Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois - ESCONI

ESCONI Flashback Friday #2: 1951 Club Officers

As part of the run up to ESCONI's 70th Anniversary.  Here is Flashback Friday post #2.  If you have pictures or stories to contribute, please send them over to [email protected].  Thanks!

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1951 was the second year of ESCONI's existence.  Membership dues were $2 for an Active Membership.  Other memberships included, Associate at $1.25, Junior $0.75, and Non-Resident at $1.25.

The list of officers for ESCONI in 1951 was:

William H. Allaway - Chairman
Roy Beghtol - Vice Chairman
Herb Beck - Recording Secretary
Jay E. Farr - Corresponding Secretary
Stevens T. Norvell - Treasurer
B. J. Babbitt - Editor
Harry Nelson - Associate Editor
Mrs. Ethel Whitney - Historian/Curator
Mrs. Louise Bish - Librarian

What?  No Web Administrator!

PBS Eons: The Croc That Ran on Hooves

 

PBS Eons has an episode about an interesting crocodile.

In the Eocene Epoch, there was a reptile that had teeth equipped for biting through flesh, its hind legs were a lot longer than its front legs and instead of claws, its toes were each capped with hooves. How did this living nightmare come to evolve?

Reminder: ESCONI May Junior Meeting - Topic: Stone Age Tools and Art

For May, the topic of the Junior Meeting is "Stone Age Tools and Art".  See you there!

 

Reminder: ESCONI May General Meeting on May 10th, 2019 - "Evolution of Pectoral Fins in Tetrapodomorph Fishes"

The speaker at our May 10th meeting will be Dr. Thomas Stewart. Dr. Stewart is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab of Dr. Neil Shubin at the University of Chicago. He will be speaking about his project with Dr. Shubin on the evolution of pectoral fins in tetrapodomorph fishes.  His talk is entitled "Like the Back of My Hand: The Evolution of Dorso-ventral Asymmetry During the Fin-to-Limb Transition".

 

Roy Plotnick: The things we leave behind (and shouldn’t)

Guilt: An undescribed Pennsylvanian eurypterid, to be named after Richard Bambach

Roy has another post over on Medium.  It's an insightful post about returning what you've borrowed.

The e-mail from the daughter of a long-retired colleague was unexpected. A paleontologist in a different department from mine, he was now in his early eighties and suffering from dementia. His daughter asked if I would be willing to look at boxes of fossils that he had stored at his now sold house. Agreeing, I was further surprised when she dropped off about eight full boxes of specimens. And I was even more shocked, and frankly mortified, when I realized that nearly all of them were museum specimens, most from Eastern Europe, including holotypes. I have accepted the role of caretaker of the specimens and am making arrangements for their eventual return.

ESCONI May Junior Meeting on May 10th, 2019 - Topic: Stone Age Tools and Art

For May, the topic of the Junior Meeting is "Stone Age Tools and Art".  See you there!

 

ESCONI Events May 2019

Field trips require membership, but visitors are welcome at all meetings!

Fri, May 3rd	ESCONI Field Trip, St. Paul Quarry in St. Paul IN, 8:45 AM to 2:30 PM - Details here
Fri, May 10th	ESCONI Junior Meeting, 7:00 PM College of Dupage - Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038B (Map) - Topic: "Stone Age Tools and Art"
Fri, May 10th	ESCONI General Meeting, 8:00 PM College of Dupage - Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038B (Map) - Topic: "Like the Back of My Hand: The Evolution of Dorso-ventral Asymmetry During the Fin-to-Limb Transition" by Dr. Thomas Stewart of the University of Chicago
Sat, May 18th	ESCONI Field Trip, Braceville for Mazon Creek Concretions, 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM - Details here TRIP FULL!
Sat, May 18th	ESCONI Paleontology Study Group Meeting, 7:30 PM College of Dupage - Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038B (Map) - Topic: "The Bundenback Fauna" by ESCONI Member Tom Williams
Sun, May 19th	ESCONI Field Trip, Braceville for Mazon Creek Concretions, 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM - Details here TRIP FULL!

 

ESCONI Flashback Friday #1: Field Trip to a Joliet Quarry in June 1951

As part of the run up to ESCONI's 70th Anniversary.  Here is Flashback Friday post #1.  If you have pictures or stories to contribute, please send them over to [email protected].  Thanks!

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Here is an article that describes a field trip to a Joliet quarry in Jun 1951.  Notice the clothes... Sunday best?  And, what?!?, no hardhats or steel toed shoes needed!   Enjoy!

Press Release: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fossil Flora of Mazon Creek, by Jack Wittry - Available Fall 2019!

ESCONI is pleased to announce its upcoming publication of Jack Wittry’s latest Mazon Creek book entitled, A Comprehensive Guide to the Fossil Flora of Mazon Creek. Since the 2006 release of Jack’s first book, The Mazon Creek Fossil Flora, much work has been done in the field and many new taxa have been discovered, some rare and unique to the area. Over 20,000 specimens were identified and studied from three different institutions for this project alone. In addition to updated names and natural affinities based on the most current scientific literature, this volume contains over 100 more pages of information, with detailed color photos and a broad census derived from The Field Museum’s collection. Pages in this edition are also reorganized from the most archaic to the most derived plant groups to conform to other contemporary taxonomic works. The Mazon Creek flora of Illinois is still the most diverse known flora of Paleozoic age in North America. This magnificent book integrates all of the latest research and helps to further our understanding of plant evolution, perhaps paving the way for more incredible discoveries.

There will be a limited printing of this 288-page volume, in both hard and soft covers. The book will be available in the fall of 2019.

The Brain Scoop: The Egg Collection!

 

The latest episode on the Field Museum's "The Brain Scoop" channel is "The Egg Collection!".  There's an Elephant Bird egg, Kiwis, Ostriches, and much, much more!

Eggs! There are around 10,800 different species of birds, all which lay eggs that vary in size, color, shape, and parental care required. Dr. John Bates pulled some highlights from the Field Museum's egg collection to share these fragile, historically important and BEAUTIFUL specimens with us. "The Book of Eggs" by Mark E. Hauber, Edited by John Bates & Barbara Becker: http://bit.ly/2PhtKaL Learn more about the Field Museum's work monitoring and supporting peregrine falcons in Chicago: http://bit.ly/2VY9AFq