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This last weekend I was in Chicago for a short getaway and I had Saturday afternoon to myself. The weather was absolutely beautiful, so I decided to make my way down to the museum campus. I was able to get down to that portion of the lakefront in time to catch the tail-end of the Chicago March for Science, around 40,000 scientists and their allies rallying in support of science funding and science-based policy, and also in defense of the environment. It was a boisterous crowd of all ages and wonderful to see. The ending point of the March was right in front of the Field Museum of Natural History, so I decided to head inside. I grew up in the greater Chicagoland area, so I have been coming to the Field for 30 or so years now, but in years past, I must admit, my interest was always mainly in the dinosaurs and other Mesozoic creatures- I never paid nearly as much attention to the earlier flora and fauna. Now that I have been collecting from Mazon Creek and other Carboniferous sites for about a year and a half, I thought I might view the exhibits in a new light. The museum was crowded, as many other marchers had the same idea to spend the afternoon in this iconic "temple of science". I decided to check out one of the special exhibits up at the moment, titled "Specimens: Unlocking the Secrets of Life" , a sort of behind-the-scenes look at the value of the museum's vast collections and how they have been used to make scientific breakthroughs. This special exhibit is scheduled to run until January 7, 2018, and I highly recommend it to anyone in the area!

Question about the Florida Museum of Natural History : My background is in planetary science. Most of the major museums with meteorite collections are more than happy to meet a passionate layperson and will take them into "the back room" to see the good stuff that is not out on public display. For example, if you visit TCU, Dr. Ehlmann will take you into the back and talk your ears off about meteorites, let you handle the rare stuff, and even give you a free souvenir meteorite to take home. Really nice and classy guy. What is the FMNH like? Has anyone managed to sweet talk their way into the vault to see the good stuff? How are they about that kind of thing?

This weekend my wife and I are heading up to volunteer at the Thomas Farm fossil dig in Gilchrist County that is being run by the Division of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville. I discovered this opportunity when visiting their website to renew my Florida fossil permit. True, you don't get to keep what you might find but you do get to see fossils in situ in the sandy clay matrix rather than all tumbled and jumbled (and blackened) in a sifting screen while standing waist deep in the Peace River. I checked the website and it seems (from their last update) that there may still be some volunteer slots open for some of the dates. I have no idea how current their website is being maintained but I'm assuming there are still opportunities here for this year. If you are interested an application form and contact email for Richard Hulbert (who is organizing and leading this dig) can be found here: http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/vertpaleo/Spring_2014.htm As the first of this year's sessions is already underway (started yesterday) I'm assuming Dr. Hulbert will only be having a chance to catch-up on emails in the evenings. If you think it would be fun to work with scientists (and other volunteers) to dig at one of the most fossil rich sites in Florida, there may still be opportunities for this year. Visit the link above and contact Dr. Hulbert to see if you can still be part of this year's efforts. Videos and photos from a previous dig are also available on the FLMNH website via this link: http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/thomasfarm/videos/ http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/thomasfarm/images/ I'll post some photos from our trip after I get back next week. Cheers. -Ken