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.

Pentamerus nysius Brachiopod

 A Pentamerus nysius brachiopod found in the Niagaran layer of Jefferson County, Kentucky. This fossil is one of the larger brachiopods found in the area. This Silurian Period creature tended to fossilize together. Thanks to Kenny for extracting it.

The Camouflaged Fossil

So I am out in the field and picking up limestone plates that contain sections of Archimedes bryozoan like the one shown in this picture.  One hopes to find Fenestella attached to the outer grove edges of the Archimedes that will be preserved in the plate. For the most part, it is just the screw part that is found.
This posting is about camouflaged fossils and when this limestone plate gets wet, it reveals the presence of a white crinoid arm. Not sure of the crinoid's identity but it was surprise when it was cleaned. Last image shows plate with ruler to give one some idea of its size.
The lesson I take away from this, is sometimes things are not as they first appear.