Perspectives

Perspectives — Palaeontology in 2018

Perspectives — Palaeontology in 2018

Perspectives
by The Palaeontology [online] editorial board*1 Introduction: At the turn of most years, the some of the editorial board at Palaeontology [online] takes the opportunity to reflect on the past year in palaeontology. Given that we published a wonderful overview of Diploporitans in January, this year we’ve moved our look over our favourite studies from last year to February. Palaeontology and associated disciplines are fast-moving and exciting areas of science — looking back at 2018 lets us highlight just a few of the key developments that really show this. Picking just one article each is difficult, and we have been forced to miss out many of the hundreds of exciting papers published in the past 12 months. Nevertheless, we hope that our choices reflect the breadth and depth of palaeob...
Perspectives — Palaeontology in 2017

Perspectives — Palaeontology in 2017

Perspectives
by The Palaeontology [online] editorial board*1 Introduction Every now and then at Palaeontology [online], we like to take a look at the world of palaeontology and reflect on what is happening in the field. Contrary to stereotypes, we believe that palaeontology and associated disciplines represent a fast-moving and exciting area of science. To highlight this, the members of the editorial board have each chosen a favourite paper from 2017. Picking just one paper was difficult for all of us, and it means that we have highlighted just five articles out of the many hundreds published in the past 12 months. Nevertheless, we hope that our choices reflect the breadth and depth of palaeobiological research in the twenty-first century. The papers include incredibly small and ancient invertebrates...
Perspectives: Fossils and the Law — A Summary

Perspectives: Fossils and the Law — A Summary

Perspectives
by Jack J. Matthews1 Introduction: Geoconservation, also known as Earth Heritage Conservation, is how we protect important examples of Earth’s physical resources. Geological features can be protected for all sorts of reasons, including being important to cultural heritage, geological education and understanding, or the overall aesthetics of an area. A great many designations, management frameworks and legal instruments have been used to govern and protect fossil-rich outcrops in the United Kingdom, but these are poorly publicized and, for example, rarely taught to palaeontologists as part of an undergraduate degree. Field work is an important part of palaeontological research, so it is a good idea for everyone who works with fossils, whether amateur or professional, to have a good und...

Perspectives: 2015 in Palaeontology

Perspectives
by the Palaeontology [online] team Introduction: We’re now into our sixth volume — and calendar year — at Palaeontology [online]. Over the years, we have introduced a lot of fossil groups, concepts from palaeontology and overviews of different parts of our field. An intention when we started was also to provide the occasional overview of happenings in the world of palaeontology: to reflect new developments and highlight some current ideas. To that end, we have chosen to start 2016 by looking back over the past year, and forward into the next. In this article, members of the Palaeontology [online] team have chosen their favourite papers from 2015, and indicated what they hope to be up to over the next 12 months. So without further ado, here is team Palaeontology [online]! Imran Rahman: ...
Perspectives: Three years on, palaeontology still online

Perspectives: Three years on, palaeontology still online

Perspectives
by the Palaeontology [online] team Palaeontology and the history of life are topics that capture the imaginations of children and adults alike, many of whom are keen to learn all about the latest weird wonders discovered by science. Communicating cutting-edge research to the public can be difficult, however, partly because scientists tend to publish their results in technical papers aimed at other scientists, but also because these papers are generally not freely available to non-academics — although the growth of open access means that this is improving in many countries. Popular-science writers provide accurate and accessible summaries of some of the most topical work, but can cover only a fraction of the research carried out by palaeontologists, naturally focusing on current stories ra...