This week I will be attending the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Jeff Martz and I have been invited to present a paper on our recent biostratigraphic work in the Petrified Forest as part of a special symposium "Late Triassic Terrestrial Biotas and the Rise of Dinosaurs". This year the meeting is being held in Bristol, England and as I have never been to the U.K. (or Europe) before this should be a real treat. I will be following up the meeting with a few days of research at the Natural History Museum in London. I must remember to look the opposite way before crossing streets or this will be a very short trip!
It won't be like a normal SVP that's for sure. I hope you enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteI won't be at the meeting this year in Bristol but if I was I would attend the business meeting and demand that SVP return to providing a printed abstracts book for the members or at the very minimum changing the abstracts format to something similar to the GSA abstracts so they can actually be read on a computer screen.
ReplyDeleteHey, that's one of the talks I have highlighted, Bill! Hope to meet you there. I wasn't that impressed with the LMNH, as you might've read on the ol' blog. I much preferred the Cambridge Earth Sciences and Zoology museums.
ReplyDeleteI would request that, during your trip to London, you convince them to update their dinosaur exhibit(s).
Zach,
ReplyDeleteI think you under-estimate the amount of time and money it takes to update a major paleontology exhibit like the one at the NHM (not LMNH - its just NHM). Its not just a matter of deciding to do it. Its a major project that can cost tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars for a large exhibit. For example, the AMNH in New York has only redone their paleo exhibits twice in the past 100 years! Thats not to say the NHM couldn't update their text to reflect new discoveries etc. But I think you're being a bit unfair - there are alot of cool specimens on display in London. Though, the lighting for the exhibit is atrocious.
This sounds like it should be a blast. Have a great time, Bill!
ReplyDelete