HEADLINES
form of a to-do list. I have a bad habit with to-do lists—they tend to get out of hand —so I am trying to be careful. I am realizing that most of the things that have followed the phrase “When I’m done with my thesis…” are attempts to rem- edy imbalances incurred while wrapped up in school or are related to the transi- tion from being in a campus environment to a large city. With those life lessons in mind, the following are general catego- ries that will be on The List:
1. Something creative. I have a couple instruments that need to stop col- lecting dust, and a sketchbook and pencils I got as a high school gradu- ation gift that I have never opened (mostly for fear of drawing some- thing really crappy, see “That other side of the brain”, TPG January/ February 2013). I also have a few recipes that need altitude adjust- ments and several new ones waiting to be tried.
2. Something social. While a good book
and a sleeping cat in your lap are much more enticing than the lights of a city (I am not a city person), a social life does not just happen when you no longer have the built in net- work of roommates and classmates. It takes intention, at least for me.
3. Keep in touch. Between the two of them, I have at least a dozen letters, post cards, and notes that came with packages from my two best college friends. I may have sent one letter to both since graduation. Even worse, I have a collection of random things I have been gathering for the past 3.5 years to send each that I have just never gotten around to mailing. E-mails have been sitting too long, phone calls have not been made, and I have not even made it to the AIPG headquarters, a few miles up the road, to say hi. Relationships are important.
4. Read. I have read fewer books in the past year than the 7th grade me
would get through in a month. I am sure my parents will appreciate me reacquiring the boxes of books “that I’ll read someday” from their house.
There are a lot of things I could have done better, and there were many times when I blamed myself or felt ashamed of how things were going (see life lesson #3). However, I believe I did the best that I could under the circumstances. With all the unexpected twists and turns of grad school and life, perspective is key. As a student it is hard to know the details of the experiences of those ahead of you. Thus, when you get there and compare your experience to your perception of what is “supposed” to happen, it can be very discouraging. Sure, you never thought it would be easy, but nobody talks about the day-to-day setbacks and complications. Why? Because by the time you get through it you fully appreciate that those “setbacks” were really the stepping-stones.
New Research Offers First Glimpse at ‘Neglected’ Dinosaur Skull
Rapid City, S.D. (Nov. 13, 2014) – New research published by a South Dakota School of Mines & Technology paleontologist has opened the door for future discoveries about one of the last non-avian dinosaurs to roam the planet 67 million years ago.
The Thesclelosauras neglectus was discovered more than a century ago, but little has been known about its life or relationships with other creatures of its time during the Cretaceous period in Western North America.
Clint Boyd, Ph.D., who has studied the skull of the T. neglectus since 2005, is the first to fully describe the dinosaur’s head. Knowing more about the skull will allow future research on the life of the ornithischian dinosaur, one of the last non-bird dinosaurs. Boyd’s paper, “The cranial anatomy of the neornithischian dinosaur Thesclelosauras neglectus,” was published today by the online sci- entific journal PeerJ.
Named after being neglected for nearly 20 years, T. neglectus roughly translates to “marvelous, neglected liz- ard.” The original specimen was found
in 1891 but wasn’t studied or named until 1913.
Although the average 12-foot-long body of this herbivorous dinosaur was originally described in 1913, little was known about the structure of its head until now.
The skulls of these animals give us the most
insight into their relationships with other dinosaurs. Having the entire skull described provides insight not only into the broader relationships of this species, but also new insights into the early evolution of all ornithischian dinosaurs,” said Boyd, a post-doctoral fellow and assistant professor in the Department of Geology & Geological Engineering at SD Mines. The full description of the skull also allows researchers to study the diet and brain structure of this species in greater detail.
Bones from the T. neglectus are known from Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota and Western Canada. There are also possible fossils from California and Alaska.
The two specimens studied by Boyd were found by private individuals in
Harding and Dewey Counties in South Dakota.
Boyd, who is now working on a complete revision of the relationships of ornithischian dinosaurs using data from this study, identified a possible relationship between this species and similar dinosaurs known from Asia and Canada, suggesting a dispersal between these continents during the Cretaceous period.
The skull found in Harding County is roughly 99 percent complete and now resides at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, N.C. The other skull, roughly 68 percent complete, remains in South Dakota at the Timber Lake and Area Museum.
Read Boyd’s full paper online at
https://peerj.com/articles/669/.
This information was provide by the South Dakota School of Mines News.
www.aipg.org
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