White, 1885). Picture was taken in 2016 at Indiana University Department of Geology. The fossil dates to the Upper Cretaceous Period and was found in the Rosario Formation of Punta Banda, Baja California, Mexico. Thanks to Kenny for the picture.

Scytalocrinus robustus Crinoid Fossil

 

This picture is of a crinoid calyx fossil called Scytalocrinus robustus (Hall, 1861). Picture was taken in 2016 at Indiana University Department of Geology. The fossil dates to the Middle Mississippian Period and was found in Crawfordsville, Indiana USA (Edwardsville formation; Valmeyeran series). Thanks to Kenny for the picture.

Astraeospongium meniscus Fossil

 

This picture is of a heteractinid sponge fossil called Astraeospongium meniscus (Römer, 1854). Picture was taken in 2016 at Indiana University Department of Geology. The fossil dates to the Middle Silurian Period and was found in western Tennessee. Thanks to Kenny for the picture.

Museum Fire

National Museum of Brazil on fire 2018-09-02
Photo by Felipe Milanez on Wikipedia Commons

Sad news in that the 200 year old National Museum of Brazil caught fire on September 2, 2018. The museum has over 20 million items in its archive including geological and fossil specimens. Hopefully, they had some digital records and images of the important items in the collection. This is the reason I am such a big proponent of digitizing collections in case something like this happens. Unfortunately, this museum suffered from funding issues which appears why they did not have a sprinkler system so I am guessing no budget for digital records either.

Indiana University Science Hall erected 1874 burned down 1883

Locally, Indiana lost quite a large collection of books and specimens in an 1883 fire. Indiana University had a 3 story building burn down due to a lightning strike. The building housed 14,000 volumes and 85,000 specimens in Owen Cabinet (named for geologists Richard and David Dale Owen). Learn more about this fire at this link. Oddly, a partial skeleton of a giant ground sloth Megalonyx jeffersonii survived but where it is today is not known (except for four of its bones ended up in the Indiana State Museum). Learn more at this link.

Indiana University Department of Geology Lecture Room circa 1904

Moment of Science Podcast

While listening to the local public radio station WFPL recently, I heard a short audio segment called A Moment of Science. The show is a production of Indiana public media which is a producer and distributor of created content by Indiana University's WFIU public radio and WTIU public television. An archive of shows going back to 2003 are available for listening and reading on their web site.

Picture is of a Dracorex hogwartsia on display at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. This dinosaur is discussed in the podcast (see link further down) about naming new dinosaur species. It is now thought to be a juvenile Pachycephalosaurus.

Here are links to the audio episodes of paleontological interest:

How Do Scientists Figure Out If A Dinosaur Is A New Species? (November 22, 2011)

Why Did The Stegoceras Dinosaur Have A Domed Head? (October 24, 2011)

Using X-Rays To Find The Color Of Fossilized Skin And Feathers (October 18, 2011)

Was Dinosaur "Sue" A Boy? (August 12, 2011)

Uncovering An Even Taller T.Rex (And Others!) (October 4, 2010)

A World Full of Dinosaurs (December 19, 2006)

Dinosaur Cancer (December 16, 2009)

Prehistoric Runways (November 30, 2009)

Isty-bitsy Dinosaurs? (February 25, 2009)

A Whale of Evolution (April 29, 2008)

Pregnant Teenage Dinosaurs (March 4, 2008)

Extinction by Volcano? (February 12, 2008)

Cloning T-Rex: The Difficulty With Cloning Dinosaurs (June 12, 2007)

The First Flowers (October 31, 2006)

Dinosaur Turkey! (October 18, 2006)

Plesiosaurs (September 5, 2006)

Dinosaur photo by Michael Popp.

Indiana University Press Spring SALE!

Thanks to the blog Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs for the notice about Indiana University Press spring/summer book sale with some books marked down 80% with free U.S. ground shipping for orders of $25 or more.  Enter code WWEZXX at checkout to receive discounts, quantities limited and sale ends 06/30/2010.

I like Echinoderm Paleobiology for $36 and Oceans of Kansas for $24.  If you like dinosaurs, they have quite a few books on sale.

Books of interest Limestone Lives - Voices from the Indiana Stone Belt by Katherine Ferrucci at $21 and This Place We Call Home - A History of Clark County, Indiana by Carl E. Kramer at $21.