Education & Outreach

Patty’s Experience Attending Virtual AGU 2021

February 14, 2022January 20, 2022jenebauerLeave a comment

Patty here –

I recently attended the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting virtually Dec 13-17, 2021, thanks to the generous support of the Tilly Edinger Travel Grant, so this post is a wrap-up about my experience presenting at and attending the conference.

If you have never attended AGU before, it can be very overwhelming. The first time I attended was in 2018 when I was an undergrad, and I was presenting a poster on the Marine Geology and Geophysics Field Course I participated in that summer. It was my first scientific conference, and I definitely felt overwhelmed. There are so many people from different disciplines that present at AGU every year, it is almost impossible to see everything you want to see, but there is great potential for interdisciplinary collaboration. This experience exposed me to research I was not even aware was possible. I did not attend AGU in 2019 or 2020, so this was my first time back at the conference in several years, and I had high hopes for generating collaborations and expanding my network to include different scientists.

I wish I could say that these new connections with people happened during my virtual attendance, but I think it is particularly difficult to achieve in a virtual setting, and especially when half of the conference attendees are in-person and may not be looking at virtual poster presentations. I think it is likely that my expectations for networking in this hybrid environment were a little unrealistic, so this was a good learning experience for me regarding pandemic-era conference presentations.

My poster presentation was part of the Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology General Poster session on 13 Dec 2021, and I was presenting some very preliminary data on my PhD research project investigating deep-ocean circulation changes in the southern Gulf of Mexico during the Eocene-Oligocene Transition. (The poster is still viewable on AGU’s iPoster website, by the way.) As a virtual attendee you can schedule video and chat sessions for your poster presentation on whichever platform you prefer. So, I scheduled zoom and chat times during the poster session, hoping people would have time to drop in and chat about my research and the preliminary data I was presenting. I even advertised my poster and zoom/chat sessions on Twitter.

Large format poster that Patty presented virtually at AGIU 2021. The poster includes maps, climate plots, core sections and the chemistry pulled from the core. Work is summarized at the end and future directions are stated. — AGU Poster, Deep-Water Circulation in the Southern Gulf of Mexico at Eocene-Oligoene Transition

Unfortunately, that did not happen. According to AGU’s poster statistics, by the end of the conference there were 17 people who viewed my poster, but no one contacted me during or after the chat sessions. My dreams of collaboration at AGU 2021 died fairly quickly by Monday evening, but I do not want it to discourage me from participating in and presenting at conferences in the future. This just was not a great way to generate those connections I was looking for, and it is something I will keep in mind as the pandemic continues.

I do not want to give the impression that my entire AGU experience was negative because it was a great opportunity for me to look for research outside of what I was working on, and to get updates on diversity and inclusion initiatives taking place within the AGU community. Although the lack of engagement at my poster and technical issues on the morning of the first day, which admittedly may have contributed to the limited engagement, made me feel somewhat discouraged attending talks and townhalls for the rest of the week, there were a few sessions that I found interesting and useful. I liked that I was able to view recordings of the talks and could elect to participate in the discussion or not and that I could view any of the virtual posters at any time. I think that AGU set up a very functional hybrid format. Their new Q&A format was also very successful because it limited unnecessary and unhelpful comments and highlighted questions that the entire audience wanted to hear through upvoting on the platform.

Due to the limited engagement at my poster, I made an effort to look at virtual posters, especially posters that are outside my discipline. This is something I tend to do at in-person conferences, anyway. Wandering around the poster hall and randomly reading a poster can be enlightening and reveal unexpected research paths in subjects I was not previously aware of. I think my favorite “random” posters I found were the ones on the probability of bolide impacts (very timely #DontLookUp).

Some of the best sessions I attended focused on advances in paleoceanography and understanding climate changes in the past, such as PP23A: Advances in Understanding the Deep-Time ‘Greenhouse Climates’ and the Hyperthermal Events, PP22A: Paleoceanographic Insights From Biomineralizers: Advancing Proxy Applications via Process-Based Understanding, and PP34A: Evolution of the Earth System. These sessions are directly related to my research, and I enjoyed seeing all of the great new research being done. I felt encouraged being able to connect my research to the work being done by other scientists. Although I was virtual, it helped me feel connected to the community in a small way.

I also attended sessions from the Ocean Sciences division on Advances in Understanding Global Meridional Overturning Circulation From Past to Future, Ocean Dynamics of the Gulf of Mexico, Interaction of Tropical Basins, and Outstanding Problems in Caribbean and Central American Tectonics, which are topics that are tangentially related to my research. These sessions helped me to look at my research from different perspectives and see how it might inform other disciplines. Due to overlap of many sessions, there were some sessions that I was not able to attend live. However, I was able to watch the talk recordings and AGU has an On Demand feature that shows the recording of each session, so you can go back and catch up on talks and discussions that you missed.

In addition to science sessions, I also attended two townhalls TH15H: How Is Science Doing in Washington? The State of U.S. Science Policy One Year Into the Biden Administration and Where We Go From Here and TH33G: Reciprocity in AGU: The Beginnings of an Indigenous Action Committee, both of which I found very encouraging. I felt grateful to be able to attend these townhalls virtually, and I think that is a feature AGU should absolutely continue to use in future conferences because of increased accessibility.

Overall, I appreciated AGU’s hybrid format, and despite technical hiccups on the first day, I think the platform was successful for the rest of the conference. As we consider a future where we need to decrease carbon footprints through airplane travel, the impact that traveling to conferences can have on people’s lives, and, most importantly, accessibility for people who are unable to travel for health or financial reasons, the hybrid conference format is probably the best option we have. I think that AGU has a good start in developing an engaging format, but there needs to be a willingness by all attendees (in-person and virtual) to deliberately engage with each other (myself included), especially for early career scientists. That being said, it’s been a really long two years and the pandemic is not over, so I think we all deserve a little grace for what we are able to contribute to and get out of scientific conferences right now.

Conference of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology – SVP Virtual 2021

January 19, 2022December 1, 2021AdrianeLeave a comment

Hi! Blandine here.

Thanks to the Tilly Edinger Grant, I was able to attend the 2021 SVP (Society of Vertebrate Paleontology) annual meeting. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the event was fully held online, with four days of live broadcasting and meetings on a dedicated platform from the 1^st to the 5^th of November.

Logo for the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 2021 Annual (Virtual) Meeting. Image from the SVP Conference Booklet.

As it was my first time attending a conference, I honestly didn’t know what to expect before taking part in it, apart from getting the chance to learn more on my topics of interest in paleontology (taphonomy, preparation, bone histology, and dinosaur related research) and science communication in an interactive way. I first received via email the abstract list and schedule of the conference, which allowed me to already think about which meetings I wanted to take part in, and what topics interested me the most. Then, I got access to the online platform, made available one week prior to the live conference to give attendees the time to watch, study, and read pre-recorded or uploaded speeches, papers, presentations and posters. In order to make the content available to a wider audience, it was strongly advised by the SVP that presenters provide a script of their presentation/speech, which they almost all did (all live sessions were automatically subtitled as well!). The conference’s website was set up in a similar way as a forum, with each presenter and attendee having a personal profile where they could share their content, research interests and links. It was possible to follow other scientists profiles, in order to get notifications whenever they would post additional content, and everyone could also interact via private messages. The thematic live sessions were organised as the following: one host would introduce each talk/poster one after the other, and anyone could ask questions about them and get direct answers from the author of the presentation or poster. Unfortunately, it felt from time to time that some attendees were not aware they were meant to check out the pre-recorded presentation before the live sessions, and thus very few comments or questions would be asked about some of them.

On the main page of the event were listed the main topics tackled by all presenters. I focused on the content belonging to the following categories: Dinosaur Systematics, Diversity and Biology; Education & Outreach; Non-Avian Theropod Systematics, Biology & Evolution; Preparator’s sessions; Paleohistology & Paleopathology; Biomechanics & Functional Morphology; Taphonomy, Paleoenvironments & Stratigraphy. My favorite talk was by Jasmina Wiemann about how “Molecular composition determines biases in the fossil record of vertebrate soft tissues”, explaining the interactions between mineral phases and organic components during fossilization. Too many times, people focus either on biology or geology, but as this talk reminded the audience, paleontology is a mixture of both!

A Coffee Lounge was included on the platform, allowing attendees to have breaks together and enjoy some time off between live sessions. Unfortunately, due professional schedule conflicts, I could not take part in those breaks.

One section of the main menu was about awards in various categories, one of them being paleoart! I was really happy to see this part of paleontology represented at the conference, because paleoart is definitely helpful when it comes to visualise “in the flesh” animals we study the remnants of, as well as their environment. As many artists study papers before working on their pieces, the representations they make of extinct species are not pure fantasy, but more interpretations of scientific facts.

Regarding the content I could benefit from over the conference, the first day was dedicated to workshops; I attended to the live Zoom-meeting about “Inclusive Science Communication” by Sara Elshafie (@sci_story on Twitter). The presenter taught us through her presentation and small, interactive exercises in breakout rooms how to reflect on inclusivity when it comes to scientific communication. Indeed, it is crucial to consider the public’s struggles, priorities and interests, in order to make information easier to grasp and not exclude anyone from the scientific discourse. Adapting a narrative to the person in front of you should not be a struggle but more of a natural thing, because it takes two to share a story. She also put great emphasis on storytelling, for which she actually does coaching, and how much easier it is to convey a complex idea when it is turned in a small tale/story. I learned a lot through this workshop, and Sara shared with us all documents and resources after the meeting.

Main page of the SVP virtual platform. Image from https://vertpaleo.org/svp-annual-meeting/

Another workshop I watched, related to scientific communication (this time, on record) was about “Optimizing Gathertown for interactive science education” by David Levering. The presenter was giving tips and tricks on how to use and optimize the Gathertown platform in order to create engagement with students and help them learn about geology/paleontology at their own pace in an entertaining way. He explained how his students enjoyed the learning process as they were using the website, and made significant progress while interacting with each other about the content they had to study for.

I think the two workshops definitely were up to date with what our field needs: more inclusivity, more interactive resources and creative ways of sharing science with any audience.

On the next days, from the 2^nd to the 5^th of November, the live sessions I attended included talks related to dinosaurs, but I specifically enjoyed the preparator’s sessions, in which preparators would explain and share their newly discovered techniques for fossil cleaning/preservation/restauration.

Overall, I enjoyed the SVP virtual conference, and it felt good to see so many people passionate about the same topics and excited about paleontological research. My interactions with the other attendees were quite limited apart from a few private or public questions as I couldn’t attend the networking sessions/coffee breaks due to time difference with the USA and my professional schedule, but I could definitely get to know about people who share the same research interests as me, and learn about so many recent and exciting scientific discoveries!

I would like to thank the Time Scavengers for having allowed me to take part in my first conference ever through the Tilly Edinger travel grant. Hopefully, I’ll be able to attend to one in person soon!

Noel’s Experience at Geological Society of America Conference of 2021

January 12, 2022December 1, 2021jenebauerLeave a comment

Noel here –

This year, I got the honor to attend the annual conference for the Geological Society of America (GSA) in Portland, Oregon. This conference is dedicated to all corners of the geosciences, and hosts professionals and students alike from all over the world to present their research to the scientific community either through presentations or poster boards. It is also an amazing opportunity for any undergraduate student who is just starting their journey into their field and seeking for further education opportunities, such as myself. I attended along with my professor and another member of my lab group, representing the University of South Florida (USF).

Last year’s GSA conference was held entirely online do to the COVID-19 outbreak, so this year was a return to the in-person format, while still having online accessibility to all participants who either couldn’t make it or didn’t feel comfortable being around crowds of people still.

As this was my first time attending a conference, my focus was on meeting as many people in the field of paleontology as possible. I will be graduating from USF at the end of 2021, so I wanted to explore my options for possible grad school programs and professors that I could work with. During the four-day event, I got to talk to a wide variety of paleontologists, this included students of all levels, and professionals looking for students. There was only a handful of undergrad students since it’s not common practice for students at this level to attend conferences unless they are very passionate about their field and want to get ahead of the game. I would personally recommend any student who is interested in higher education to consider attending such events in general, but GSA is a good experience specifically because it is a very wide-reaching event and gives many more opportunities than smaller conferences.

I did not have any research material to present this time around, but a graduate student from our lab, Stephen Hill, did present his current research on the feeding mechanisms of diploporan echinoderms. He used computer models based on the morphology of these animals to run mathematical simulations on how water currents would have interacted with them. Watching students present made me feel better about the idea of someday presenting myself at these kinds of event, which is a huge benefit of going with a lab group or colleagues, specially when you are new to the conference experience.

Stephen Hill presenting his research on diploporan feeding and respiratory systems modeling.

There was also a large poster exhibition hall at the conference, here you get to have a more one-to-one experience with the people who are actually heading these research projects and get to ask questions. These posters are not only an interactive way of find out about the latest active fields of research, but you also get great networking opportunities. This is where I got to talk with the many great professionals and their students to get a better idea of how graduate school works and what I should expect for the application process.

From the perspective of an undergrad, attending GSA was definitely a worthwhile experience that gave me ample opportunity for networking and broadening my perspective on relevant topics in my field. Even though my preferred area of study is paleontology, there is definitely something for everyone in geology. As stated previously, I wouldn’t let an opportunity like this pass, and neither should you.

Allison’s Experience at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Conference

January 10, 2022December 8, 2021AdrianeLeave a comment

Allison here-

Every fall, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) holds a conference. This year (2021) was the eighty-first conference, second online conference, and the second year I have attended. Although the membership of SVP has some overlap with the Geological Society of America, this conference is much more specialized – focusing only on vertebrates. Vertebrate focused education, preservation, and trace fossils (e.g. tracks, burrows, scat) are included along with research of specimens.

Due to issues with private collecting of fossils, SVP has strict ethics guidelines on specimens included in research. Fossils in private collections or currently for sale cannot be included in abstracts or presented research. Research specimens referred to must be “destined to be made available in full at the time of publication”.

I wanted to attend the SVP conference again so I could learn about cutting edge research, research methods, and attend virtual networking sessions. I presented my research as a poster last year but did not present this year. Hopefully, I will present research next year.

Online conferences make networking difficult, but SVP hosted zoom roundtable discussion sessions and daily coffee hours. These allowed for a casual networking atmosphere. The roundtable events were fresh and informative, focusing on issues such as mental health, LGBTQ+ scientists, disability, and diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.

I was part of a workshop entitled “Inclusive Science Communication”. There, I learned about website and figure accessibility (e.g. maps can be difficult for those with colorblindness), use of inclusive language and awareness of assumptions, and the importance of considering the intended audience.

One of the events SVP holds is the Romer prize, a prestigious prize awarded to a recent or soon-to-be PhD graduate for the best presentation. I was able to watch the majority of the Romer prize talks. I learned about a variety of fascinating research, from bone histology to fossil primates. These presentations also demonstrate ways to structure talks, visually structure slides, and present research. I find it helpful to learn from other’s examples with skills like presenting.

One of the best parts about attending conferences is learning about cutting-edge research. For instance, I learned that many paleontologists are using isotope geochemistry to answer really interesting research questions. This has inspired me to sign up for an isotope geochemistry course next semester.

Besides being exposed to new research, I was able to watch presentations and see posters of research similar to my master’s thesis project. I study speciation in wolves using geometric morphometrics and was able to learn about other’s research methods for handling the immense amounts of hybridization between wolf species and coyotes, such as mitochondrial DNA. It’s refreshing to see different approaches to a problem I’m focused on.

I look forward to attending future SVPs, hopefully in person.

Kelsey Jenkins’s Geological Society of America 2021 Meeting Experience

December 29, 2021December 29, 2021AdrianeLeave a comment

Kels here –

Group photo of Yale students at GSA conference.

I had been up since 2 am Saturday morning in order to travel from Connecticut to New York in order to make a 7:35 am flight. I was sleep-deprived, but so extremely excited to attend my first in-person conference since 2019. GSA doesn’t typically attract the largest cohort of vertebrate paleontologists, but this year promised larger attendance. Everyone is eager to see each other in person again since the pandemic stole so much time away from us.

At 7:34 am, a flight attendant announced, “This morning’s flight has been canceled due to no pilot.”

I’m not kidding. This happened. Was this some sort of ironic joke? My lab mates and I had been planning this trip for months! We had meetings to schedule flights together, book the Airbnb, practice our presentations…

All our flights were scattered to new times that day, but between the rebookings and confusion between airlines, our rag-tag crew of grad students made it to Portland more-or-less in one piece.

Again, we were up by 7 am the next morning to go straight to the conference. Portland’s convention center where the conference was held is massive, and I found myself running back-and-forth to catch all the brilliant talks and posters. GSA even held poster and talk sessions on the topic of virtual paleontology, where my own poster on digital fossil reconstruction was featured. Listening to so many clever scientists discuss how they tackle issues related digital methods revealed to me just how quickly paleontology is propelling into state-of-the-art techniques. It felt good to be surrounded by all the science. It felt even better to hug my friends for the first time in years.

There were so many other highlights of the meeting. First, I met people I had only previously met in video calls and Twitter. Turns out they’re pretty amazing people, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to discuss our interests over lunches and dinners. Second, I received amazing feedback on my own poster, and I’m thrilled by the collaborations that the presentation sparked. Third, I have to admit I stepped away from the convention center to visit the Oregon Zoo, Powell’s Books (the largest independent bookstore in the world), and VooDoo Doughnut. What’s the point in holding conferences in fun places if you don’t explore just a little, right?

To be completely honest, I wasn’t sure I’d care much for GSA beforehand. I thought it might not be the best fit for my research interests. GSA and the many wonderful people who attended proved me wrong. I anticipate attending this conference many more times in the future, and I’m so honored that the Tilly Edinger Travel Grant offered me the opportunity to do so.

Me holding a 3D printed reptile skull to use at my poster presentation

Sinjini’s Geological Society of America Connects 2021 Experience

Quote December 22, 2021December 29, 2021Adriane2 Comments

Sinjini here–

The Geological Society of America (GSA) annual meeting is one of the biggest geology conferences, which is attended by over 5000 geologists every year. GSA is full of opportunities for everyone – students, academics, early career researchers, K-12 teachers as well as industry professionals. Despite the international travel restrictions, researchers located outside of the USA including students could participate in the meeting this year due to the hybrid mode of the conference. International researchers recorded and uploaded their talks and were present over the zoom platform to answer questions from the audience during their presentation timeslot. With the valuable assistance from Time Scavengers, GSA, Jackson School of Geosciences, and my Ph.D. supervisor, I could attend and present a poster on my preliminary research results at GSA Connects 2021 in Portland, Oregon. The poster was about taxonomic assessment of macrofaunal communities from the Early Jurassic of Morocco. It was my first GSA poster presentation, and I received a lot of constructive feedback on my poster. It was also good to discuss science with fellow researchers who stopped by my poster; sometimes I learned about their research, and at other times I received intriguing interdisciplinary ideas. I realized posters are an extremely effective way to receive feedback when presenting preliminary results and there is ample scope to interact with other researchers, while showcasing my research.

Apart from my poster presentation, I attended several talks. In the evenings, I visited the exhibit halls and attended receptions, which were organized by the different GSA divisions and communities within the broader GSA. My day one at GSA 2021 started with the mass extinction technical session. My research focuses on triggers and kill mechanisms associated with mass extinctions, and hence, the mass extinction session was perfect to start the conference with. I attended several other paleontology and paleoecology sessions the same day. In the evening, I explored the different booths in the exhibit halls and then attended the Geology and Society division’s social event called, “New Terranes” (formerly known as Rocks and Hops). I was the student representative of the Geology and Society division from 2018-2020, where I worked with an excellent group of geoscientists dedicated in integrating the science to the society. I met the board members with whom I worked previously, while making new connections at the reception.

I started my day two with a geochemistry session, specifically about applications of isotopes in carbon cycle and their correlation with mass extinctions. After the geochemistry session, I went to another session on trace fossils. In the afternoon, I attended a technical session on geoscience education. It was an interactive session, where there was active audience participation, for example, for one of the talks we (the audience) were divided into small groups to answer how a mountain belt evolved tectonically. During another presentation, we interacted with people sitting next to us to understand the survival and extinction of reef ecosystems. By collaboratively working through each of the 15 minutes presentations, I could effectively learn about topics outside of my research area by applying the hands-on techniques as demonstrated by the speakers. After the technical sessions, I attended the “GSA International” reception. The GSA international division works to establish collaborative relationships with GSA and other scientific societies worldwide. Anyone could be a member of the division, including international researchers who work worldwide or in the US as well as US researchers who work internationally. There were delegates from Nepal, Egypt, Morocco, Chile, Colombia, and from different US universities at the reception. Apart from scientific knowledge, I also got an opportunity to learn about the work and social cultures of the different countries. There were delegates from the GSA foundation and Fulbright Scholarship Commission as well. It was great to know about the amazing geoscience work the division does such as holding conferences, workshops, and lecture sessions globally. In addition to the GSA Geology and Society and the GSA international reception, I attended the Jackson School of Geosciences friends and alumni event. It was my department’s reception, where I interacted with recent graduates and alumni of my department.

GSA international reception (photo credits: Dr. Nazrul Khandaker)

In addition to the paleontology and geoscience education sessions, I attended the Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE) session, where representatives from different organizations participating in the URGE program presented about their institute pods and their plan forward. Overall, although the number of people were comparatively lower than other years, it was a successful meeting. There were plenty of technical sessions to stay updated on the state-of-the-art research, as well as ample opportunities to meet new scientists to enhance one’s professional network.

Charlotte Hohman’s GSA Connects Experience

December 17, 2021November 23, 2021jenebauerLeave a comment

Charlotte holding conference name tag for GSA

This year, I attended my first National Geological Society of America meeting, now called GSA Connects. It ran several days from October 10th — 13th, and over 3,000 people attended, representing many different subsets of geology and related fields. There was a virtual option, but I attended the in-person conference hosted in Portland, Oregon, at the Oregon Convention Center. There were talks, posters, and a plethora of booths from different schools and organizations, along with many different networking opportunities provided by the Geological Society itself.

My poster was accepted and assigned to the advances in paleontology session on Wednesday the 13th, but I did attend the whole duration of the conference. Although I am a Montana State University undergraduate student, the research I presented was in association with the Western Science Center (WSC) in Hemet, California. The WSC had a booth at the conference, which I helped out at. They were speaking on their broader impacts initiative, where they give researchers the ability to do outreach about their own research by having an exhibit at the WSC.

I was also attending the conference as a student ambassador for the Paleontological Society. I worked at the society’s booth during the conference, speaking with professionals and students about the journals, scholarships, and conference opportunities available through society memberships. At the booth, I was able to speak to Paleo Society mentors and other student ambassadors about my plans and struggles within the field and was able to get feedback and suggestions on how to continue to successfully move forward within the field.

Charlotte preparing a Lake Elsinore specimen

As I mentioned, there were also professional resources provided by the Geological Society— one of the resources that I took advantage of was the CV and resume reviews. I am a junior in college at the moment and am starting to look at summer internships. Many applications require a CV, so I brought mine in for a review. I got some very helpful feedback on how to improve the formatting, have worked on it some more, and am quite happy with how it’s been turning out.

Many schools also had booths at the conference. I plan on going to grad school, so being able to speak to school representatives and current students was extremely helpful. I am still working out if I want to do a master’s or apply straight to Ph.D. programs after finishing my bachelor’s, so seeing what is available and having those conversations makes me feel like I’ll be able to make a more informed choice.

I was also able to attend talks related to the research I’m doing at Montana State University, which focuses on dromaeosaurid dinosaurs. Due to the pandemic, in-person conferences and museum visits were largely put on hold, and I was not able to meet with other people working on the same family of animals. The conference finally provided that opportunity, and I was able to discuss my research in detail and receive constructive feedback. The feedback I received allowed me to ask questions about my own project that I otherwise may not have thought of and has given me many ideas on how to evaluate and strengthen my claims.

Charlotte doing a livestream about her poster before the session begins.

As I stated earlier, however, the work I was presenting at the conference was not my university research, but rather the work I’ve done in association with the Western Science Center. The focus of my presentation was the disappearance of megafaunal animals in Southern California during the end Pleistocene (Ice Age) extinctions with a focus on horses. Horses disappeared from California at or near the end of the Pleistocene, along with most other large mammals— but the order of disappearance of the large mammals in the Southern California region isn’t well documented. Lake Elsinore is a naturally occurring lake in Riverside County, California. During the 2017-2019 excavations of a housing development in Lake Elsinore, numerous fossils were exposed by mitigation company VCS Environmental. These finds included large mammals, small animals, invertebrates, and wood. The site dates to around 14,600 — 14,800 years before present. The fossils are consistent with other Late Pleistocene fossil assemblages from Southern California, with the large mammal bones belonging to camels, bison, and mastodons— but no horses! This is extremely odd— Its absence is likely not due to habitat preference, as horse fossils are found in abundance across many different Southern California sites, from the Mojave desert to the famous La Brea Tar Pits. Its absence from Lake Elsinore is likely not due to a sampling bias because of the number of well-preserved fossils recovered from the site. My co-author Dr. Alton Dooley and I suggest that the absence of horses could be perhaps attributed to the start of their disappearance happening before the extinction of mastodons and camels and the disappearance of bison from Southern California.

Charlotte doing photogrammetry to build a 3D model of a Lake Elsinore specimen

I was grateful for all the people that stopped by and listened, and I had multiple constructive conversations with other scientists. I was able to speak to other paleontologists, several geologists, and even a geoarchaeologist. These conversations allowed me to discuss multiple aspects of the site, which I found incredibly helpful.

This was by far the largest conference I had ever been to, and although all the people and interactions could be a bit overwhelming at times, I learned so much about possible paths in the field, made good connections, and am excited to continue working on my research both at the university, the museum, and in the future in general.

Annual Meeting of the German Geological Society

December 6, 2021December 1, 2021AdrianeLeave a comment

Iris here –

The annual meeting of the German Geological Society (Deutsche Geologische Gesellschaft Geologische Vereinigung (DGGV)) was hosted by the city of Karlsruhe in 2021. Like many other conferences in the last two years, it was held online. At online conferences it is particularly difficult to have fun get-togethers and to participate in casual conversation. At GeoKarlsruhe 2021, some social events were organized that helped to make the conference more lively.

Firstly, there was the well-organized icebreaker on Sunday. Within the online platform “wonder” a nice room was prepared with several spaces and activities. Among them a pub quiz, a video space, a music space and individual spaces to meet. The pub quiz was quite entertaining and there were small prizes to be won. Sadly, I did not win a prize 😉. The video about an excursion to Oman was very cool and increased my interest to visit the region myself. Overall, the icebreaker was a great opportunity to talk to attendees in advance in small groups or individually.

The conference itself offered a wide variety of scientific topics. They ranged from Earth surface processes and sedimentation to marine geology, climate, geo-energy, geo-analytics, regional geology, tectonics, and applied geology, as well as mineralogical and geophysical topics. My greatest scientific interest was in the sessions on paleoclimate and sedimentology. However, the main reason I attended the conference was to organize the Early Career Researchers (ECR) meeting, the ECR game night, and the Young Scientist Session.

At the Young Scientist Session, we had 13 very interesting oral presentations. The session was divided into three parts, lasting from Tuesday morning to evening. At lunchtime on Tuesday, the SGA Student Chapter organised a little “networking speed dating” event. It was quite fun because you were sent into a breakout session with another random person, where you briefly got to know each other and talked for a bit. After 15 minutes, you were then assigned to the next person to talk to. The atmosphere was relaxed, and it was nice to meet some of the other attendees and learn what fascinated them most about their research topics.

The ECR meeting took place on Wednesday at lunchtime. At the meeting, we, the early career network of the German Geological Society, briefly introduced ourselves and then opened the space for networking and exchange between ECRs. For this, breakout sessions with different research independent topics were open for 45 min. It was super nice to get to talk about topics that are relevant to many early career researchers. It was a good reminder, that others are struggling with similar issues in their studies and PhDs. I was able to benefit from the experiences of the other attendees in my breakout room and even received some helpful tips.

Wednesday evening, starting at 8pm, we had an online game night. Here we had a lot of fun playing “geoguessr”. In this game you are set in a place on earth (unknown to you) and you can only navigate through Google Street View. You can move and look around a bit to find clues to where you are. Finally, you have to choose a point on the world map based on the visual impressions and see how close your guess is to the actual place you’ve seen.

Overall, the conference was very interesting. For me, it had a good balance between listening to interesting talks (while chilling on the couch) and talking to other conference participants. Still, it was a bit tiring to sit in front of the screen all day, often aswell during lunch breaks and in the evening to talk to people. I have yet to experience an online conference where networking is as fun as in a face-to-face conference. But the lower impact on the climate by eliminating the need for long journeys make online conferences very attractive. I would like to see more hybrid events in the future. It would be great to be able to attend international conferences without having to travel far by plane, but also to attend some regional conferences in person again to have the full conference experience from time to time.

3rd Palaeontological Virtual Congress

November 24, 2021November 24, 2021jenebauerLeave a comment

This year is the third iteration of an entirely online conference, Palaeontological Virtual Congress, open to abstract submissions from anyone studying paleontological sciences. A broadly accessible conference as the digital means provides increased access to scientific content. There is flexibility with file format, presenters can be visible on camera augmented by images and slides edited into the video, upload their slides without an overlaying audio, or walk through their slides while providing audio narrative. We asked Vicente Crespo, the main organizer, some questions about the concept and the history of the conference.

Who organized this event?

The Organizing Committee is formed by 9 people, with 3 professors (Evangelos Vlachos, Rosalía Guerrero-Arenas and Penélope Cruzádo-Caballero), 4 post-doctoral researchers (María Ríos, Francesc Gascó, Humberto G. Ferrón and me), and 2 pre-doc students (Fernando A. M. Arnal and José Luis Herráiz) from five different countries. In the past editions of the congress, it was expected there would be around 100 participants, and the final attendees were near 400. This year there was a total of 275 contributions presented, and I we will have around 600 participants, which at the moment are from 51 different registered countries.

What are the major changes in the upcoming event compared to the last installment?

Although we always try to keep a similar format, which is comfortable and easy for users, we also try to innovate in each edition and try to learn each time from the advice given by the participants. This is why this edition we have set new Discord channels, so that interaction between participants is more direct and easy plus we set a new website. But, and above all, in this edition we really wanted to make clear the purpose of this initiative which is to reach all, and include all, which meant setting a new Social Fund that allows participants from low and lower-middle income countries to get a registration free of charge.

Online conferences have gotten much more common as the COVID-19 crisis persists. Will this change how people perceive the PalaeoVC?

I hope it won’t change the way people see us! It is true that in these difficult times, typically face-to-face congresses have become virtual. Most of them have kept their in-person soul, that is, reduced to the same time period as their face-to-face versions and the conferences in real time, although I believe that in time, they will return to being in person. However, in the PVC, which was held before the pandemic, and is aimed at a more global audience, the congress lasts 15 days, and the presentations are not live, so you can enjoy them at any time of the day, and as many times as you want, with the freedom other type of events do not provide.

Will there be a 4th PalaeoVC?

Hopefully there will be a fourth edition, especially with the success in participation of this third edition. Our idea is to hold it every year and a half, so the next one should be in May 2023.

So hope you enjoy it and See you soon at the 3rd PVC… and at the 4th PVC!

To learn more about the Palaeontological Virtual Congress, follow them on Facebook at PalaeoVC, Instagram @palaeovc, and on Twitter @palaeovc!

Happy National Fossil Day 2021!

October 13, 2021December 29, 2021AdrianeLeave a comment

National Fossil Day poster for 2021 by the National Park Service.

Today is International Fossil Day!

International Fossil Day is an initiative by the International Paleontological Association and the National Park Service (National Fossil Day in the U.S.), the idea is to spread the interest in the life of the past and many different organisations and museums around the world host events or activities today. Of course we, the Time Scavengers team, have to participate in this, there can never be too much paleo-related fun!

We want to celebrate IFD by showing off our team members’ favourite extinct species or individual fossils, some facts about the species or individual and why we picked them as our favourites.

Click here to visit the National Park Service website to learn more about National Fossil Day, and here to visit the International Palaeontological Association to learn more about International Fossil Day!

Linda

A fossil cave bear skeleton. Image credit: Wikipedia.

Most of my paleontology lectures during my undergrad took place in small rooms somewhere deep in the side wings of the institute building, on the edge of the paleontological collection/museum that is located within the institute. Whenever me and my friends were waiting for our professors to show up, we would stare and marvel at the exhibited specimens. I vividly remember walking into that area for the first time, it is dominated by a huge, mounted skeleton of an adult cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) and I was completely blown away by the sheer power it radiates. I didn’t care too much about the T. rex skull cast around the corner that most others found so fascinating. From that first day of paleo classes, having my own mounted cave bear skeleton has been on the top of my bucket list. U. spelaeus lived during the Pleistocene across both northern Asia and Europe and went extinct during the Last Glacial Maximum about 24,000 years ago. They are closely related to brown bears (Ursus arctos), the two species have a last common ancestor about 1.2 million years ago. Even though they were huge, powerful bears that were reaching 3.5m (11.5ft) when standing upright, with large teeth and fearsome claws, it’s currently thought that the majority of the western populations were eating an almost exclusively vegetarian diet! Recently, two very well preserved frozen cave bear carcasses have been discovered in two separate areas of thawing permafrost in Russia, an adult and a cub, both with almost all soft tissue present and intact. I’m already excited and looking forward to reading all the new research that will be done on these specimens!

Maggie

Cast of U. anceps skull. Image credit: Wikipedia.

I worked at the Field Museum of Natural History during the summer of 2015 and that experience was what solidified my interest in paleontology. I worked with my supervisor on Eocene mammals from the western United States and had some of my first experiences doing large scientific outreach events during that summer. Because of that summer I will always have a soft spot for Uintatheres!

Uintatheres (U. anceps) lived during the Eocene in North America and were large browsers. These animals looked similar to rhinos but male U. anceps had six knob-shaped protrusions coming off of their skulls. Part of my experience working with these fossils was reorganizing the collections space that housed the skulls, they are incredibly heavy! I mentioned that U. anceps were browsers, but they also had long canine teeth that resemble the canines of saber tooth cats. These teeth may have been used as a defense mechanism but also may have played a role in how they plucked leaves from plants. While I don’t work on Eocene mammals now, Uintatheres will always be special to me for the role they played in getting me excited about paleontology and scientific outreach!

Whitney

I cannot pick just one fossil to highlight right now, so here are two of my favorites! In 2016, I was studying in England and visited the Natural History Museum in London where I saw an incredible ammonite, Asteroceras stellare. Asteroceras was a large ammonite that lived during the Early Jurassic and whose shell reached nearly three feet in diameter. Asteroceras was a nektonic carnivore who might have fed on fish, crustaceans, and bivalves.

My favorite vertebrate fossil is the Ichthyosaur. I loved visiting the Jurassic Coast in England and got to explore Lyme Regis, both the birthplace of Mary Anning and a town that had references to paleontology everywhere you looked. You can see ichthyosaur fossils in both the Lyme Regis Museum and the Natural History Museum in London and at the NHM, you can see some of the specimens that Mary Anning and her family had collected along the Jurassic Coast. Ichthyosaurs (Greek for “fish lizard”), are marine reptiles that lived during much of the Mesozoic and were thought to be one of the top aquatic predators of their time.

Mike

I have three favorite extinct species: the American mastodon (Mammut americanum), the dinosaur Parasaurolophus, and the chalicothere Moropus elatus. Mastodons are distant relatives of the elephants, and they seem to be overshadowed by the wooly mammoth. However, both lived in North America until the end of the Pleistocene epoch. I’ve always thought that Parasaurolophus was an elegant duck-billed dinosaur, and I’ve seen them featured in several movies in the Jurassic Park series. I think that chalicotheres are so bizarre! Distant relatives to horses, rhinos, and tapirs, imagine a big draft horse with giant claws instead of hooves! I’ve seen several skeletons of these over the years. Moropus elatus went extinct in the Miocene epoch.

Alex

Like anyone in paleo would tell you I can’t pick one particular fossil organism as my favorite. Currently my favorite fossil organism is the “bear-dog” known as Amphicyon ingens which would have been a formidable predator during the Mid-Miocene. The cenozoic was a time for innovation in mammals and bear-dogs were the best of both worlds. All the stoic grandeur of a bear and all the cute charm of a dog, what more could you want? The picture shown was taken at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Jonathan Jordan (Paleo Policy Podcast)

For me, the Mesozoic reigns supreme. However, my recent trip to the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles gave me a greater appreciation for the Cenozoic era and mammalian evolution in general. While it may not be my favorite fossil ever, I was captivated by Panthera atrox’s look and the idea of an American Serengeti 340,000 to 11,000 years ago. Genetic analysis suggests with high likelihood that Panthera atrox is a close relative of the Eurasian Cave Lion (Panthera spelaea). After the Bering Strait land bridge was submerged by rising sea levels, Panthera atrox was isolated from its Eurasian relatives and became a distinct species that has been found as north as Alaska and as south as Mexico. Neat! Check out an image of Panthera atrox’s skull on the Smithsonian Learning Lab site!

Kristina

I’m fortunate to have worked on many different types of animals during my career, starting with dinosaurs, then moving to Devonian brachiopods and their encrusting organisms, and now working on much younger Pleistocene-aged animals that are still alive today. I mostly study biotic interactions, such as predation, so I thought I would share my favourite trace fossil (ichnotaxon), Caedichnus! Trace fossils are different than a body fossil because they show evidence (or traces) of an organism or its behaviour. In the case of Caedichnus, this trace fossil is created by a crab trying to break into the shell of a snail by peeling away at the shell opening (aperture) until it can reach the snail’s soft body. Imagine having a crab try to peel your shell back like an orange – scary! Caedichnus traces are useful for determining how many crabs were in an area, and identifying patterns of crab predation through space and time. I’m now using them to determine the impacts of climate change and human activity on crab fisheries since pre-human times.

Adriane

Like most of my colleagues above, it is incredibly hard for me to say which fossil is my favorite! So instead, I’ll talk about my favorite fossil group, the foraminifera. Foraminifera are single-celled protists that live in the surface ocean (planktic foraminifera) or in/on ocean sediments (benthic foraminifera). Planktic foraminifera are my favorites; they evolved about 175 million years ago, and still live in the global ocean today! One of the ways which we know about past climate states how the ocean behaved to such warming and cooling events of the geologic past is through analyzing the chemistry of fossil foraminifera shells, or tests! Foraminifera are also incredibly useful in studies of evolution, as they have a robust fossil record. Learn more about Foraminifera here!

Time Scavengers

Scavenging the fossil record for clues to Earth's climate and life