Rachel Racicot, Author at PALAEONTOLOGY[online]

Nov12018

Education and Outreach: Cosplay for Science Initiative and the Natural History Museum of Pokémon

by Gabriel Santos1 In the world of education, we often hear complaints that people know more about celebrities and fictional characters than about science. Taking a moment to scroll through Twitter or Instagram, it can be easy to agree with such complaints. It can be a constant struggle for educators to find a way to make abstract concepts from science more interesting than ideas from fiction, like the Force or giant robots. But what if there were a way to use people’s fascination with pop culture as a tool for education? What if there were a way to use pop culture to make science relatable and accessible? What if there were a way to use pop culture to make scientists and educators more approachable? That is where the Cosplay for Science Initiative comes in. The Cosplay for Science I...

Feb12018

Fossil Focus: Planktonic Foraminifera – Small Fossils, Big Impacts

Fossil Focus

by Janet Burke*1 Introduction and background: Although the microscopic creatures called planktonic foraminifera are still around today, most people have not heard of them. They don’t come to mind when the words "palaeontologist" or "fossil" are mentioned. They don’t have scales or claws, or big sharp teeth. They don’t even have mouths. If you were to visit the lab I work in, you wouldn’t see the specimens, just a row of compound microscopes and funny metal trays, slides and boxes of glass vials a little bigger than a pinky finger. If you look closer at those vials, each one contains hundreds upon hundreds of fossils, and each of those fossils has a story to tell. Etched into the nooks of its chambers and the very molecules of its calcite are facts about the ocean at a brief moment in tim...

Jul12017

Education and Outreach: Exhibiting the scientific process

Education and Outreach

by Brittney Stoneburg*1 Introduction: Natural history museums are not just exhibit space: a lot of scientific research is conducted behind the scenes. This is the nature of almost any museum. It is often not logistically or financially possible to exhibit every object, and not every fossil is suitable to go on display. The fossils that the public doesn’t see are still important for research, but this is a part of museum work that is often hidden from the public at large. I work at the Western Science Center in Hemet, California. Visitors have no access to our repository, and are often amazed when they learn that less than 5% of our palaeontology collections can currently be seen. Through an upcoming exhibition and scientific workshop, we are endeavouring to use exhibit space and the I...

Mar12017

Fossil Focus: The First Mammals

Fossil Focus

by Elsa Panciroli1 Introduction: The study of the earliest mammals is an exciting part of palaeontology, telling us not only about strange animals that once lived on Earth, but also about how our own ancestors evolved alongside the dinosaurs. Early mammal fossils are very rare and often we only find a few teeth and bones, but we can tell a lot about the animals’ ecology and evolution from these remains. Discoveries of more-complete skeletons, particularly in China, are now revealing that early mammals were more successful and diverse than anyone had suspected. They specialized to exploit new habitats, diets and ways of living that would lead to their ultimate success. I want to give you an overview of the earliest mammals: mammals from the time of the dinosaurs. We will look at what d...

Sep12015

Fossil Focus: Seals, sea lions and walruses

Fossil Focus

By Morgan Churchill*1 Introduction Pinnipeds (seals, sea lions and walruses) make up the second most numerous group of marine mammals (behind whales), with 35 species found throughout the world’s oceans and in several freshwater lakes. They are represented by 3 living families: the Phocidae (earless seals; 19 species), found around the globe; the Otariidae (sea lions and fur seals; 15 species), restricted to the North Pacific and Southern Hemisphere; and the Odobenidae (walrus; 1 species), confined to the Arctic. Two additional extinct families are recognized: the Desmatophocidae and the Enaliarctidae of the North Pacific. Pinnipeds show a variety of adaptations for aquatic living, including flippers for moving through water, changes in teeth related to capturing and feeding on slippery ...

Jun12015

Fossil Focus: Oreodonts

Fossil Focus

by Joshua Ludtke*1 Introduction: Oreodonts make up an extinct group of small, medium and large hoofed mammals. They are among the most commonly represented mammals in more than 40 million years of the North American fossil record; among completely extinct groups, the oreodonts may be the most abundantly preserved group of fossil mammals. This abundance has allowed them, after their extinction, to spread across the globe. Since at least the 1840s, fossil collectors from around the world have visited the North American west to excavate oreodonts, and their fossils have ended up in both public museums and private collections worldwide (see Fig. 1). What is an oreodont? Oreodont is the informal term for any member of the taxon Merycoidodontoidea. Oreodonts are placental mammals; some f...

Mar12015

Life as a Palaeontologist: A thoroughly suitable job for a woman

Life as a Palaeontologist

by Ellen Currano1 “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,” he used to say. “You step into the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.” — J. R. R. Tolkien The Fellowship of the Ring (Ballantine Books, 1954). Introduction: It was never part of my plan to become the (sometimes bearded) face of women in palaeontology. I was that first grader who fell in love with dinosaurs and set her heart on becoming a palaeontologist. Since I started college, my dream has been to work at the University of Wyoming, travel the world digging up fossils, publish papers in scientific journals and, if I was lucky, be asked to give public lectures on my work. In other words, I wanted to emulate the professors at the top-tier research insti...