Friday Headlines: 4-5-13

Friday Headlines, April 4, 2013

THE LATEST IN THE GEOSCIENCES

 

ORIGINAL SPOTTED PATTERNS ON MIDDLE DEVONIAN PHACOPID TRILOBITES FROM WESTERN AND CENTRAL NEW YORK

(Apologies that this is behind a paywall. I’ll summarize the coolness.)

One thing here, perhaps this isn’t such a new finding. It seems that back in 1968 George Esker noticed spots on fossils of Phacops and Geenops as well.

Here’s Phacops. It’s a common trilobite out here in western New York.

These organisms were common during the Silurian and Devonian periods.

Here’s an awesome specimen of a phacopid trilobite (closely related to Phacops). Notice the spots all over its body. Those are original markings!

Careful study of the geochemistry and crystallography of the fossil around these color spots shows that these features are not just due to the fossilization process, but are original pigment spots.

 

SHARK-TOOTH SWORD REVEALS LOST SPECIES

This headline is especially cool because it touches on two things that I am passionate about: Swordplay and paleontology.

The description of this weapon (and others) is published in the open access journal PLOS one, which means you can read the original research yourself!

This sword was made in the 19th century in the Gilbert Islands in the Central Pacific. What’s interesting about this sword is that its lined with teeth of two shark species (spot-tail and dusky) which are no longer found in the area.

This research provides some insight into the impact that humans have had on species like the sharks. Humans had to hunt the sharks in order to make the weapons, and now the sharks are absent from the area.