Missouri Crater Reported

 A jumbled geologic area in southwestern Missouri attracted attention in the 1950s because of the highly deformed, folded and faulted rock layers found there.  It was believed to have had volcanic causes until more recently when an impact was suggested.  Kevin Evans from Southwest Missouri State University found a crater like structure on a computer map of the area and investigated it.  He found polymict brecchia (with clasts from multiple source rocks) which can indicate an impact.  With the maps he found a 19 km wide crater.  There were shocked materials including quartz in the area also, which only come from impacts or nuclear explosions.  From the layers found they date it to about 340 MYA.  There are doubters but if accepted it would be the 5^th largest crater in the US.  It may also correlate with 2 other Missouri craters, Decaturville and Crooked Creek, indicating a string of impacts but the dating of the others is not conclusive yet. 

Are Protofeathers Real?

 In spite of the fact that there are now many bird/dino specimens reported with fuzzy protofeathers and real feathers, there are still some skeptics.  One of them is a researcher Lingham-Soliar of South Africa who writes in Naturwissenschaften that he has proof that the fuzzy dinos do not have protofeathers.  He bases this on a study of a dolphin carcass.  He buried a bottlenose dolphin in river sand for a year.  He then studied what happened to the bundles of dolphin collagen or connective tissue found in its body.  These bundles had become unglued and resembled the fuzzy material found on the Chinese dinos.  He believes that they look just like those ‘feathers’.  But as Phil Currie comments there are so many fossils with real defined feathers now that the fuzzy ones are not as significant as they were at first.  He did admit that the dolphin fibers did resemble the protofeathers and indicated that it is possible that collagen might explain some of them.  John Ruben of the University of Oregon is one of those that dispute the protofeathers and says that there is another article coming soon that analyzes the protofeathers by scanning electron microscope that will support this new argument.  He thinks that some people will be eating crow.  However, Mark Norell remarked that ultimately it will be the debunkers that will be eating those black birds.  Time may tell.

 Alaskan Horses Shrink and Disappear

 The fossil record shows that the horse disappeared from North America with the advent of humans who were blamed for the demise of many large mammals.  Now it is reported in Nature by Guthrie of the University of Alaska that the horse had been decreasing in size for several thousand years before that point.  24,000 YA the average shinbone length was 21 cm and by 14,500 YA it was only 19 cm.  Pollen data shows that there was a change 15,500 YA from the arid grassland horses like to lakes, bogs and forests.  Elsewhere in North America humans may have had a part in the disappearance of horses.  Residue horse blood has been found on spearheads dated to 11,000 YA in western Canada.  In Nevada there are also cave remains of horse bones that have markings and that may have been burned (cooked). 

Otzi Life History Unveiled

 “The Iceman” named Otzi is still revealing the story of his life through analysis of his bones and teeth.  He lived during the Neolithic-Copper Age about 2,500 YA and died at the age of 46.  He was found in 1991 on the border of Italy and Austria.  They have already reported what he ate and recently how he died, and now they know where he lived (See PU 148, 60).  They believe that he lived within 60 km of his birthplace.  They studied isotopes in his teeth and thigh bones and compared them with soil and water samples.  Tooth enamel is formed at the age of 3-5 years while the bones change with what is eaten every 10 – 20 years.  He grew up in a southern valley (perhaps, Eisack ) and spent time farther north later in his life (perhaps Etsch Valley).  Mica chips found in his stomach from his last meal match that found in Etsch.  The article is in Science (Vol. 302 Oct. 31) by Muller et al.

 “Jane” Gets $1 million Gift

 US Representative Don Manzullo announced that the federal government will pay Burpee Museum in Rockford $1 million.  $900,000 of this will go toward the exhibit hall for “Jane” at the Museum and the rest goes to Northern Illinois University to develop a partnership with Burpee to collaborate on future research projects.  Mike Henderson from Burpee is currently going for his PhD at Northern on “Jane”.  A condition of the grant is that Burpee uses local labor to design and build the exhibit. 

 Carnegie Contribution of $5 Million 

Seems like dinosaurs are in, at least at some Museums.  Remember Horner got $2 million recently for his (and Burpee has it’s million).  And now the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh has received one for $5 million from the Eden Hall Foundation for its dino hall expansion.  This is a big help in their $35 million program to display all their fossils.  They have the third largest dino collection after the American Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian. 

Australia Wants Bones Back from UK

More and more countries are asking for the return of bones of ancestors.  Australia is asking for the return of bones of indigenous people for burial.  They were ‘stolen’ by the British Empire many years ago.  Some 16,000 people are being studied to determine the changes in people over the last 100,000 years.  Some are working on new legislation that would allow for this return to occur.  Here in the US we have the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act to allow this to happen.   

Jurassic Park 4 in Works

Apparently the new adventure is in the works with Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum signed up and a story by Steven Speilberg.  There will be lots of new dinos and it is due out in summer 2005.

          Karen Nordquist, ESCONI Paleontology Study Group