Prehensile Penises, The Return

We've talked before about the impressive (and unsettlingly aggressive) penis of dolphins before, but as this remains our MOST POPULAR BLOG POST we figured we could kindly let you know that there are other animals that have prehensile penises that we didn't talk about but would like to now. For example, barnacles!

Weird & Dead - the Mary Anning's Revenge Podcast

 Hi! Did you miss us? We've been working on something special...

That's right! We're both white people in our thirties now so it's time to engage in the sacred rites of our people and start a podcast. Of course ours is about fossils, specifically focusing on the most embarrassing and bizarre stories that evolution has to offer.... which is a lot! From fish fossilized up dinosaur butts to the secret drama behind naming new species, we're spilling all the hottest tea from prehistory!

The first season debuts January 24th but if you want early access you can find the first episode and tons of bonus content RIGHT NOW on our Patreon. We're talking mini-episodes, pieces we couldn't fit, and the uncut and uncensored versions of episodes too. 

Unconformity: A MAR Movie Review

 

Have you seen the movie Unconformity? It’s a great Indie film about a geology graduate student doing fieldwork in Nevada and finding herself along the way. We were asked to watch it recently and let us tell you, it’s accurate enough that watching it felt like a fever dream watching our own lives. She finds amazing fossils, she climbs, she gives herself food poisoning in the Nevada desert – and yes, both Amy & Meaghan have done all three and have been to the location where this was filmed.  The film is out now on Amazon and Tubi in select countries and will be available worldwide on YouTube on November 15th.

We too have spent hours up at night cuddling the precious by headlamps… (note, she finds something way cooler than the ring of power in this movie)

Not only is the film a great and beautiful depiction of some of the realities of geology and paleontology, it also hits on some really important topics that plague Academia including sexism, career advancement, and power control issues. To this effect Unconformity also comes along with a guide on how to use the movie to facilitate conversations about these problems, which is available for any university or club to use. We were really excited about this aspect and the movie in general so we sat down with the director Jonathan DiMaio to discuss the movie and its impact a little further.

How to Get a B.S. in Paleontology

There are no Paleontology undergraduate degrees. A B.S. in Paleontology is exactly that – BS, or bullshit.

Ok, calm down, we don't mean you can't go study paleontology as an undergraduate – it's just that there's no easy "paleontology major," or at least not in the US.

See, paleontology is an incredibly broad and interdisciplinary field. We cover the study of life from its beginnings until now, an incredible swath of time and lifeforms. We are, as they say, a bit of a know it all!

Amy studies none of these, really, but she has to know about all of them anyway

We have to be know-it-alls, really - if you are digging up a dinosaur, you need to know how to find that dinosaur what type of rock to look for, you need to understand the rock well enough to know what happened to that dinosaur, you need to be able to identify the bones, you need to be able to safely excavate them and then use chemicals to preserve them, and you need to be able to do the writing and the math it requires to study and describe them. That's a lot of skills!

With that many skills it's not surprising that paleontologists can end up in all sorts of departments as a result. Between the two of them, Meaghan and Amy have both taught in Anthropology, Biology, Geology, Science Education and Information Science - paleontology truly crosses disciplines.

If you are starting your career in paleontology and looking at an undergraduate degree, the above sentences might be a little bit overwhelming. If there is no undergraduate paleontology degree, how can you figure out what school to go to in order to become a paleontologists? 

Well you're in luck, because that's what this blog post is about – this blog post is for you, someone looking to go to an undergraduate serving university and get a degree that will help them become a paleontologist.

Meaghan's newest project - a paleontology clothing store!

 Have you been wondering where Amy & Meaghan are? We are not dead, we assure you - very much alive, just busy with a thousand different projects. This post is about one big project that Meaghan's been spearheading - a paleontology clothing store called Geopetal Fabric.

Here are some of the cool products Meaghan has made, kindly modelled by awesome local geology friends Valerie and Amy G!

What's with the store name?

A geopetal is a special type of fossil or geode that helps geologists figure out what direction was "up" when a rock was deposited. What typically happens is you have something like a clam or a snail die on the seafloor. They fill partially with sand and mud but because nobody is going around squishing sediment into these shells (that would be a weird job), there's often an empty space left inside the shell.

Over time, water moves through the now-hardening sediment and deposits minerals inside these shells, making them kind of like a half-sand and half-geode structure. When a geologist finds one of these half-geode clams, they know that the sparkly mineral side was the "up" side, while the sandy side was the "down" side. Petal in this case means "to point", but these pretty little clam geodes kind of look like petals, which is the reasoning behind Meaghan's logo. And when you have a lot of these little clam geodes, the scientific term is a "fabric" - hence the term geopetal fabric.

The sparkly wiggly clam geode logo

What type of clothing?

Lots and lots of different types, and the list is ever-expanding, but Meaghan's store is focusing on subtler science prints. For example, this adorable print looks like an interesting polka dot design to most people, but it's actually featuring conodont teeth - ancient microscopic eel-like creatures. 

I call this the Eeleganza print. 

And of course, nothing is better than a good subtle rude joke so here's a gorgeous, glamorous silk scarf Meaghan is modelling that has the Priapulid Paisley design on it... aka, the Penis Worm Print. Oh yes, the 14 days of genitals may be over (thank fuck) but we still out here making dick jokes. 

Penis worms but make it fashion. 

So if you're looking for something funny, pretty, and paleontology-themed, you should check out Meaghan's store, or follow her accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or TikTok. And if you're looking for more blog content, you can subscribe to her blog where she talks in detail about her patterns and their inspiration. 

Tips for Making Your Paper Have Broad Impact

Meaghan here! I have been working for PBS Eons for a few months now as a writer. It has been amazing - I have learned so much about different organisms I never really looked into before, and about the whole process of scientific storytelling.  Some personal moments of pride include a video about climate that went viral, and also slipping a 9 minute dick joke past the PBS censors. And one of the big things I've learned along the way are that there are certain things you can put in scientific papers that make me want to write love sonnets to the authors, and certain things you can omit that make me want to glitterbomb your office. So that's what this blog is about: what can you put in papers so that it's easier for science writers to read them and get the information they need to compose a good piece of science communication about it?

Or: please sweet Jesus help me out, mama needs to not have to read 60 papers and resort to Image-J when trying to figure out how tall a T-Rex was.

She Found Fossils Interview

We haven’t been posting much because, well, we’ve been busy. Busy sciencing, and starting new jobs, and getting engaged, and raising dogs and stuff. But not busy enough to seize the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Eugenia Gold, one of the authors of the oh-so-amazing She Found Fossils. (Also, mother of the baby that features heavily in this article - that's not a random baby, but the baby did have a lot to contribute so we figured the baby was part of the interview too) 

We trapped her at the annual Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting, and made her talk to us, and here is the result!

Amy, Eugenia, and Meaghan going full cheesy at SVP

SVP 2018: a review of the most important parts

The title is all the context you get, because explanations are for fools.

Special thanks to Keilah, Spencer, and Eric for their patience and excellent modelling skills. A grateful apology to the leprechaun of a museum volunteer who had to lead us around after Meaghan had already consumed half a beer and was thus, basically wasted. And a tip of the hat to the lady who followed us around for much of this - we may not know you, but we appreciated the audience participation. That stalactite DID look like a poop.

Intro Geology Teaching Successes & Um, Not Successes

Meaghan has now taught three terms of Introductory Geology as an adjunct, and has a few things she's been sampling with her teaching that went well, and a few that, well, didn't. Since she's no longer working for CWU and won't be teaching this year but instead traveling and looking for a more permanent position (HINT HINT READERS WHO ARE EMPLOYERS), here's a review of what she's learned so that it can benefit anyone else looking to teach an introductory geo class.

But it's a lot easier to write in first person so we're going to do that in 3...2...1...NOW: For context, the classes I've been teaching are:

1. Between 30 and 85 students
2. 4 days a week for an hour
3. Cover only a single quarter (10 weeks, September to December)
4. Have an accompanying lab, but the lab grade is separate and also optional so not all students are taking the lab
5. Are stand-alone intro courses: CWU doesn't have an intro geology series, just several variants of one class so students can choose to take whichever intro class that seems most appealing
6. Meet one of the gen-ed standards, so typically are full of freshman that are undeclared
7. Have a high failure rate. All the intro science classes do at CWU, though.
8. Have some form of Canvas (online software) component
9. And are taught using a mixture of Powerpoint and other activities/discussions

OK! Now onto the teaching techniques!

Photo by the AMAZING Marli Miller, whose photos are all free for geology class use!
http://geologypics.com

Things You Can Cite Meaghan's Newest Article For!

Meaghan had a new article come out recently in Palaeo-Electronica. It's great, and you should read it!

And the authors are VERY TRUSTWORTHY and super good at SCIENCE

It's also very long! With many tables! So in lieu of you having to read the whole thing, here are the top take-away points that Meaghan thinks you should probably cite her & Edward for:

Meaghan Rates the Best Snugs

In honor of Meaghan's third paper being accepted (COMING SOON TO A PAYWALL NEAR U), Meaghan is going to do a slug and snail rating post - or, as her old roommate Shannon's mom refers to them, snugs. Why, specifically, slugs and snails? Because that's what Meaghan's paper is on.

Yes.

A vertebrate paleontologist had a paper accepted on modern species of snugs, because variety is the spice of science life (and also, she worked for years as a field biologist finding these stupid things, and then the data was never used for anything so she thought... well shit, might as well, right?). This new paper, called "The correlation between topographically-derived relative wetness and terrestrial mollusk presence and abundance," was co-authored with a bunch of reluctant geologists and three awesome undergraduates, and gave Meaghan an excuse to talk about snugs and how cute they are.

Cuz they are really cute you guys! (Photo from Cal Photos)

Meaghan's favorite thing about snugs is the epic names given to them by biologists, like if by naming them like viking warriors you can somehow make them cool to non-malacologists. So in honor of Meaghan getting a paper accepted on snugs, Meaghan will now rate and discuss her favorite Oregon snug species, a la this most excellent twitter feed about foxes and the great hashtag #rateaspecies.

The Whale Rap Battle You Didn't Know You Needed

Amy and Meaghan were in the same place for several consecutive days, and from the loins of their cohabitation sprung this glory - Basilosaurus vs Killer Whale. Turn on closed captions to see our witty witty lyrics.

One Lady, Many Beards

Recently Amy started a new job as the Collections Manager at the Museum of the Rockies, marking the end of her time as a graduate student! Yay for Master Atwater! But now that Amy is a professional, she suddenly has all this FREE TIME during her nights and weekends that she is 100% not used to. Does this mean that Amy is using her newfound freedom for exploring her new state and/or exercising and adventuring, or perhaps promoting the public good?

NOPE.

She is embracing her generation and spending most of her time on Snapchat.

Now, for those of you ancient decrepit fools who are not familiar with Snapchat, it is a form of social media based on video/image messaging with facial recognition, allowing for all sorts of strange filters for your face. Or as Scott Williams at the Museum of the Rockies calls it, "that other thing that Millennials use."

How can you not love this?!

Do I Even Want To Go To This Grad School?

Congratulations! You are considering going to graduate school in some sort of STEM field*. Ahead of you are a mountain of applications and decisions, and just think - that sensation you have of maybe I'm not worthy? Yeah, get ready for a LOT OF THAT. It can be really intimidating to apply for graduate school, and lots of people get too stuck in the mind set of "well what if I'm not good enough" when what they really need to be focused on is whether or not the place they are going is good enough for them. There will be plenty of time for self-doubt once you get into graduate school, but trust us, this absolutely is a key time to be picky.

But graduate school is a big life choice, and whether you have one school in mind or many different schools you now get to ask yourself the really awkward questions that will help you decide: Do I Even Want to Go to This Graduate School?

WHAT IS THIS?

Interview with the Premiere Geology Doodle Humorist, Alana McGillis

Alana McGillis is an awesome and hilarious paleoartist whose recently published book, “Daring to Dig: Women in American Paleontology” is the best book you’ll read all year. It’s an awesome combination of amazing facts, stories, and gorgeous illustration and it’s available now from the Paleontology Research Institution in Ithaca, New York! Alana is a graduate of Smith College in Massachusetts, where she fell in love with geology and storytelling, and now works in outreach at San Francisco Maritime National Park. Meaghan sat down with her for a Skype interview. Read the below interview for information about Alana, information about the book, and some really, really good cat geology puns - and for more of all three of those things, you can visit her website at https://www.alanamcgillis.com, or follow her on twitter at @GilisDoodles!

THE BOOK IS SO GOOD YOU GUYS

Meaghan was so excited she spontaneously grew extra chins

...wait u guys don't do that when ur excited?

Social scientists are super hard core

So Meaghan is currently working in Institutional Effectiveness (also called Institutional Research). There's a whole other blog post lurking behind that particular job, but most importantly for this (brief) article is the fact that as a member of IE she has now gone to two harrowing humanities/education-research-themed conferences, and has brought some very important information gleaned via rigorous social science cross training. Chiefly that social scientists are fucking HARD CORE.

A Singularly Stupid Deluge of Dinosaur Selfies

The town of Drumheller, Alberta is famous for being the home of the Royal Tyrrell Museum, a huge paleontology museum dedicated to the fossils of Canada (and beyond). There are lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of extinct chickens (aka dinosaurs) in Canada, so there are lots of dinos at the Royal Tyrrell, SO THERE ARE LOTS OF (really weird) DINOSAUR STATUES IN DRUMHELLER AND WE TOOK SELFIES WITH THEM ALL*!!!!!

Enjoy the photo montage of ridiculousness that ensues when two mammal paleontologists are vacationing in Canada. Or skip this post and come back in like 2-6 months when we finally write something new and/or meaningful again.

You know you want to see the rest of this dumbfuckery.

Meaghan Wrote a Paper on the Pleistocene

The glory of working with oreodonts, other than that they're super cute and really freakin' abundant, is that there's also not that much published literature on them. Being a person who'd rather pluck out her own eyeballs then read a paper that takes too long to get to the point, this is a boon for Meaghan. Unfortunately, Meaghan once had a bright idea that she should write a paper about the ice age, and so has spent her time wading through the swamp of too many goddamn papers as a result.

That paper is finally out now, and since it is out that means it went through many levels of peer review, and since it has gone through review that means that Meaghan now despises this paper with every fiber of her being, and if the mammoths came back she'd hunt them to extinction HERSELF.

Not the ground sloths though, for obvious reasons.

Fuck yeah sloths.

Stop Telling Women Scientists To Try Hard

What do Ivanka Trump and Microsoft have in common?

They're two groups that claim to want more women in STEM but are not being very damn helpful about it.

Let's start with Ivanka. She's made her dad sign the Inspire Act and the Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act, laws that dictate NSF and NASA need to work to get women and girls interested in science (assuming that they somehow aren't already).  Simultaneously, she stood by as her father cut the budget for education in general, scrapped funding for the biggest science-funding organizations in the nation (aka our federal government), and froze national hiring of federal science positions, ensuring that this year's crop of graduates are even more screwed in their career search than normal. Personally, we don't see the damned point in getting women into STEM, if you then ensure they can't get jobs afterwards.

All internships and no job makes Amy a dull girl

Men in Paleontology

Look. We love doing science. We love being ladies. But we're beginning to be a little sick of being called women in science. Why? Sometimes it feels like "women in science" sounds a lot like oil in water: two things that do not mix.

Yeah, that seems a bit unnatural, doesn't it? Gender has little natural sway over anyone's love of science, or their ability to perform it. Yet somehow you never hear people call male scientists "men in paleontology" or "boys in STEM" - you only get the extra adjectives if you're a woman, or a person of any color other than "blanched turnip". Sometimes that title feels less like an acknowledgement of our uniqueness, and more like a sentencing of otherness.

Don't get us wrong - we are still women, we are still paleontologists, and we still think paleontology has a lot to catch up on when it  comes to diversity. We're just annoyed that the emphasis is so frequently on our personal diversity, not our science. To make our point, enjoy a series of memes that are by no means politically correct or non-offensive but sure as shit point out how dumb it is to preface everything with "women in" paleontology.