Fluorescent Mineral Video

UPDATE (November 2013): The web sites seems to have changed the location of the embedded video here is a link if above does not work: http://sciencefriday.com/blogs/10/24/2011/mineral-madness.html
Science Friday on NPR posted a very informative yet brief video about the minerals at Franklin, New Jersey. When it comes to shortwave ultraviolet fluorescent minerals, it is hard to top those found in Franklin/Sterling Hill, New Jersey. It is fun taking pictures of these minerals when lit up with ultraviolet light.

CLICK HERE for link to The Franklin Mineral Museum

CLICK HERE for link to The Sterling Hill Mining Museum

Here are some more pictures of a friend's mineral from that area. It is for sale if any one is interested.  Note you need a shortwave ultraviolet light to view the fluorescent colors.

Brown Puff Ball Fossil

Not sure what this is, thought it might be some sort of crinoid calyx but cannot find where the stem attached.  Reminds me of a brownish dinner roll or slightly deflated doughnut hole.  It is about 2 cm wide and 1 cm tall embedded in matrix with a lot of Cryptolithus trilobite pieces.  The brown material might be argonite.  Matrix is the Kope Formation of the Ordovician period found in Carroll County, Kentucky.

Also included is a picture of a fragment of an Ambonychia clam fossil located on the same matrix block as this mystery fossil.

Finding Your Inner Fish Lecture

The University of Cincinnati Department of Geology and the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History & Science Insights Lecture Series present "Finding Your Inner Fish" with lecturer Neil H. Shubin, Ph.D. Dr. Shubin is Paleontologist and Professor of Anatomy at the University of Chicago and Provost, The Field Museum. He will talk about is discovery of the Tiktaalik roseae animal. It has been dubbed the "missing link" between land animals and fish.

Holotype copy of Tiktaalik roseae in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Photo by Eduard Solà from Wikipedia
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

This event happens May 19, 2011 (Thursday) in the Reakirt Auditorium at the Cincinnati Museum. A reception will be held at 6 PM EST with viewing of the Tiktaalik roseae followed by a lecture at 7:30 PM. Dr. Shubin will have a signing at 9 PM for his book Your Inner Fish: A Journey Through the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body (Pantheon Press). Learn more at amazon.com

ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!

Directions to the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History and Science can be found here: http://www.cincymuseum.org/information_center/hours_admissions_directions/