ScotBlogs

I moved to Wooster at the very end of July.  Since that time, I’ve heard a frequent refrain that “it’s been a dry summer”.  Being a climate scientist, and knowing that everyone (including me) likes to complain about the weather, I … Continue reading →

  LONDON TIMES Victoria and Albert Museum, Medieval Collection Except for, perhaps, the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey, one rarely thinks of London as a place that reflects its medieval roots, the way that Paris, for example, does in … Continue reading →

As a kid, I devoured the pages of Popular Science magazine and was fascinated by the quest for human-powered flight: Was a flying bicycle possible? In the mid 1970s, I read that aerospace engineer Paul MacCready had assembled a team … Continue reading →

Yes, we’ve had a run of French Cretaceous fossils here. This is because we’re in the midst of a major project stemming from summer fieldwork in the Type Campanian of southwestern France. The fossils are delicious, and they are before … Continue reading →

It was a pleasure to pull this massive specimen out of the cabinets, where it had been sitting for more than 20 years. It is a small reef of the oyster Liostrea strigilecula (White, 1877) from the Carmel Formation (Middle Jurassic) … Continue reading →

Interior walls are being framed as the exterior brick and stonework continues. 

One hole in a shell is unremarkable. Several in a repeating pattern is a story. Above is a right valve (exterior) of the oyster Pycnodonte vesicularis from the Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) of southwestern France. It was collected during our fantastic … Continue reading →

Windy, warm, and dry is a good recipe for wildfires, and that has been the norm for Montana this year.  For example, from June 1 through September 4, Missoula received 2.07 inches of precipitation, less than half its average rainfall … Continue reading →

It’s not that I haven’t loved all my Invertebrate Paleontology classes, but the students this year are special because there are only ten of them. Lately I’ve had up to thirty students per class which is great for many reasons, … Continue reading →

When we picked up this beautiful fossil in southwestern France this summer, Paul Taylor immediately predicted it would become a Wooster Fossil of the Week. Macy Conrad (’18), Paul and I were on our wonderful expedition in the Type Campanian … Continue reading →