Fossil Friday #286: Rhabdoderma exiguum For this week's Fossil Friday, we have a Rhabdoderma exiguum. R. exiguum is a species of Mazon Creek coelacanth.

Throwback Thursday #286: A Rock Is a Rock... #history #TBT #ThrowbackThursday #rocks The following piece appeared in the September 1966 edition of the ESCONI newsletter. The attribution is from "Rock Chips"...

ESCONI October 2025 General Meeting – October 10th, 2025 at 8:30 PM via Zoom – “Great Zimbabwe among its peers: Exploring the height of ancient civilizations in southern Africa” esconiinfo-ehnsm.wpcomstaging.com/2025/10/esco...

Reminder: 2025 Mazon Creek Fossil Day, October 11th, 2025 at the Coal City Library The 2025 Mazon Creek Fossil Day will be held on October 11th, 2025 at the Coal City Library from 10 AM to 3 PM. See you there! Previous events October 16th, 2023 October 21st, 2024

Mazon Monday #290:  Danville Spoil Pile Trip Report for September 2025 There was lots of fun on the field trip to the Danville Spoil Pile on Saturday, September 27th, 2025. The day was hot and dry with a clear sky and temperatures in the 80s... summer like weather in late September is always nice!

‘Shockingly Beautiful’ Fossil Reveals Oldest Dome-Headed Dinosaur An artist’s reconstruction Zavacephale in a Cretaceous landscape.Credit...Masato Hattori The New York Times has a fascinating look at beautiful pachycephalosaur specimen from Mongolia. The animal was recently described in a paper in…

‘Rare’ ancestor reveals how huge flightless birds made it to faraway lands The ancestors of giant birds like common rheas were likely able to fly long distances, fossils suggest. (Image credit: Mickael Nigay / 500px via Getty Images) LiveScience has a story that looks a paper about flightless…

Fossil Friday #285: Palaeoxyris lewisi This is the “Fossil Friday” post #285.  Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website.  We will post any fossil pictures you send in to [email protected].  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday Bluesky/Twitter…

Throwback Thursday #285: Looking Back at ESCONI For October 2025 This is Throwback Thursday #285. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to [email protected].…

Digging Wyoming: People Flock To Glenrock To Dig for Dinosaurs In The Dark Dinosaur diggers work by lantern light at Triceratops Gulch near Glenrock. To maximize the on-site, down-and-dirty experience for participants, summer excavations extend into the evening, so the search for turtle shell,…

ESCONI Events for October 2025 Field trips require membership, but visitors are welcome at all meetings! Sat, Oct 4th Mineralogy Meeting - 7:30 at the College of DuPage Technical Education Center (TEC) Building – Room 1038B (Map) – “Calcite” Fri, Oct 10th General Meeting – 8 PM – via Zoom (TBA).…

ESCONI October 2025 Mineral Study Group – October 3rd, 2025 at 7:30 PM at the College of DuPage – “Calcite” The ESCONI Mineral Study Group will meet on Saturday October 4, 2025 at 7:30 PM in TEC 1038B at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. See Directions and Map below. The program will be on…

Mazon Monday #289: Ctenerpeton remex at Mazon Creek This is Mazon Monday post #289. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:[email protected]. More exciting Mazon Creek research is out. This is a short paper in the journal Vertebrate Anatomy Morphology Palaeontology (VAMP),…

Deep-Earth Diamonds Reveal ‘Almost Impossible’ Chemistry Deep-Earth diamond.  Yael Kempe and Yakov Weiss Scientific American has a story about the formation of diamonds. Inclusions are imperfections in gem stones. They are tiny bits of the surrounding rock when the gem or crystal forms. Inclusions…

PBS Eons: That Time Sharks Got Weird PBS Eons has a new episode. This one is about the "Age of Sharks" or should it be the "Age of Weird Sharks". Long before the rise of the great whites and hammerheads we know today, sharks and their cartilaginous relatives ruled Earth’s oceans and rivers in…

Fossil Friday #284: Alethopteris lonchitica This is the “Fossil Friday” post #285. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to [email protected]. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday…

Throwback Thursday #284: Isabel Bassett Wasson… Trailblazer in Geology, Education, and Preservation This is Throwback Thursday #284. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please…

How Did Hands Evolve? The Answer Is Behind You. Researchers armed with CRISPR looked to the embryos of zebrafish to understand the genetic changes that led to the evolution of hands and feet. Credit...Pablo Bou Mira/Alamy Carl Zimmer has an interesting post about the evolution of hands. It appears…

ESCONI September 2025 Paleontology Meeting – “Show and Tell” There were some very interesting things on display at the September 2025 Paleontology Meeting. The theme of the night was "Show and Tell". We had over 20 attendees with everything from Mazon Creek to crinoids to nautiloids to a large…

Mazon Monday #288: Callipteridium neuropteroides This is Mazon Monday post #288.  What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected]. Callipteridium neuropteroides is one of the rarer seed ferns (Pteridospermatophyta) found in the Mazon Creek fossil deposit. Although,…

PBS NOVA: Human Origins PBS NOVA has a new 5 part series running on their website and Youtube. The first episode is called "Human Origins". Check it out! Trace the remarkable origin story of Homo sapiens and the crucial moments that shaped our species. Official website: | #novapbs Where do we come…

ESCONI September 2025 Paleontology Meeting – 2025-09-20 at 7:30 PM – “Show and Tell” at College of DuPage For the newcomers, the first meeting back from summer vacation has traditionally been called "Brag Night" or "Show and Tell". Well... The ESCONI September 2025 Paleontology Meeting will be…

Fossil Friday #283: Fossundecima konecniorum This is the “Fossil Friday” post #283.  Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website.  We will post any fossil pictures you send in to [email protected].  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday…

Throwback Thursday #283: The Strip Mines This is Throwback Thursday #283. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to [email protected].…

Alabama family’s fishing trip leads to 32-million-year fossil find Yellow Hammer News has a story about an unexpected catch on a family fishing trip in Alabama. They found a 32 million year old (Oligocene) turtle in the bank of the river. It turns out the animal was not known to science and has…

Weird Science: Eastern North Carolina dig led to great finds, including fossils from the age of dinosaurs Christian Kammerer is the Research Curator of Paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and he spent last week digging around eastern North Carolina to gather prehistoric…

Mazon Monday #282: Braceville Fall 2025 Report This is the “Fossil Friday” post #282. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to [email protected]. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday…

Happy National Fossil Day 2022!!! #fossils #paleontology #yellowstone#fossil#fossil #NationalFossilDay Featuring an Eocene forest in celebration of the 150-year anniversary of Yellowstone National Park and the park's fossil heritage. Happy National Fossil Day!  The National Park Service has a page…

Astonishing dinosaur mummy has ‘glittering’ skin that was punctured and ripped by ancient crocs #fossil #dinosaur #paleontology #mummy These illustrations depict a potential pathway by which a dinosaur carcass could be transformed into a "mummy," like the fossil shown on the right. (Image credit:…

Darwin Missed An Example of Evolution Right Under His Nose #fossil #paleontology #evolution #fox #foxes #CharlesDarwin #darwin #DarwinsFoxes #canid #southamerica PBS Eons has a new episode.  This one discusses some evidence of evolution that was missed by Charles Darwin. Charles Darwin encountered…

BBC: The 120-year search for the purpose of T. rex’s arms #fossil #paleontology #dinosaur #trex @SUEtheTrex @fieldmuseum The BBC has a story about that looks into how Tyrannosaurus rex used it's small arms.  T. rex and it's close relatives had notoriously small arms for their size.  Since its…

How evolution works | Dave Hone and Lex Fridman | on Youtube David Hone was on the Lex Fridman podcast discussing evolution. Dave Hone is a paleontologist, expert on dinosaurs, co-host of the Terrible Lizards podcast, and author of numerous scientific papers and books on the behavior and ecology…

PBS Eons: That Time the Earth Was Sticky PBS Eons has a new episode. This is about Cretaceous amber... what it is, how it forms, and what is found in it. The Cretaceous Resinous Interval, a 54-million year period where amber was preserved in hundreds of locations across the world, was a gooey,…

ESCONI September 2025 General Meeting via Zoom ESCONI General Meeting - 8:00 PM via Zoom - Dr. Angela Cooper will be presenting “Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site.” Zoom link Dr. Angela Cooper is originally from Mascoutah, IL and grew up learning about the great site of Cahokia Mounds. Her…

Fossil Friday #282: Crossotheca sagittata This is the “Fossil Friday” post #282.  Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website.  We will post any fossil pictures you send in to [email protected].  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday…

Throwback Thursday #282: Field Museum Postcard This is Throwback Thursday #282. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to [email protected].…

Paleontologist Mark Norell (Coolest Dude Alive) RIP (1957-2025) This announcement is from the Witmer Lab at Ohio University. I’m shaken by the news of Mark Norell's passing—a good friend, a trusted colleague, and a giant in our field. Coincidentally, I got the news as I was working on my talk for…

Giant Dinosaurs Were Riddled With a Devastating Disease, Fossils Show Baurusuchus and sauropods in Brazil's ancient, arid environment. (Vitor Silva/Stocktrek Images/Getty Images) Science Alert has a piece about dinosaurs... sauropods might not have been all that healthy. The animals that lived in…

Trilobite Tuesday #27.5: Enrolled Isotelus "Fossil Friday" post #29 is about an enrolled Isotelus.  For this Fossil Friday, we are highlighting a specimen of Isotelus .  Isotelus is a genus of asaphid trilobites that lived during the middle and upper Ordovician period.  This little guy is an…

Mazon Monday #286: There’s a Mother Lode of Fossils in Chicago’s Backyard, and It Could Hold Clues to the Evolution… https://esconiinfo-ehnsm.wpcomstaging.com/2025/09/08/mazon-monday-286-theres-a-mother-lode-of-fossils-in-chicagos-backyard-and-it-could-hold-clues-to-the-evolution-of-life-on-earth/

The geology that holds up the Himalayas is not what we thought, scientists discover The Himalayas are the world's highest mountain range and home to Mount Everest. (Image credit: Pakawat Thongcharoen/Getty Images) Live Science has a story about the what is holding up Himalayas and it's it isn't…

Fossil Friday #281: Dasyleptus sp. esconiinfo-ehnsm.wpcomstaging.com/2025/09/05/f...

Throwback Thursday #281: Looking Back At ESCONI For September 2025 25 Years Ago – September 2000 Stephen J. Gould did a lecture at the FIeld Museum and ESCONI and Irene Broede were there! Dr. Meenakski Wadhwa from the Field Museum did a presentation at the General Meeting. The Rockhound Flea…

ESCONI Field Trip to Bellevue, MI Quarry on Saturday, September 27th, 2025 A field trip to a quarry in Bellevue, MI is scheduled for Saturday, September 27th, 2025. This is a joint trip with the Kalamazoo Geological and Mineral Society (KGMS), and will be led by KGMS members. There is space for 15…

This Crocodile Relative Was One of Dinosaurs’ Most Fearsome Predators A 3-D printed mounted skeleton of Kostensuchus. Scientists suggest that the complete animal would have been around 11½ feet long and weighed 551 pounds, based on comparisons with living crocodilians.Credit...José Brusco The New…

Mazon Monday #285: Etacystis communis #fossils #paleontology #MazonMonday #MazonCreek #pennsylvanian #carboniferous esconiinfo-ehnsm.wpcomstaging.com/2025/09/01/m...

Fossil Friday #15: Permian Trilobites From Kansas #fossils#fossil#fossil #FossilFriday #Kansas #trilobite #trilobites This is the "Fossil Friday" post #15.  Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website.  We will post any fossil pictures you send in to [email protected].  Please…

Fossil Friday #7: Brachiopods From The Silica Shale in Ohio #fossils#fossil#fossil #Brachiopods #FossilFriday This is the "Fossil Friday" post #7.  Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website.  We will post any fossil pictures you send in to [email protected].  Please include a short…

Fossil Friday #14: Kansas Brachiopods #fossils#fossil#fossil #FossilFriday #Kansas This is the "Fossil Friday" post #14.  Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website.  We will post any fossil pictures you send in to [email protected].  Please include a short description or story. …

ESCONI Field Trip to Danville Shale Pile Fossils – Saturday, September 27th, 2025 Danville Field Trip Rules for Saturday, September 27th, 2025 An ESCONI field trip to the Danville IL Shale Pile for Pennsylvanian fossils is scheduled for Saturday April 26, 2025 starting at 10 AM. This is on private…