It is abhorrent that potentially scientifically valuable fossils can be sold readily on the Internet and at Rock and Fossil shows. Just the other day I saw a ceratosaur brain case for sale on Ebay. On a site that it is often possible to link to from this site there are many psittacosaur skeletons for sale for thousands of dollars. Not a single one of these excellent specimens have been examined by university train paleontologists. Not only were there skeletons of dinosaurs, but dinosaur eggs and skeletons of other ancient reptiles and amphibians as well. Most if not all of the specimens that I have seen for sale were smuggled illegally out of china. China claims all fossils as its own historical resource and property of the people of that nation. By buying these fossils, people only support an illegal trade in fossils. Not that long ago a psittacosaur skull and part of the skeleton was actually stolen from the Russian National Museum. I have no idea if that person was ever caught. If people were to stop buying these fossils to display in their homes and offices, then the middle men would find themselves without retailers to sell to. It would trickle down the line to the poor Chinese farmer who gets maybe a dollar for his priceless specimen that happened to be on his land. If the Beijing museum could pay these farmers equivalent amounts of money for their specimens that they might have gotten from smugglers, then the fossils would make their way to museum collections instead of fossil dealers snatching up these finds. The reason that it is important that the museum have the fossil is that they are essentially there to allow everybody to appreciate the fossil. Also, about 90% of the information that can be gleamed from a fossil is collected before its even out of the ground. Poachers don't collect this information and its therefor lost forever.
I propose a solution to this problem that I only think fossil dealers would find unamacable. The museums accross the world have unique specimens which they make copies of for the purpose of trading with other museums so that they can display more specimens than they have in their collections. The molds that they use to make the copies are kept in a warehouse. The museums could copywrite the mold as an artistic creation then have exclusive writes to make copies of the fossil (people who make a copy of a copy are penalized under copywrite law). By taking orders for skeletons from people interested in buying copies, they could satiate the croud just looking for something to have in their home or office. Also, making the copies much more affordable than real fossils would also curb desire to own the real thing. A couple of staff members could even be hired on for the sole purpose of filling orders. Profits from the sale of these replicas could then be used to compensate land owners competitively for their fossil finds.
I've heard it argued that eliminating the sale of fossils or widely distributing copies of bones would reduse interest in fossils (kids become interested with a childhood fossil collection) or in going to the museum. It would be naive to believe that reducing the sale of scientifically valuable specimens will totally eliminate the fossil dealing industry. Scores of invertebrates such as ammonites, brachiopods, polycopods, trilobites, corals, bryozoans, etc. would still be widely available. Kids don't start their collection with a 10 thousand dollar dinosaur skeleton. Oligocene mammals are also in abundant (but not infinite) supply. Then again I'm a little biased towards the preservation of reptile and amphibian skeletons. As an added measure, enforcement agents should be able to seive illegally collected fossils and return them to their appropriate institutions. In Alberta, Dan Spivak is known as the fossil cop. He regualarly checks the internet an fossil shops for the sale of fossils that were collected in Alberta. For example, Burgess Shale fossils are strictly prohibited from sale. So he alerts law enforcement and testifies in court against people who illegally have Alberta fossils. As part of the Sino Canadian Dinosaur Project, an enforcement agent could force the return of stolen fossils to china. China in turn could grant north american museums (particularly those who the enforcer is associated with) the right to prep the fossils and publish on them first or jointly with Chinese paleontologists.
Monday, December 08, 2003
Friday, December 05, 2003
today's Laws
"In any heirarchy an individual rises to his or her own level of incompetance and then remains there."
"Everything east of the San Andreas Fault will evenually plunge into the Atlantic Ocean"
"Nature always sides with the hidden law"
"Everything east of the San Andreas Fault will evenually plunge into the Atlantic Ocean"
"Nature always sides with the hidden law"
Bristled psittacosaur
Well, it looks like somebody beat me to it. The bristled psittacosaur as been described. Now that I've seen the photos, it isn't really all that surprising that it was found. An integumentary structure on any dinosaur is great, but it isn't that odd for there to be long fibrous structures coming off of the psittacosaur's tail. It would take a lot of work to demonstrate that these were not evolved independantly from the feathers that exist on birds. It would take alot more specimens of basal ornithopods with the same kind of integumentary structures and a few very basal theropods and probably even some prosauropods with the structures to say that fibrous integumentary protrusions were ubiquitous in dinosaurs. I for one am doubtful that any such assemblage of "feathered" or "bristled" dinosaurs will ever be found.
The grainy photos do thankfully nullify a couple of my initial hypothesies. There is no way that those structures in their observed density or configuration could have served in thermoregulation (weather for keeping warm or keeping cool). Of course some people may argue that there may be a difference in summer and winter coats (sounds like something that Bob Bakker may propose) but there is no evience to support or refute that hypothesis. Then again a couple of eaqually unprovable hypothesies come to mind. For example, if the psittacosaur had enough flexability in its tail, the bristles may have served to fend off flying insects. The other possibility is that they serve no partucularly useful function. The dorsal spines on a green iguana arent partucularly strong and could not be used to defend against attacking predators. They may look spiny an unpalatable, but the predators such as hawks or cats or other large reptiles would quickly learn that these large spines weren't so bad. That is unless there is a factor in their environment that constantly reinforces the view that all spines are effective (such as a particularly spiny plant). There is little evidence to support a sexually selective role, they're just there. There was nothing in particular stopping them from evolving. The first iguanas possibly had a use for them that is not not as evident. The same may be true of the psittacosaur. There may be no particulatly good function fro those bristles but their ancestors may have had a use for them.
This is not the first time that an integumentary structure has been found in an ornithischian. The Ankylosaurs with their dermal armour aside, hadrosaurs have been found frequently with skin impressions. Many of those hadrosaurs have a row of dorsal spines that seem similar in pattern to those of an iguana. Not nearly so tall relative to the whole animal as the iguana's spines or the psittacosaur's bristels, but definately restricted to a dorsal crest. These discoveries have prompted illustrations such as this one by Bob Bakker.
The grainy photos do thankfully nullify a couple of my initial hypothesies. There is no way that those structures in their observed density or configuration could have served in thermoregulation (weather for keeping warm or keeping cool). Of course some people may argue that there may be a difference in summer and winter coats (sounds like something that Bob Bakker may propose) but there is no evience to support or refute that hypothesis. Then again a couple of eaqually unprovable hypothesies come to mind. For example, if the psittacosaur had enough flexability in its tail, the bristles may have served to fend off flying insects. The other possibility is that they serve no partucularly useful function. The dorsal spines on a green iguana arent partucularly strong and could not be used to defend against attacking predators. They may look spiny an unpalatable, but the predators such as hawks or cats or other large reptiles would quickly learn that these large spines weren't so bad. That is unless there is a factor in their environment that constantly reinforces the view that all spines are effective (such as a particularly spiny plant). There is little evidence to support a sexually selective role, they're just there. There was nothing in particular stopping them from evolving. The first iguanas possibly had a use for them that is not not as evident. The same may be true of the psittacosaur. There may be no particulatly good function fro those bristles but their ancestors may have had a use for them.
This is not the first time that an integumentary structure has been found in an ornithischian. The Ankylosaurs with their dermal armour aside, hadrosaurs have been found frequently with skin impressions. Many of those hadrosaurs have a row of dorsal spines that seem similar in pattern to those of an iguana. Not nearly so tall relative to the whole animal as the iguana's spines or the psittacosaur's bristels, but definately restricted to a dorsal crest. These discoveries have prompted illustrations such as this one by Bob Bakker.
Thursday, December 04, 2003
A psittacosaur with Feathers?
Can feathers be considered a synapomorphy of any group of animals at all? It used to be thought that birds alone possessed feathers. This was until a number of chinese dinosaurs were found to bear filamenous structures and even long true feathers in some other forms. So ok, a synapomorphy of the higher coelurosaurs? Maybe not even a synapomorphy of theropods or even saurischians. Dr. Michael Caldwell revealed to his Paleo 318 class today that a well renouned fossil dealer had approached both him and Phil Currie with a psittacosaur which he had purchased at the world famous Tucson Rock, Mineral and Fossil Expo, which appeared to bear featherrs. Dr. Caldwell is scepticle that the structure are in fact true feathers and instead called them epidermal extensions. I imagine that Dr. Currie is rather sceptical because of his recent encounter with a forged fossil. He had supported a fellow paleontologist who purchased a fossil at the same infamous show purporting that it was an even mix of dinosauriand and bird features. the fossil turned out to be an actual mix of bird and dinosaur fossils from separate animals, thereby causing alot of academic grief for Currie. Kevin Aulenback who preped the fossil had been quick to point out the error and unfortunetly also received much grief and has since transitioned to paleobotony so that he wouldn't have to deal with the politics of Vertebrate paleo. I for one am willing to believe that any scenario could be true at this time since I haven't actually seen the specimen. In fact, all that Caldwell has is a photo. Hopefully i'll be able to procure a copy of the photo for this site and I will try to provide as full a description as I can on the basis of what is visible. However, this means that if I can argue that it is a new species, then I will be able to name it without ever actually seeing the real specimen. Since I will be the first to publish on it. However I will refrain from committing this academic suicide as nobody will be willig to share anything with me since they'll only see that I steal their research.
The issue of the feather also begs the question, could this fibrous epidermal covering be ancestral to all the dinosaurs and their immediate relatives. At least one pterosaur has been found to have some kind of "fury" covering. So if the outgroup to dinosaur even has this covering, how far back might it go. This is of course wild conjecture. There is a pretty good chance that the covering evolved multiple times in order serve in thermo regulation. Keep in mind that an animal in the deserts of mongolia might have used feathers to stay cool, not just keep in body heat.
The issue of the feather also begs the question, could this fibrous epidermal covering be ancestral to all the dinosaurs and their immediate relatives. At least one pterosaur has been found to have some kind of "fury" covering. So if the outgroup to dinosaur even has this covering, how far back might it go. This is of course wild conjecture. There is a pretty good chance that the covering evolved multiple times in order serve in thermo regulation. Keep in mind that an animal in the deserts of mongolia might have used feathers to stay cool, not just keep in body heat.
Procrastination Nation
Well, its down to the wire. I have 5 final exams in 12 days ending on Dec 15. Am I worried. Of course I am. Except for paleo, seem to have learned didly squat this semester. Sure I now know how a glacier works and the names of countless parts of the human skeleton, but frankly, unless I keep using this stuff, the details will go the way of much of my American and European history knowledge. It will be forcefully pushed from my short term memory such that I will only know where to look it up if ever I need to know this information again. This is a common occurance among University students. Many attribute their immediate loss of information due the amount of binge drinking that they do immediately after an exam, but i don't have that excuse. Rather I attibute the ubiquitous loss of minute detail with time to the fact that we aren't actually learning this stuff. We procrastinate to the last minute, wasting enormous amounts of time on things like blogs and social lives resulting in a mad panic when exams come around. Right after a round of bad exams, a student will swear that they'll start to study more, but it's only marginally effective. Tomarrow I'll sing a sweeter song. The procrastinators motto pronounced by Colleridge on being unable to finish a poem due to the fact that he was coming out of an opium trip. When we cram everything at the last minute its true that we have it in the forefront of our mind, but that doesn't mean that we'll remember it beyond the exam. A good measure of how well something is learned is if it can be recalled a year after the exam. So what do I remember from Ecology which I was finishing up this time last year, or from Mechanisms of Evolution or even general zoology of the vertebrates or paleontology of the Invertebrates or one other class which seems to have been entirely blocked from my memory. Well I don't seem to remember very much about the differences between the varieties of brachiopods, but I could recite the entire history of amniote evolution if you wanted me to tell you all about the evolution of various vertebrates or their physiological mechanisms only because that was covered and expanded upon in Paleo 318. As for ecology, I remember the basics and could look it up in a heartbeat. And until now, I couldn't even remember that I only took 4 classes my first semester and five the second.
As for the classes that I will be tested in very shortly. I will definately continue to use Paleo (as that's my major) and I think that I'd be interested in writing a book on the history of Paleontology, so that incorporates my history of science class (though that sect of biology and geology was barely covered, even in passing). As for physiology. I think that I'll chalk that one up as a mulligan. Nothing that was covered had any bearing on anything even remotely identifiable in the fossil record. As for Human Osteology... Yech!!! Now there's a class that seemed like it would be useful for future studies. Now I suppose that if the Prof was able to teach or if the TA's had any interest in inparting the information to the students rather than collecting their meager pay checks it might have been useful. However, human beings are so minutely described that no phylogenetic study would ever include the thousands of characters seen on the bones of human beings. Also, humans are so drastically different from reptiles that any studies that I would conduct in my chosen field would include only the broadest similarities to one an anthropologist might conduct. And to think that I had the option to take Evolution of the homonids.
As for the classes that I will be tested in very shortly. I will definately continue to use Paleo (as that's my major) and I think that I'd be interested in writing a book on the history of Paleontology, so that incorporates my history of science class (though that sect of biology and geology was barely covered, even in passing). As for physiology. I think that I'll chalk that one up as a mulligan. Nothing that was covered had any bearing on anything even remotely identifiable in the fossil record. As for Human Osteology... Yech!!! Now there's a class that seemed like it would be useful for future studies. Now I suppose that if the Prof was able to teach or if the TA's had any interest in inparting the information to the students rather than collecting their meager pay checks it might have been useful. However, human beings are so minutely described that no phylogenetic study would ever include the thousands of characters seen on the bones of human beings. Also, humans are so drastically different from reptiles that any studies that I would conduct in my chosen field would include only the broadest similarities to one an anthropologist might conduct. And to think that I had the option to take Evolution of the homonids.
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
Common man policies
This is a continuation of my "Achademiarchy" blog from a couple of days ago. When one considers the potential power that a politically unified academic community would have, one wonders what this group should do besides promote lower tuition costs and increased funding for the sciences and arts. Since the 1950s is been generally assumed that science itself has no place in making moral judgments. However, it'll be a cold day in hell before I let some arts students call the shots. Ok, so science can't make moral judgments, but there is nothing saying that scientists can't. After all, the statement that science shouldn't make moral judgments is itself a moral statement.
The first and most natural policy for this political group to make would be to support primary and secondary education as a tool to prepare students for University. But not everybody is university bound. Unfortunately, a lot of schools make the assumption that they should prepare everybody for university and therefore leave a lot of less academically inclined people without a skill set. I really think that technical schools should be supported by the academic group. Another reason why a lot of attention should be paid to non academics is that unfortunately, stupid people seem to comprise the majority demographic. It would be shortsighted for the acamemiarchy to seem elitist by ignoring the common man. I'm not saying that this group wouldn't be elitist. It's just not a very politically friendly appearance to keep up. Another measure to reach the common man would definitely involve measures to improve the economy. Frankly, a lot of money gets spent on totally useless things. For example five congressmen agreed to spend 86 billion dollars of taxpayer money to fund the war in Iraq. Independent auditors and efficiency experts could have been called in and a large portion of that could have been saved. For example, instead of Americans bringing in truck loads of bottled water, what they should have done was set up and water purification system that the Iraqi people could also use. This would go a long way to fostering peace and saving money. The Canadians in Afghanistan did that and only two Canadians have been killed by enemy forces (the other 4 were killed by friendly fire).
Another way to improve the economy is to instigate measures to lower the unemployment rate. The distribution of people in North America is not even with the distribution of jobs. In Canada, one often sees images of the shanty towns built in Vancouver and Toronto; monuments of poverty. These people have very little in the way of skilled training. That's Perfect! In Alberta and Saskatchewan unskilled labor is really needed. It doesn't take a genius to work on the Oil Patch or on a farm or ranch. People just flock to cities because they think that it's the place to be an that they will get hand outs. For the cost of feeding and sheltering the enormous homeless population, the federal or provincial governments could bus these people to sites of primary production and set them up with jobs and possibly even low income housing. Granted, this year the ranching community took a big hit from the closing of the US border to Canadian beef, but that won't last forever. The academic party could even start an advertising campain; a "go west young man" sort of thing. If this sort of thing were instituted in the US, unemployment rates would drop and other economic indicators such as consumer spending and the construction industry would rise. Hopefully this would stimulate a stronger US dollar.
The first and most natural policy for this political group to make would be to support primary and secondary education as a tool to prepare students for University. But not everybody is university bound. Unfortunately, a lot of schools make the assumption that they should prepare everybody for university and therefore leave a lot of less academically inclined people without a skill set. I really think that technical schools should be supported by the academic group. Another reason why a lot of attention should be paid to non academics is that unfortunately, stupid people seem to comprise the majority demographic. It would be shortsighted for the acamemiarchy to seem elitist by ignoring the common man. I'm not saying that this group wouldn't be elitist. It's just not a very politically friendly appearance to keep up. Another measure to reach the common man would definitely involve measures to improve the economy. Frankly, a lot of money gets spent on totally useless things. For example five congressmen agreed to spend 86 billion dollars of taxpayer money to fund the war in Iraq. Independent auditors and efficiency experts could have been called in and a large portion of that could have been saved. For example, instead of Americans bringing in truck loads of bottled water, what they should have done was set up and water purification system that the Iraqi people could also use. This would go a long way to fostering peace and saving money. The Canadians in Afghanistan did that and only two Canadians have been killed by enemy forces (the other 4 were killed by friendly fire).
Another way to improve the economy is to instigate measures to lower the unemployment rate. The distribution of people in North America is not even with the distribution of jobs. In Canada, one often sees images of the shanty towns built in Vancouver and Toronto; monuments of poverty. These people have very little in the way of skilled training. That's Perfect! In Alberta and Saskatchewan unskilled labor is really needed. It doesn't take a genius to work on the Oil Patch or on a farm or ranch. People just flock to cities because they think that it's the place to be an that they will get hand outs. For the cost of feeding and sheltering the enormous homeless population, the federal or provincial governments could bus these people to sites of primary production and set them up with jobs and possibly even low income housing. Granted, this year the ranching community took a big hit from the closing of the US border to Canadian beef, but that won't last forever. The academic party could even start an advertising campain; a "go west young man" sort of thing. If this sort of thing were instituted in the US, unemployment rates would drop and other economic indicators such as consumer spending and the construction industry would rise. Hopefully this would stimulate a stronger US dollar.
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
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