As if J. R. R. Tolkien wasn’t brilliant enough with his creation of Middle-Earth, it appears that using his numerous maps and illustrations provided, supplemented by observations from within the texts themselves, a geological reconstruction can be achieved! I recently came across this old article from the Proceedings of the J. R. R. Tolkien Centenary […]
“If you want to inspire confidence, give plenty of statistics. It does not matter that they should be accurate, or even intelligible, as long as there is enough of them.” Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) The last post on this series gave an introduction to the background and significance of quantitative shape analysis. I conveyed the […]
Those of you who have read my recent articles will probably have noticed the phrase ‘geometric morphometrics’ a few times. When mentioned to people, the usual reaction is to melt or run away screaming satanic verse and tearing chunks of hair out (pers. obs). This is largely due to the pretty intense mathematical basis behind […]
Merry Christmas, 11 by ~Himmapaan on deviantART. This has to be one of the most incredible pieces of palaeo-art, or even art I’ve ever laid my eyes upon! The image depicts what I presume is Parasaurolophus walkeri, infamously referred to as “Elvis” by Roland Tembo (the late Pete Postlethwaite) in Jurassic Park: The Lost World, […]
Disclaimer: Apparently Carlsberg don’t write my titles.. Back in May 2011, a study was published in Science describing the application of sclerotic ring and orbital morphology in determining daily activity (diel) patterns in extinct archosaurs. Recently, a comment and counter-comment have been published, both with pretty critical rhetoric. I figured that as it appears to […]
What do fossils tell us? It’s an obvious question, commonly phrased as ‘What is the point in studying fossils?’, but often can be one of the more difficult ones to answer objectively. The most prominent reason, that I’m sure a lot of people will agree with, is that we want to know what ancient and […]
Recently, the UKAFH invited me to write an article for them on fossil preservation. What kind of palaeontologist would possibly decline! [excluding inverts – they don’t count] This is just a nice basic guide to taphonomic processes, designed for people with limited knowledge of geology or palaeontology. Feedback, as always, is welcome! 🙂 […]
If anyone reading this personally knows me, they will be able to tell you that one of my pet peeves at the moment revolves around the definitions of commonly used words in ecology such as ‘trait’ and ‘niche’. This article is going to focus on what is specifically meant by a ‘trait’, in an ecological […]
The origin of life began in our oceans. Complex life, with some forms somewhat resembling what we see today and others too bizarre to even imagine arose over half a billion years ago. This is a time way before the rule of the dinosaurs, and even older than your great great grandparents. Life in the […]
Most people in the UK will hopefully be aware of the recent event covered by the BBC News, whereby a woman was arrested for having a ‘racist rant’ on a tram in London. Articles by the BBC on this story can be found on the following two links, and the video of the event filmed […]