The golden age of paleontology
August 25, 2018 3:29 PM Subscribe
Many paleontologists today are part of the 'Jurassic Park' generation (NPR, July 10, 2018), 30-somethings coming out of PhD programs and feeding into a Golden Age of Paleontology, where some 50 new species of dinosaurs are discovered every year. And according to another Jurassic Park-inspired paleontologist, Steve Brusatte, this has been the rate of discovery for the past decade, thanks also to new investigations in China, Brazil, and Argentina, which "have opened up, and they’re training their own young scientists."
Elsewhere, new methods have been fruitful, as seen with Dr Steve Sweetman’s 48 newly discovered species, in the course of four years, in mud on the Isle of Wight. With these rates of discovery, it's less surprising to see Live Science's New-found Species news log features a pretty even mix of living and prehistoric discoveries.
And a bit of levity, regarding Jurassic Park: If Jurassic Park Were In Different Geological Eras (College Humor animated short; previously)
Elsewhere, new methods have been fruitful, as seen with Dr Steve Sweetman’s 48 newly discovered species, in the course of four years, in mud on the Isle of Wight. With these rates of discovery, it's less surprising to see Live Science's New-found Species news log features a pretty even mix of living and prehistoric discoveries.
And a bit of levity, regarding Jurassic Park: If Jurassic Park Were In Different Geological Eras (College Humor animated short; previously)
Jurassic Park came out 25 years ago. There are probably precocious students who are already done with grad school who weren't even born when the movie came out.
posted by miyabo at 4:41 PM on August 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by miyabo at 4:41 PM on August 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
It's really interesting to frame Jurassic Park as the genesis of a whole generation of palaeontologists when you juxtapose it against the reaction of every palaeontologist I've found to the modern franchise, which ranges from snapping, popping fury all the way to apathetic disappointment. It is certainly no longer a groundbreaking attempt to shape public perception of dinosaurs towards a new modern accuracy of understanding.
Personally, every time I've heard Jack Horner speak the content has been... disappointing. I'm still rolling my eyes at how fervently he's still, 25 years on, trying to make the dream of living non-avian dinosaurs a reality--or whatever slipshod facsimile thereof he can find. And I think he's made some incredibly creepy decisions with respect to his personal life, especially that time he married one of his undergrads in 2012. I really can't think about the legacy of Jurassic Park, especially with respect to public biology, without seeing Horner's fingerprints all over it and getting.... uncomfortable, put it like that. Uncomfortable is a good word.
posted by sciatrix at 5:07 PM on August 25, 2018 [7 favorites]
Personally, every time I've heard Jack Horner speak the content has been... disappointing. I'm still rolling my eyes at how fervently he's still, 25 years on, trying to make the dream of living non-avian dinosaurs a reality--or whatever slipshod facsimile thereof he can find. And I think he's made some incredibly creepy decisions with respect to his personal life, especially that time he married one of his undergrads in 2012. I really can't think about the legacy of Jurassic Park, especially with respect to public biology, without seeing Horner's fingerprints all over it and getting.... uncomfortable, put it like that. Uncomfortable is a good word.
posted by sciatrix at 5:07 PM on August 25, 2018 [7 favorites]
I refuse to see that movie until they change it's title - Cretaceous Park or GTFO.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 5:50 PM on August 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by thatwhichfalls at 5:50 PM on August 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
Also, where were the ammonites?
posted by thatwhichfalls at 5:59 PM on August 25, 2018
posted by thatwhichfalls at 5:59 PM on August 25, 2018
Cretaceous Park or GTFO.
That's a point raised by the College Humor short, along with the other significant flaws in the movie (Velociraptor should have feathers and should be the size of a large turkey, etc.)
And Jurassic Park is far from the first dinosaur movie, but it was the first to show dinosaurs as semi-complicated animals, instead of prehistoric monsters, on top of being a blockbuster, which is why the movie was such an impact on a generation of young science-minded people.
posted by filthy light thief at 6:43 PM on August 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
That's a point raised by the College Humor short, along with the other significant flaws in the movie (Velociraptor should have feathers and should be the size of a large turkey, etc.)
And Jurassic Park is far from the first dinosaur movie, but it was the first to show dinosaurs as semi-complicated animals, instead of prehistoric monsters, on top of being a blockbuster, which is why the movie was such an impact on a generation of young science-minded people.
posted by filthy light thief at 6:43 PM on August 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
where were the ammonites?
East of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arnon and Jabbok.
I Hope This Helps.
posted by Joe in Australia at 12:52 AM on August 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
East of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arnon and Jabbok.
I Hope This Helps.
posted by Joe in Australia at 12:52 AM on August 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
I'm still waiting for Devonian Waterworld.
I'd settle for Finding Osteichthyes.
posted by Devonian at 6:00 AM on August 26, 2018
I'd settle for Finding Osteichthyes.
posted by Devonian at 6:00 AM on August 26, 2018
Conodont, the Movie!
The thing made entirely of teeth!
posted by thatwhichfalls at 7:52 AM on August 26, 2018
The thing made entirely of teeth!
posted by thatwhichfalls at 7:52 AM on August 26, 2018
It's really interesting to frame Jurassic Park as the genesis of a whole generation of palaeontologists when you juxtapose it against the reaction of every palaeontologist I've found to the modern franchise, which ranges from snapping, popping fury all the way to apathetic disappointment.
I was at a talk by a forensic scientist who told us that her entire cohort of classmates were inspired into the field not by CSI (which got the above reaction) but by the X-Files. Which is not, like, a better demonstration of technique, I don't think, but it captured the imagination.
posted by restless_nomad at 8:24 AM on August 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
I was at a talk by a forensic scientist who told us that her entire cohort of classmates were inspired into the field not by CSI (which got the above reaction) but by the X-Files. Which is not, like, a better demonstration of technique, I don't think, but it captured the imagination.
posted by restless_nomad at 8:24 AM on August 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
It's a bit like the sheer number of fortysomething archaeologists who were inspired by Indiana Jones.
The franchise is not just terrible archaeology, it arguably espouses values that are antithetical to everything modern archaeology stands for.
But it sparked a sense of wonder and excitement in millions of kids, inspiring many to learn more about real archaeology and some few to discover it was their passion in life.
posted by xthlc at 9:26 AM on August 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
The franchise is not just terrible archaeology, it arguably espouses values that are antithetical to everything modern archaeology stands for.
But it sparked a sense of wonder and excitement in millions of kids, inspiring many to learn more about real archaeology and some few to discover it was their passion in life.
posted by xthlc at 9:26 AM on August 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
Revenge of the Velvet Worm - Part One of the Hallucigenia Chronicles
posted by thatwhichfalls at 5:52 PM on August 26, 2018
posted by thatwhichfalls at 5:52 PM on August 26, 2018
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posted by Chrysostom at 3:35 PM on August 25, 2018 [7 favorites]