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Taphovenatrix: Dinosaur Taphonomy PhD
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Sometimes we have to destroy those we love... with lasers

25/3/2012

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I'm going to be sawing a 98 million year old fossil in half this week. Sigh. I mean, I'm very excited to see what results I'll get from laser ablation analysis (specifically LA-ICP-MS) of fossil bone and sediment... but in order to do that, I have to partially destroy a fossil.

It's ironic that this fossil has survived for so long, has withstood all the taphonomic pressures placed upon it, has resisted modern weathering, was collected from the field and carefully transported back to the lab, only to be cut in two! But I know that I can gain a wealth of information about the rare earth element signatures of bone and the surrounding cement that will indicate the depositional environment and timing of concretion formation. So it's definitely worth it, just a little heart-breaking.

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Chemistry and me

18/3/2012

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Who would have thought that reading about rare earth elements (REE) chemistry could be so interesting? Chemistry has never been my strongest subject, but with the addition of geology and fossils it's becoming much more intriguing...

REE analysis is a crucial part of my PhD, and at first I was feeling overwhelmed by all the available literature and my lack of a strong chemistry background. But as I read the papers, I also started to jot down ideas for my first paper and write out introductory paragraphs. That way, I haven't run into the problem of reading a heap of papers, and subsequently forgetting what I read or which paper it came from. I also wrote core paragraphs about REE chemistry, and cited the relevant authors as I read their papers. Now everything seems to be coming together nicely!

Image courtesy of stock.xchng
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T-Rex trying...

13/3/2012

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I've been following T-Rex trying... for a while, they're so adorable! Here's today's:
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Academic scam or vanity press?

11/3/2012

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Don't you hate it when you see an email that looks really promising, that's offering a free lifetimes' supply of... wait a minute, SPAM ALERT! Well, that's certainly what the email from LAP Publishing offering to "publishing your dissertation in the form of a printed book" appeared to be. Is it sad that I can't believe anything I read in emails anymore? Some call it unhealthy skepticism, I call it self preservation and COMMON SENSE.

However, after doing a bit of research, it seems that this is not a scam but "standard practice" for the company. You get a free book, a listing on Amazon.com, and some royalties for other books sold. Apparently if the royalties are too low each month, you receive a book voucher for... LAP Publishing! Wow.
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The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret
(think Terry Pratchett, people!)

Quality control and peer review is also a big issue when choosing a publishing house, and it seems that LAP simply take your work and print it out verbatim, doing no extra editorial work. So it seems that this is a case of vanity press: if you really feel the need to say "I've published a book mwa ha ha, look me up on Amazon" then go right ahead. But I won't be.
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Hoorah for achievement!

1/3/2012

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It feels great to have actually achieved something today: instead of vaguely reading and writing, I decided to create a specific task to complete. Today's task was pretty easy: expand the bullet points I'd written for defining the three stages of taphonomy: necrolysis, biostratinomy and diagenesis. Now I have actual sentences that actually make sense! Magic!

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    About the author

    Dr Caitlin Syme is a palaeontologist studying the taphonomy (preservation state) of fossil non-avian dinosaurs, crocodiles and fish from the Winton Formation, Queensland, Australia. Think forensic science or CSI for fossils, and you're on the right track!

    Posts on this blog focus mainly on vertebrate palaeontology and taphonomy, as well early career researcher (ERC) productivity tips and insights.


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