Monthly Archives: September 2011

Day 2 at the Smithsonian

Posted on September 27, 2011 by altondooley

Today was my second day at the Smithsonian’s Museum Support Center (MSC). It is hard to express just how vast the Smithsonian’s holdings are, even in natural history alone (remember that the natural history museum is just one branch of … Continue reading →

Posted in Chesapeake Group, Museums | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Smithsonian visit

Posted on September 26, 2011 by altondooley

I began a three-day visit to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History today. More specifically I spent most of the morning in “Building 26“, the warehouse in Maryland where many of the NMNH whales are housed. A huge … Continue reading →

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From the Collections Room (Cryptolithus tesselatus)

Posted on September 21, 2011 by altondooley

For the last several weeks several activities have been keeping me busy, but out of the field and the lab. Specifically, I’ve been working on four manuscripts (some with deadlines), a poster for the SVP meeting, several lectures, and our … Continue reading →

Posted in From the Collections Room, Invertebrate Paleontology | Leave a comment

Field trip for Roanoke College Elderscholars

Posted on September 14, 2011 by altondooley

Yesterday DB Poli and I ran a field trip to Botetourt County for the Roanoke College Elderscholar Program. This focused on the geology and iron mining history of the Eagle Rock and Roaring Run areas, as well as the botany of these … Continue reading →

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Identifying homologies

Posted on September 7, 2011 by altondooley

Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing some anatomical work on baleen whales, including the Lake Waccamaw Balaenula skull (above).  As part of this work I’ve been trying to identify various features of the skull and compare them to … Continue reading →

Posted in "Caroline", Carmel Church mysticetes, Carmel Church Quarry, Chesapeake Group, North Carolina Balaenula, Paleontological techniques | Tagged | 5 Comments

High levels of awesome in scientific papers

Posted on September 2, 2011 by altondooley

I’ve had a hard time getting new blog posts written over the last month. After spending so much time in the field over the summer, I’m now mostly sitting in front of the computer writing exhibit text, trying to get … Continue reading →

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