Natural History articles from May 2005

Natural History archives from May 2005

Preparing for takeoff?(THE NATURAL MOMENT)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... In his April 1998 column for Natural History, the late Stephen J. Gould warned his readers that fossil forgeries were flooding out of Morocco. Now the hotbed of fakery seems to have shifted to China, where the black market demand for dinosaur...

Dinosaurs: why we care.(UP FRONT)
May 1, 2005... Come one! Come all! Come children of all ages--the dinosaurs are back in town! That's right, kids, the world's most captivating creatures, those marvelous megafauna from the Mesozoic, the greatest attractions in all of natural history, are...

From the ground up.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2005... In his article "How Trees Get High" [3/05], Adam Summers writes, "At the tubes, the water evaporates into spaces within the trees' leaves...." The xylem tubes, however, are not open. They end blindly in the leaf, surrounded by chlorenchyma...

Awakening the "dead".(SAMPLINGS: Time Probes)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... 30,000 B.C. -- Biologists have discovered a new bacterium. True, such discoveries are made many times a month--but this bacterium was found alive in 32,000-year-old Alaskan ice. When Richard B. Hoover, a NASA astrobiologist, melted a chunk of...

Green tide.(SAMPLINGS: Time Probes)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... 250,000,000 B.C. -- Earth's most devastating mass extinction of the past half-billion years swept across our planet about 250 million years ago, bringing the Permian period to an end. Some estimates put the casualty rate at more than 90 percent...

Eau de chypre.(SAMPLINGS: Time Probes)(ancient perfume factory in southern Cyprus)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... 1900 B.C. -- When Cleopatra betook herself to the Mediterranean town of Tarsus at the command of Mark Antony, she is said to have perfumed the sails of her barge, causing the winds to stir his heart and herald her arrival. But archaeologists...

A taste for dinos.(SAMPLINGS: Time Probes)(fossil of cat-size Repenomamus discovered)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... 130,000,000 B.C. -- When dinosaurs strode the Earth, early mammals were walking nearby. Until now, however, the received opinion has been that the mammals were rat-size insect eaters, discreet and nocturnal, cowering in the dark as the mighty...

Why scramble a good design?(SAMPLINGS: Time Probes)(70-million-year-old dinosaur egg)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... 70,000,000 B.C. -- Rotten eggs are bad enough when they come from chickens, so imagine the smell of a 70-million-year-old dinosaur egg. But a team of paleontologists led by Mary H. Schweitzer of North Carolina State University in Raleigh was...

Thinker's brain.(SAMPLINGS: Time Probes)(Homo floresiensis' brain researched)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... 16,000 B.C. -- Homo floresiensis, the miniature human species discovered last October on the Indonesian island of Flores, has been much in the news. Alive as recently as 18,000 years ago, the species was contemporary with our own. And near the...

Cloud nine.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2005... Having just read "Send In the Clouds," [12/04-1/05] by Neil de-Grasse Tyson, I knew it was time to send a long-overdue letter. Mr. Tyson writes the most informative and easy to understand column I have ever read on a subject that should be...

Amendment.(LETTERS)(Correction Notice)
May 1, 2005... Robert H. Mohlenbrock's statement in "Peak Experience" [3/05] that there are no representatives of-the burseraceous plants in temperate North America was incorrect. Plants in this genus, such as Bursera microphylla (also known as the elephant...

Scenic byways: from prairie to forest, mountain to seashore ~ and all four points of the compass ~ summer adventures for everyone.(SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION)(Advertisement)
May 1, 2005... See and Feel Quebec maritime Quebec maritime is 3,000 kilometres (1,900 miles) of coastline, hundreds of islands, nine national parks, 13 species of whales, and mountains among the highest in Eastern Canada. As the St. Lawrence carved its...

Wear and tear.(SAMPLINGS: Time Probes)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... A.D. 1000--For millions of years before the invention of bulldozers, ox-pulled ploughs, rotary tillers, and steam shovels, Earth's skin was eroded at a slow, steady pace by wind, water, and natural chemical change. Now that people have taken...

Not Jurassic Park?(SAMPLINGS: Time Probes)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... 68,000,000 B.C.--Intentionally breaking bones isn't standard operating procedure for a paleontologist. But there was no other way to get the thighbone of a recently excavated 68-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex fossil from a remote part of...

Rosy past.(SAMPLINGS: Time Probes)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... 11,000,000,000 B.C.--In the universe, as in Rome, ancient history is all around us. The cosmic microwave background, which formed as soon as the young universe had cooled clown enough for electrons and protons to bind, bathes us all in...

Knock 'em dead: how does one extinguish life on Earth? Let me count the ways.(UNIVERSE)
May 1, 2005... Ever since dinosaur bones were discovered, scientists have proffered no end of explanations for the disappearance of the hapless critters. Maybe a torrid climate dried up the available sources of water, some say. Maybe volcanoes covered the...

Bringing up baby: the evidence mounts that some dinosaurs were attentive parents.(NATURALIST AT LARGE)
May 1, 2005... In Montana, the summer of 1993 barely existed. It snowed in June and August, and in between there was plenty of cold rain. On ground normally baked hard and dry by the summer sun, I had my first and only badland encounters with salamanders and...

The varieties of Tyrannosaurs: knowledge about the most fearsome dinosaurs and their relatives is finally measuring up to the animals' fame.
May 1, 2005... A hundred years ago, Henry Fairfield Osborn, a vertebrate paleontologist and curator at the American Museum of Natural History, reintroduced the world to one of the most spectacular animals ever to have trod Earth: Tyrannosaurus rex. The...

All in the family: a cladogram shows how dinosaurs are related to each other--and how the birds fit in.
May 1, 2005... The evolutionary relations--the pattern of common ancestry--among the various dinosaur groups mentioned in this issue are mapped out on this "family tree," known as a cladogram. Biologists create cladograms on the basis of the way specialized...

Bird's--eye view: because modern dinosaurs are flying all around us, examining them closely can offer new insights into the lives of their fossilized ancestors.
May 1, 2005... The array of the dinosaurs that flourished during the Mesozoic era was as dazzling as any bestiary ever imagined; not even medieval fantasies of griffins and unicorns could compete with the fabulous record of fossils in rock. Yet with a single...

For decoration.(What Good Was All the Headgear?)
May 1, 2005... After prospecting for several hours one hot, dusty afternoon in the summer of 1983, I noticed a round, cracked, softball-size, and honey-colored fossil emerging from the badlands around the Judith River Formation in Montana. I was about to...

For defense.(What Good Was All the Headgear?)
May 1, 2005... When fossil ceratopsians, or horned dinosaurs, were first discovered in the American West in the 1870s, the enormous spikes, horns, and neck shields that sprouted from the creatures' humongous skulls instantly captivated the public and...

Dinosaur disputes.(BUTTING HEADS)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... In the social arena, controversies I are fed by opinion and ideology. I Uncomfortable facts are routinely ignored. Among scientists--ideally, at least--controversies must be grounded in facts. But merely piling up facts doesn't close a case....

"Cold-blooded".(BUTTING HEADS: Were Dinosaurs "Cold--" or "Warm-blooded"?)
May 1, 2005... Endothermy, or warm-bloodedness, in birds and mammals results from high rates of internal heat production, even while at rest. In the wild, metabolic rates in birds and mammals are about twenty times higher than they are in reptiles. These...

"Warm-blooded".(BUTTING HEADS: Were Dinosaurs "Cold--" or "Warm-blooded"?)
May 1, 2005... When I was growing up, paleontologists (and virtually everyone else) regarded dinosaurs as slow-moving, stupid, ill-adapted reptiles--in short, ectothermic, or "cold-blooded." Now all that has changed: the dinosaurs' ancestors may have been...

Yes, and an asteroid did the deed.(BUTTING HEADS: Were Dinosaurs the Victims of a Single Catastrophe?)
May 1, 2005... The idea that a single, spectacular, catastrophic event--an asteroid impact--at the end of the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago, obliterated all the nonbird dinosaurs (as well as many other organisms) is a simple, attractive scenario....

No, it only finished them off.(BUTTING HEADS: Were Dinosaurs the Victims of a Single Catastrophe?)
May 1, 2005... Some 65 million years ago, Murphy's Law applied--almost everything that could have gone wrong did: A huge bolide, or asteroid, struck Earth. Globally, the seas receded. Fissures on the Indian subcontinent spewed forth thousands of cubic...

From the trees down.(BUTTING HEADS: How Did Dinosaurs Begin to Fly?)
May 1, 2005... A century-old controversy over whether avian flight began in the trees (trees-down theory) or on the ground (ground-up theory) finally appears to be settled. Hundreds of small, exquisitely preserved feathered theropod dinosaurs were discovered...

From the ground up.(BUTTING HEADS: How Did Dinosaurs Begin to Fly?)
May 1, 2005... Early on a windy December morning, slightly more than a hundred years ago, the Wright brothers' Flyer made a short takeoff run, then took to the air. The airplane was aloft for only 120 feet, but the flight was epoch-making: the first time a...

A dinosaur lover's bookshelf: with so much out there, how is a dinophile to choose?
May 1, 2005... A persistent problem for the dinosaur fan, and no less for the parents thereof, is the search for the perfect dinosaur book. What the reader is looking for is a work that is textually and visually accurate, up to date, and comprehensive. ...

Dino Dung: The Scoop on Fossil Feces.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Dino Dung: The Scoop on Fossil Feces, by Karen Chin and Thorn Holmes; illustrated by Karen Cart (Random House Step Into Reading, 2005; $3.99) In the past several years the Step Into Reading imprint has released a number of children's books...

Dinosaurs!(Brief Article)(Book Review)(Children's Review)
May 1, 2005... Dinosaurs! by Robert T. Bakker; illustrated by Luis V. Rey (Random House, 2005; $8.99) This book combines the talents of two of the more imaginative (some might say "controversial") workers in dinosaur studies. Robert Bakker, whose...

I Like Dinosaurs! Series(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... I Like Dinosaurs! by Michael W. Skrepnick, a series for children ages six through eight (Enslow Publishers, Inc., $21.26 each) Diplodocus: Gigantic Long-Necked Dinosaur (2005) Sinosauropteryx: Mysterious Feathered Dinosaur (to appear in...

The Dinosaur Library.(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... The Dinosaur Library, by Thorn Holmes and Laurie Holmes, illustrated by Michael William Skrepnick (Enslow, Publishers, Inc.; $26.60 each) Armored, Plated, and Bone-Headed Dinosaurs (2002) Baby Dinosaurs: Eggs, Nests, and Recent...

How to Keep Dinosaurs.(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... How to Keep Dinosaurs, by Robert Mash (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003; $14.99) A Field Guide to Dinosaurs: The Essential Handbook for Travelers in the Mesozoic, by Henry Gee, illustrated by Luis V. Rey (Barron's, 2003; $24.95) These two books...

Dinosaurs: The Science Behind the Stories.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Dinosaurs: The Science Behind the Stories, edited by Judith G. Scotchmoor, Dale A. Springer, Brent H. Breithaupt, and Anthony R. Fiorillo (American Geological Institute, 2002; $29.95) How do we know what we know about dinosaurs? In this...

Feathered Dragons: Studies on the Transition from Dinosaurs to Birds.(The Carnivorous Dinosaurs)(Thunder-Lizards:The Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Feathered Dragons: Studies in the Transition from Dinosaurs to Birds, edited by Philip J. Currie, Eva B. Koppelhus, Martin A. Shugar, and Joanna L. Wright (Indiana University Press, 2004; $49.95) The Carnivorous Dinosaurs, edited by Kenneth...

The Dinosauria.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... The Dinosauria, Second Edition, edited by David B. Weishampel, Peter Dodson, and Halska Osmolska (University of California Press, 2004; $95.00) The Dinosauria is the primary professional reference for dinosaur paleontology. Well-worn...

Dino Web digs.(nature.net; dinosaur web sites)(www.ucmp.berkeley.edu)(www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs)
May 1, 2005... Most children these days go through a "dinosaur phase," and my son was no exception. Before his interest subsided, he'd consumed just about everything he could get his hands on about the geologic age of the dinosaurs. He's moved on now, but...

Loading the cannon: how do asteroids from the belt between Jupiter and Mars get into near-Earth orbits?(OUT THERE)
May 1, 2005... Sixty-five million years ago the Mesozoic era ended with a bang. An asteroid several miles across slammed into our planet, just off what is now the northern coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The energy released by the collision--far greater...

The sky in May.
May 1, 2005... As May begins, Mercury is continuing the poor apparition it made in April, hanging low in the east at sunrise. Although the planet brightens from magnitude 0.2 to-0.4 in the first two weeks of May, it rises only about forty-five minutes before...

FYI reader service.
May 1, 2005... 1. ADVENTURE CANADA Travel on the 104-passenger, zodiac-equipped M/S Explorer and discover the art, culture and wildlife of Arctic Canada and Greenland with our team of artists, scientists, and culturalists. 2. ADVENTURE LIFE JOURNEYS...

Dinosaur exhibition sheds new light on old bones.(At the Museum: American Museum Of Natural History)
May 1, 2005... Fantastic images of dinosaurs have captivated the public's imagination for more than 150 years, from the bulky Iguanodon models created by Waterhouse Hawkins in 1853 to the computer animated Tprannosaurus rex charging through Jurassic Park. On...

Museum events: American Museum of Natural History.(Calendar)
May 1, 2005... EXHIBITIONS Totems to Turquoise: Native North American Jewelry Arts of the Northwest and Southwest Through July 10, 2005 This groundbreaking exhibition celebrates the beauty, power, and symbolism of the magnificent tradition of...

Kate Holmes, Biodiversity Specialist, Center for Biodiversity and Conservation.(PEOPLE AT THE AMNH)(American Museum of-Natural History)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Three years ago, having been offered a position at the American Museum of-Natural History, Kate Holmes sat on a beach on a remote island of Vanuatu, listening to a rooster crow and thinking she would never hear such a sound in New York City....

The past recaptured, again.(ENDPAPER; many fossils in collections never examined because of lack of funds)
May 1, 2005... I've come to expect stunned looks from visitors when I lead behind-the-scenes tours of fossil collections at the American Museum of Natural History. Stored in the museum's division of paleontology are piles of specimens--wrapped in their...

American Museum of Natural History: 2006 discovery tours preview schedule.(Calendar)
May 1, 2005... JANUARY * Baja Whale Watch Aboard Sea Lion--January 14-21, 2006 * Antarctica & South Georgia Aboard Polar Star * Wolves & Wildlife of Yellowstone--January 23-January 29, 2006 * The Galapagos Islands & Machu Picchu-January...