NEWS FROM THE SECTOR: Headline stories from the web

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[LAST UPDATED 16th June 2013]

Conodonts - the most controversial microfossils?

12/06/2013: From NaturePlus: Curator of Micropalaeontology's blog...
Conodonts are extinct phosphatic microfossils that 'look like' teeth and are used extensively for dating rocks roughly 500-205 million years old. Ever since they were first described as fish teeth by C. H. Pander in 1856 they have caused arguments over how they should be classified and, nearly 150 years later, continue to do so. Read on to find out if they really are teeth, why they are so difficult to classify, give names to and even decide which way up they should be!...READ MORE

A thousand years of building with stone

A Thousand Years of Building with Stone  is a three-and-a-half year project looking at the everything from castles and bridges to parish churches, barns and cottages. We are aiming to trace the sources of the stone for these buildings and hopeful to rediscover some lost quarries, to engage the public with their local stone-built heritage and the geology that underpins the distinct regional character of towns and villages both in terms of landscape and built environment...READ MORE

Lyme Regis 'Coastal Treasures' Fossil Festival 3-5 May 2013

The 2013 Lyme Regis Fossil Festival will celebrate out Coastal Treasures. Lyme Regis sits at the heart of the Jurassic Coast, England's only Natural UNESCO World Heritage Site. We won our UNESCO status thanks to the magnificent cliffs that stretch from Exmouth to Swanage, exposing not only the Jurassic Lias but also the Triassic and Cretaceous layers. (Yes, we should really be called the Mesozoic Coast...) A visit to different points along the coast will not only let you see 185 million years of the earth's history, but also give you access to many different kinds of fossils, from the gigantic to the microscopic...READ MORE

Happy Museums! Museums and Happiness research report

From NMDC newsletter May 2013...
The Happy Museum has published a report by economist Daniel Fujiwara on the happiness cost benefit of museums and the arts, using information drawn from Taking Part data. Director of the Happy Museum project Tony Butler said “Qualitative research has been used by museums as effective advocacy, often influencing the hearts and minds of decision makers at local level. However, we think that quantitative evidence that robustly uncovers cause and effect is more likely to influence policy makers.” The report measured the individual wellbeing value of museums at over £3,000 per year and gives an extensive explanation of how that figure was arrived at...READ THE REPORT (pdf)

Museums Association report on public attitudes to museums

From NMDC newsletter May 2013...
A report commissioned by the Museums Association explores what the public thinks museums should be for. It is the result of a series of workshops across the UK, attended by 90 members of the public. Spontaneously mentioned essential purposes included care and preservation of heritage... mounting displays and creating knowledge for and about society. People also thought that museums should create economic benefit through tourism and regeneration as well as giving individuals educational opportunities. Low priorities included... protecting the natural environment. Some proposed purposes were challenged by the public. They felt that museums should have a neutral voice and not hold controversial debates. The Museums Association say the report will feed into their larger Museums 2020 initiative...READ THE REPORT (pdf)

A year in the life of a collection

29/04/2013: From NaturePlus: Curator of Micropalaeontology's blog...
The end of March and start of April at the Museum marks the end of our reporting year so I thought I'd report on the news from the micropalaeontology collections over the past year. This includes details of national press coverage, exhibitions, loans, acquisitions, disposals, visitors, university teaching, projects by artists and answers to big questions about past climates....READ MORE

Museum meteorite CT scans help prepare for space missions

29/04/2013: From NHM News...
A meteorite from Mars is a rare thing - even the Natural History Museum's world-class collection has only 13. Scientists are planning robotic missions to Mars to collect more Martian samples. But what is the best way to study these precious objects once they're returned to Earth? One method is to use CT scanners, and scientists at the Museum are producing incredibly detailed images that are impressing scientists all over the world. They are working with colleagues at the European Space Agency and the UK Space Agency to find the best way to look after and study Martian samples brought back from future missions. Investigating Mars samples will be key to finding out things such as whether there was ever life on Mars....READ MORE

Will Watts introduces the Scarborough Speeton plesiosaur

26/04/2013: from Culture24...
Curator's Choice: Will Watts introduces the Scarborough Speeton plesiosaur, recalling a bitterly cold, ten-day excavation on a North Yorkshire beach...READ MORE

Beneath and Beyond at MOSI: Seismic sound and video installation

22/03/2013: Culture24...
Beneath and Beyond at the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester, March 29 – June 30 2013: Violent upheavals aside, we are generally unaware of the moving earth beneath our feet. Beneath and Beyond seeks to reveal how noisy our planet is, potentially triggering discussions about social, cultural and ecological issues. Live seismic recordings of the Earth – including those beneath Greater Manchester – help create this unique sound and video installation...READ MORE

Seeing inside a pterosaur skull

21/03/2013: NHM News...
The inside of the skull of a 100-million-year-old pterosaur has been seen by Natural History Museum fossil experts for the first time. Computed tomography (CT) scans revealed details of the ancient flying reptile's braincase that will help scientists discover more about its behaviour. The skull belongs to the extinct species Anhanguera - an Early Cretaceous fish-eating pterodactyloid with a long snout and a wingspan of 4-5 metres. The fossil skull, uncovered in Brazil, is half a metre long and is displayed in the Museum - the only Anhanguera fossil on public display in the UK...READ MORE

Isle of Wight girl Daisy Morris has flying prehistoric beast named after her

20/03/2013: BBC News: Hampshire and Isle of Wight...
A nine-year-old girl has had a prehistoric beast named in her honour after fossilised bones she found turned out to be an undiscovered species. Daisy Morris from the Isle of Wight stumbled upon the remains on Atherfield beach four years ago. A scientific paper stated the newly discovered species of pterosaur would be called Vectidraco daisymorrisae....READ MORE

How to CT-scan a microfossil

20/03/2013: From NaturePlus: Curator of Micropalaeontology's blog...
One of the most amazing things about working at the Museum is having access to world class facilities to support my work, whether that be managing the collections or doing research. Members of the Imaging and Analysis Centre have been analysing an important foraminiferal type specimen using the Museum nano-CT scanner. This produces a 3-D rendition of something less than half a millimetre wide and helps with classification of this important species that has potential to date rock formations, show past climates and ocean conditions...READ MORE

BBC Countryfile visits the Lyme Regis Museum

03/03/2013: From Lyme Regis Museum blog...
Last Thursday (28 February), the long-running BBC series Countryfile visited Lyme Regis and met some of the Museum staff. The Museum's geologist Paddy Howe (seen on the left with Countryfile presenter Julia Bradbury) was involved in filming on the beach between Lyme and Charmouth, and was also filmed in his workshop preparing a small ammonite specimen...READ MORE

CFP: 1st International Conservation Symposium-Workshop of Natural History (Barcelona: 18-20 September 2013)

Call for oral presentations and posters for the 1st International Conservation Symposium-Workshop of Natural History now open. Deadline 30 April 2013. Further details regarding the cfp are available here and information about the event can be found on the non-GCG Meetings page.

Museum nannofossil image illuminates British Museum exhibit

27/02/2013: From NaturePlus: Curator of Micropalaeontology's blog...
It feels strange recommending readers to go to another museum. However, this is a great example of the application of Micropalaeontology to archaeological studies and the use of our nannofossil collection. My colleague Tom Hill has just returned from a meeting on 'Geological applications in Archaeology' so this subject is receiving a lot of interest at the moment...READ MORE

Reading the rocks

27/02/2013: From GSL's blog...
Over the last few weeks, a number of news stories have highlighted the impact geoscience has on our everyday lives in the UK. But how do you interpret these stories for your own lives? How much do you really need to know about Earth sciences to benefit from our planet’s resources or protect yourself from its hazards? And how geoscience literate are you really?...READ MORE

Sedimentary my dear Watson

25/02/2013: From GSL's blog...
During the last month or so, I’ve been cataloguing the ‘Merriman Collection’ (ref: LDGSL/1088) from our archives. The collection of 412 glass lantern slides, primarily dating from 1880s-1910s, was donated to the Society by Mrs Mary Merriman in 2002 after being found languishing in a garden shed for decades. Around half of the slides relate to one of our Fellows, Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy (1877-1947), an Anglo-Ceylonian who later abandoned a promising geological career (he discovered the mineral thorianite) to devote himself instead to the history of Indian and Ceylonese art, culture and philosophy...READ MORE

How do you become a curator?

15/02/2013: From NaturePlus: Curator of Micropalaeontology's blog...
I'm very excited to see that the Museum is running a half term activity called Curious Collectors. As a child I would have loved this as I was an avid collector and had my own rock collection under my bed. Some of my Geology undergraduate colleagues may even remember me at the end of a field trip to Cyprus sitting next to an enormous pile of rocks I had collected and telling me 'you can't possibly take ALL those home on the plane...READ MORE

Sad news of the loss of Phil Doughty

We have recently been informed of the death of Philip Doughty,former Head of Science and Keeper of Geology in the Ulster Museum. Read the notice here

100 year old Microfossil Christmas Card

24/12/12: From NaturePlus: Curator of Micropalaeontology's blog...
Last year I posted some images of microfossils sent as Christmas cards by Arthur Earland (1866-1958) to his collaborator Edward Heron-Allen (1861-1943). Following my post I was contacted by Brian Davidson who now owns Arthur Earland's collection. He visited the Museum in October and brought with him some fine examples of Arthur Earland's foraminiferal slides. It is 100 years since the creation of one of the Museum slides and the story of Earland and Heron-Allen, their collaboration and their subsequent falling out has been published in The Independent newspaper and subsequently the BBC Focus web site. ...READ MORE

Field Museum Petition

24/12/12: From Paleonet@nhm.ac.uk
With regard to the Field Museum's plans (see previous entry below), please sign the online petition to FMNH leadership at https://www.change.org/petitions/richard-lariviere-ceo-and-president-field-museum-of-natural-history-protect-research-at-field-museum-of-natural-history-chicago, and leave a comment if you can.

Field Museum to cut staff, overhaul operations and limit research scope

18/12/12: From The Chicago Tribune...
Battered by the recession and a high debt load, the Field Museum on Tuesday announced plans to cut staff, overhaul its operations and limit the scope of its research. A comprehensive plan being drawn up by museum officials also could include changes to its hours of operation and the admission price for special exhibits. Staff reductions would be aimed at curators and scientists, according to museum officials....READ MORE

How a Blaschka specimen got from cardboard box to Museum Treasure

30/11/12: From NaturePlus: Curator of Micropalaeontology's blog...
The new Treasures Cadogan Gallery opened at the Museum this week with an iconic specimen from the micropalaeontology collections displayed prominently in the first case you come to when entering from the left-hand-door. Just over 10 years ago, this beautiful glass model of a radiolarian made in Dresden in 1889 by father and son Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, was housed in a cardboard box and hidden behind the scenes at the Museum...READ MORE

Room without elephants

22/11/12: From Museum Development Northwest blog...
Elephants in the Room acquainted us with the sorry support and lack of change that natural history collections have received over the last 30 years. Although many museums have received small sums for reviews of their natural history collections from the Esmée Fairbairn Effective Collections scheme, much is still to be done....READ MORE

HOGG website

The History of Geology Group has a new (ish - about a month ago) website: historyofgeologygroup.co.uk

Lapworth Museum wins heritage lottery grant and seeks volunteers to help shape its redevelopment

15/11/12: From University of Birmingham news...
The Lapworth Museum of Geology at the University of Birmingham has been awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund Development grant of £130,000 to progress plans to apply for a full grant for a major redevelopment project to create a significantly improved visitor experience and widen its access to young people, the public, and schools...READ MORE

What do microfossils tell us about the first humans in Britain?

14/11/12: From NaturePlus: Curator of Micropalaeontology's blog...
In July my colleague Tom Hill welcomed a group of Archaeology students from the University of Birmingham to the Museum. On their tour they were shown some microfossil slides collected by retired Museum micropalaeontologist and current Museum Scientific Associate John Whittaker from various important archaeological sites showing evidence of the first humans in Britain. I've picked out three key sites where the microfossils in the collection help with dating the finds and reconstructing the environment and climate of these first human settlements in the British Isles....READ MORE

Do you use ‘Curate’ when ‘Organise’ will do? Well you shouldn’t…

31/10/12: From UCL Museums and Collections Blog...
Inspired by my colleague Mark’s excellent blog ‘How to tell an archaeologist from a palaeontologist’ (read it here) I thought I’d dedicate my blog to my own particular bug bear: The use of the word ‘curate’ and title ‘curator’.....READ MORE

Predicting pyrite decay

16/10/12: GCG Jisc Mailing List
As there isn't a definitive guide one can turn to that lists sites yielding specimens likely to suffer from pyrite decay if storage conditions are less than ideal I would like your help to put together some guidelines that could be published in the Geological Curator / NatSCA or somewhere similar.

If you have had fossil or mineral specimens suffer from pyrite decay please get in touch (see below) and give me the details. Also, tell me about any sites and/or geological horizons that you know yield specimens that suffer particularly badly or easily from pyrite oxidation, even if you know of only a few examples. This includes minerals as well as fossils. A locality name is
essential (as detailed as possible, but if all you have is ‘Whitby area’ that will do) and include as much stratigraphic information as you have. It would be useful if you could indicate the sort of material, i.e. ‘ammonites’ or ‘marine reptiles’ etc and (it is usually unlikely one would know the following) whether the pyrite decay is active only in the matrix surrounding the specimen, or only within the specimen, or in both.

Also, please send me references for any published papers you know of relating to pyrite decay. Please ask ex-curators and other relevant colleagues for their input. The more people that contribute, the more reliable and useful the end result will be.

I will put all the information together and will publish a list of sites known to produce particularly susceptible material. This would be a useful starting point for curators either wanting to round up material to put in a better (low RH) microclimate or those wanting to check targeted parts of their collection once a year...READ MORE

Please contact Nigel Larkin: nrlarkin@easynet.co.uk

Vast microfossil teaching collection loaned to university

11/10/12: From NaturePlus: Curator of Micropalaeontology's blog...
Over the last month or so we have been preparing a large microfossil teaching collection for loan to the University of Birmingham to support a new postgraduate masters course on Applied and Petroleum Micropalaeontology. The collection consists of 730 slides and over 2,500 countable specimens housed in a single cabinet...READ MORE

New proof that Museum meteorite comes from Mars

11/10/12: NHM news
New research on the Natural History Museum’s Tissint meteorite reveals evidence of its Martian origin, scientists report in the journal Science today. Museum scientist Dr Caroline Smith holds the newly arrived Tissint Martian meteorite Museum scientist Dr Caroline Smith holds the Tissint meteorite. It is now the largest Martian meteorite in the Natural History Museum collections. The Tissint meteorite came from the Martian crust and contains traces of Mars’ atmosphere and surface alteration, according to the international team, led by Prof Hasnaa Chennaoui Aoudjehane from the Hassan II University, Morocco, and including the Natural History Museum’s meteorite expert Dr Caroline Smith...READ MORE

10 Steps to mass digitisation

3/10/12: From NaturePlus: Curator of Micropalaeontology's blog...
I have just read an excellent blog article by Nick Poole about the Smithsonian Digitisation Fair in Washington. I gave a talk last December about the cost of mass digitisation at the Annual General Meeting of the Geological Curators' Group at Leeds Museum and feel inspired to jot down the thoughts of a curator in the middle of a mass digitisation project. Here are my 10 steps to mass digitisation dealing with some of the pitfalls, how we have managed to overcome them, a timeline and finally an estimate of the cost of this mass digitisation project...READ MORE

GB/3D type fossils online project news

18/09/12: GCG Jisc Mailing List
Dust off your fossil types..... the JISC funded GB/3D type fossils online project would like to visit you!

The project partners are busy photographing all their UK macro-fossil type specimens, including close-ups and labels. In most cases they are also taking stereo-pairs for anaglyph production. They are laser scanning about 10% of the specimens to produce downloadable digital models. Please see the project blog for the background to the project and for some free downloadable digital models - http://gb3dtypefossils.blogspot.co.uk/ . Next year a web portal will be released, linking all the fossil registration details (including identification, locality, age, registration number, repository, etc.) to the images, stereo-anaglyphs and 3D digital models.

The Geological Curators’ Group is now trying to track down the UK type macro-fossils held in other collections and museums around the country. We would like to visit as many collections as possible with our mobile cameras and laser scanner to photograph and record all the available types, and make them available through the web portal. All the material will be clearly badged with the holding institution’s logo, which will link to contact details and access information, thereby helping to open up the collection for worldwide study. At a time when collections are being increasingly required to justify their existence, this is a good way of raising their profile and demonstrating the international scientific importance of material they hold. All collections will be provided with copies of the photographs and digital models of their material to do with as they wish; the images and models on the web portal will be available for free download under a Creative Commons  – Attribution – NonCommercial – ShareAlike licence.

We would like to hear from any museums and collections interested in joining the project. We also have a budget available to help cover the cost of the collection staff involved (£200 per day, on a first-come first-served basis). Please email me (GB3D-Fossils@bgs.ac.uk ) with information about the types you hold, including the approximate number of specimens, or if you wish to receive further information. Where a collection has just a few types, and they are considered safe to travel, we would ask you to consider loaning the material to BGS for the work to be done in Keyworth.

Please consider joining what is becoming a very exciting development...READ MORE

ICHSTM Congress CFPs: Geology in Art and Literature and Geologists in the Field

12/09/12: From SHNH...
Call for papers: two symposia on the history of geology, to be held at the ICHSTM Congress in Manchester, 22-28 July 2013. Deadline for submission of abstracts: 15/10/12...READ MORE
Symposium 1) S112 - Geology in Art and Literature: Proposals for 15-minute papers are invited for a symposium on Geology in Art and Literature. The symposium is convened by Ralph O’Connor (UK) and Noah Heringman (USA).
Symposium 2) S113 – Geologists in the Field: Proposals for 15-minute papers are invited for a symposium on Geologists in the Field. The symposium is convened by Leucha Veneer (UK) and Martina Kölbl-Ebert (Germany).

Corsi Collection of Decorative Stones

14/09/12: GCG Jisc Mailing List
In case you haven’t already seen the Corsi collection of decorative stones website, all 1,000 stone samples in this early 19th century collection can be viewed online at www.oum.ox.ac.uk/corsi. Development of the website was generously funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, and we hope it will be a very helpful resource for identifying and researching polished stone. Please let me know what you think of the website, and whether you find it useful...READ MORE

Wenlock Edge Quarries: National Trust campaign to save the Quarries

22/08/12: GCG Jisc Mailing List
Find out more about the National Trust's campaign to save the Wenlock Edge Quarries...READ MORE

Largest Meteorite to Fall on Britain?

17/08/12: Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum...
From September 10, 2012, a 90kg meteorite, possibly the biggest to have ever fallen on the British Isles, will go on display at the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum. Mystery surrounds the history of the meteorite. For at least 80 years it sat near the front door of Lake House (at Wilsford-cum-Lake near Salisbury). When the house was sold, the stone was confirmed as a meteorite by the Natural History Museum where it remained in storage for many years. Professor Colin Pillinger, famed for his work on the Beagle 2 Mars spacecraft, had been studying a smaller meteorite from the Danebury Hill Fort in Hampshire and felt that there could be a connection between the two. The meteorite from Lake House was retrieved from storage and although the two objects were found to be unrelated, Colin has continued with his study of the larger meteorite.....READ MORE

Ostracod Collections at the Natural History Museum

10/08/12: Curator of Micropalaeontology's blog...
Large donation of ostracods helps answer big questions: In 2011 we accepted a donation of 2,500 microscope slides containing over 90,000 ostracods from the personal collection of Prof. Richard Dingle. Richard has been visiting the Museum for almost 10 years now and has organised, documented and subsequently donated this major collection....READ MORE

Swap shop: skills sharing in museums

09/08/12: From the Guardian's culture-professionals-network...
The Natural History Museum and Hunterian have been swapping staff members. At a time when museum staff and museums are vanishing and public sector institutions are under pressure to provide high quality services with restricted resources, London Museums Group (LMG) has been investigating how museums are reacting to the emerging landscape...READ MORE

Hazardous Substances in Collections Conference

From ICON events page...
Icon Metals & Care of Collections groups are joining forces to produce a one day conference for this autumn on Hazardous Substances in Collections. The aim is to tackle issues of identification, storage and disposal on a range of hazardous materials, in addition to highlighting recent changes in HSE legislation with regards to radiation and asbestos. There will be 10 presentations, 30 minutes each, covering various aspects of hazardous substances in collections....READ MORE

Muscle reconstruction reveals how dinosaurs stood

20/06/12: From NHM News...
Much is known about the dinosaurs that walked on 4 legs like Stegosaurus and Triceratops, but their stance has been a topic of debate, until now. Scientists at the Natural History Museum have revealed how these dinosaurs stood for the first time, and report their findings today....READ MORE

Nothing Is Set In Stone

19/06/12: From NaturePlus...
The experimental composer used striped rock known as angel stone (or gneiss) to create her sculptural installation. Nothing is Set in Stone was unveiled today, 21 June, at Fairlop Waters in Redbridge on the outskirts of London. As the listener approaches the sculpture, he or she hears fragments of the musical score in waves, passing through the solid rock. Researchers from the Museum's imaging and analysis laboratory helped the artist investigate the sound system needed for the installation... READ MORE

From Nothing Is Set In Stone...
Mira Calix’s Nothing Is Set In Stone is a musical sculpture made of gneiss stones. The monolithic installation will stand at Fairlop Waters, a nature reserve in the borough of Redbridge between June 21st and September 9th 2012. This interactive sculptural song invites the public to contemplate the modulations within nature and the ephemeral quality of music... READ MORE

Familiar with Geological Collections? Please take this Questionnaire!

06/06/12: From Geo-HeritageScience...
As part of an MRes Heritage Science dissertation on values associated with geological collections a questionnaire has been devised: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/geoattitudes. A more detailed description of my MRes project and its aims is included in the questionnaire itself...READ MORE

Survey on the values associated with geological collections

06/06/12: From the GCG Jisc Mailing List....
An interesting thread concerning the values associated with geological questions survey (above) has been started on the GCG Jisc Mailing List...READ MORE

How much is a microfossil worth?

30/05/12: From NaturePlus: Curator of Micropalaeontology's blog...
The quick answer is anything from less than one pence to several thousands of pounds. The value of a specimen depends on a number of factors; market value, recollection value, as well as its historical and scientifical significance. Valuations are needed for insurance purposes before we loan specimens for exhibitions or to scientists. Here are some thoughts on how to put a monetary value on microfossils...READ MORE

Rotunda Museum explores mega footprints of a region in Scarborough's Lost Dinosaurs

28/05/12: From Culture 24...
Exhibition: Scarborough's Lost Dinosaurs, Rotunda Museum, Scarborough, until September 2013. If any English region can lay claim to thick-skinned prehistoric prominence, it’s Scarborough’s coastal climes. Two-foot long megalosaurus footprints – embedded in huge boulders from 160 million years ago – and tri-toe markings in sandstone trackways have been among a lengthy list of distinctly Jurassic telltale signs found in the area. And this exhibition asks the question each new discovery poses: why have so many traces remained when so few bones have materialised?...READ MORE

Controversy over sale of fossil material

22/05/12: From Dinosaur Tracking...
A few weeks ago, Heritage Auctions announced that it had a tyrannosaur to sell. The assembled and articulated Tarbosaurus was expected to fetch nearly a million dollars at the May 20 auction. Paleontologists shook their heads in dismay: Such specimens typically come with very little documentation and often end up in private collections, lost to researchers and the public alike...READ MORE

18/05/12: From USA today...
Mongolian officials are protesting a Tyrannosaurus skeleton headed for the auction block on Sunday in New York, suggesting that it was illegally smuggled out of their nation...READ MORE

Giant robotic dinosaurs gear up for Age of the Dinosaurs blockbuster at the Ulster Museum

09/05/12: From Culture24...
As most younger museum visitors know, any big dinosaur exhibition worth its salt must have a mechanically driven  “animatronic” dinosaur or two to enthral both kids and parents alike.
Faithfully adhering to this recent post-Jurassic Park tradition, and ahead of its summer dinosaur blockbuster Age of the Dinosaur, the Ulster Museum has spent the past week installing a huge, 1.5 tonne animatronic Tarbosaurus into its exhibition halls – with a little help from animatronic experts at The Natural History Museum...READ MORE

"In our time", Early Geology, BBC Radio 4 on IPlayer

18/04/12: From GEONEWS...
This is a radio programme about the history of ideas and on 12 April it was about early geology. At the end Melvyn Bragg and his guests agreed that geology emerged as a profession at the end of the 18th Century...LISTEN HERE

CFP: Hazardous Substances in Collections Conference

18/04/12: From the GCG Jisc Mailing List....
Abstracts of 250 words are invited for submission by April 30th 2012. The Metals & Care of Collections groups are joining forces to produce a one day conference for this autumn on Hazardous Substances in Collections. The aim is to tackle issues of identification, storage and disposal on a range of hazardous materials, in addition to highlighting recent changes in HSE legislation with regards to radiation and asbestos. Papers are invited for 30 minute presentations on any aspect of hazardous substances in collections .....READ MORE

CFP: Appreciating Physical Landscapes: Geotourism 1670 - 1970

18/04/12: From GEONEWS....
Appreciating Physical Landscapes: Geotourism 1670 - 1970 at the GSL, UK, 22-23 October 2012.This conference will cover topics such as early reportage of elite travelers in the 17th century, the publication of the first travelers’ guide-books, first modern landscape and geoconservation measures, such as national parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty, national nature reserves, and the emergence of environmental interpretation and modern countryside leisure as precursors of modern geopark infrastructures. Please submit your papers for this event until 30 April 2012... READ MORE

Open Culture 2012

02/04/12: From Collections Link...
The Collections Trust’s flagship conference, OpenCulture 2012 (26-27 June 2012 The Kia Oval, London) is the culture community’s only event dedicated to Collections Management. The cutting-edge conference programme will be covering topics such as audience development, digitisation, storage, standards, environmental management and many more! With nearly 30 high profile speakers from across the sector, no other event brings you as much quality content as we do. A jam-packed programme designed with collections management issues in mind means that this is an opportunity you just can’t afford to miss!  Find out more and book your place .....READ MORE

Spirit of Scott team united with rocks from epic expedition

29/03/12: From NHM News...
On 29 March 1912, 100 years ago today, Robert Falcon Scott wrote his last diary entry on his return from the South Pole. He and his polar party team never returned from their epic Terra Nova expedition. Their bodies were found with 16kg of geological samples. These rocks were important scientific specimens that the team had collected and hauled along on their arduous Antarctic journey......READ MORE

What does a microfossil curator do?

07/03/12: From NaturePlus: Curator of Micropalaeontology's blog...
I'm so tempted to say that a microfossil curator attends meetings and writes e-mails. Sometimes it feels like that. I decided to document a typical day back in January where e-mails and meetings helped prepare towards a loan for an art exhibition, gave news of a potentially exciting new acquisition and a possible research opportunity involving micro-CT scanning...READ MORE

Mighty Martian meteorite lands at Natural History Museum

08/02/12: From The Natural History Museum...
A rare Martian meteorite that could help unravel the mysteries of Mars has arrived at the Natural History Museum in London today, obtained with the support of a donor. The meteorite is the largest piece from a shower of stones that fell to Earth in Morocco last July, near the village of Tissint. The Tissint meteorite weighs 1.1kg and is now the largest Martian meteorite in the Museum's collections...READ MORE

Museums hear fate after 29 bid for share of £60m Renaissance money

24/01/12: From The Guardian's Culture Cuts blog...
Winners include Brighton, Birmingham, Oxford and Cambridge. Losers include Sheffield which warns of job losses and a fall in exhibition standards. Arts Council England has named 16 organisations as winning bidders for a share of £60m Renaissance money which is given to the nation's museums... READ MORE

24/01/12: From the Museums Association: Maurice Davies blog...
Today’s announcement of major museum funding from Arts Council England (ACE) is generally sound. It’s reassuring that by applying strict criteria and a transparent process ACE has arrived at a pretty well-balanced portfolio of major partner museums - with one or two exceptions... READ MORE

Lost Charles Darwin fossils rediscovered in cabinet

16/01/12: From BBC News...
A "treasure trove" of fossils - including some collected by Charles Darwin - has been re-discovered in an old cabinet. [View the BGS Hooker slide collection] The fossils, lost for some 165 years, were found by chance in the vaults of the British Geological Survey HQ near Keyworth, UK...READ MORE

Stolen meteorite recovered in New Mexico

13/01/12: From the Claims Journal via the Global Museum...
A meteorite that landed in Russia in the 1940s and was recently stolen from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque has been located. After the meteorite went missing, the museum contacted an association of meteorite collectors and a Missouri man responded that he had bought it for $1,700...READ MORE

Dorchester Dinosaur on the move

12/01/12: From Dorchester Dorset blog...
Dorchester will get its first television appearance of 2012 when it is featured on Channel 5 show The Removal Men later this year. The programme will follow one of the most unusual assignments ever undertaken by removal specialists Pickfords, when they were tasked with transporting a life-sized model triceratops belonging to the Dinosaur Museum in Dorchester... READ MORE

How to get a fossil named after you

09/01/12: From NaturePlus: Curator of Micropalaeontology's blog...
According to Giles Miller: The easiest way is to make friends with a Palaeontologist who is good at discovering things and is looking for names to call their new finds. A slightly harder way is to find a new fossil species and give it to a Palaeontologist who names it after you.  (In case you were wondering, it is against the rules to call new discoveries after yourself). Just before Christmas I had a visit from my old friend Stuart Sutherland from Canada who named a fossil after me back in 1994. I have four fossils named after me and have named some after others too. Here are the stories behind each of them... READ MORE

Mineral theft from Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History

03/01/12: From GCG JISC Mailing LIst...
On December 10, 2011, there was an early-morning break-in at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Six specimens were stolen from a display case in their Mineral Hall. These included a 2.9-carat faceted benitoite, a large specimen of benitoite and neptunite, two gold nuggets and two specimens of crystallized gold...READ MORE (pdf file opens in new window)

Top 10 science and nature 2011 news stories from the NHM

27/12/11: From the Natural History Museum....
From a rare dual-sex butterfly and an exciting new addition to the human family tree, to a striking electric-blue lobster and a new horned dinosaur, here are the top 10 favourite 2011 science and nature news stories from the Natural History Museum website....READ MORE

New geological discovery paves the way for further insight into the transport of Stonehenge rocks

From NMW News...
A new paper in Archaeology in Wales, produced by Dr Rob Ixer of Leicester University and Dr Richard Bevins of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales confirms, for the first time, the exact origin of some the rhyolite debitage found at Stonehenge. This work could now lead to important conclusions about how stones were transported from Pembrokeshire to Stonehenge...READ MORE

130 million-year-old Iguanodon dinosaur bone found in Sunderland back garden

13/12/11: From Culture 24...
A "bizarre" bone from a dinosaur which walked the earth 130 million years ago has gone on display after being spotted among tree roots in a Sunderland back garden...READ MORE

From Tyne and Wear Museums...
A dinosaur bone has been found in a Sunderland back garden, thought to be from a dinosaur called Iguanodon which grew up to 10m long...READ MORE

New horned dinosaur hidden for 90 years at NHM

6/12/11: From the Natural History Museum...
A new species of horned dinosaur has been discovered after being unnoticed in the Natural History Museum collections for more than 90 years, scientists report today...READ MORE

NHM Treasures Gallery to display Archaeopteryx

20/11/11: From the Natural History Museum...
The fossil that confirmed Darwin’s theory of evolution, Archaeopteryx, will be displayed for the first time in a new gallery called Treasures, opening at the Natural History Museum in November 2012...READ MORE

Archaeopteryx - missing link between birds and dinosaurs comes to National Museum Cardiff

18/10/11: From the National Museum of Wales...
Was Archaeopteryx a bird or a dinosaur? So far only 10 specimens have ever been found (plus one isolated feather), all from the same area of Germany. Now one of these original specimens known as “The Phantom” (because it was known about but never seen) will be on display in the UK for the first time. This is an exhibition to mark the 150th anniversary of the discovery of Archaeopteryx, the famous feathered fossil known as the ‘missing-link’ between dinosaurs and birds...READ MORE

14/10/11: From Culture 24...
The fossil that confirmed Darwin’s theory of evolution, Archaeopteryx, will be displayed for the first time in a new gallery called Treasures, opening at the Natural History Museum in November 2012...READ MORE

NHM Archaeopteryx "is the specimen to refer to"

3/10/11: From the Natural History Museum...
The spectacular Archaeopteryx fossil specimen at the Natural History Museum has been declared the official representative of the Archaeopteryx lithographica species, scientists report today... Experts at the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) ruled that the Museum specimen, which shows the almost complete skeleton of the magpie-sized creature with imprints of the wing and tail feathers, should be the type specimen, rather than a fossil of a imprint of a single feather that previously held the title...READ MORE

From the ICZN...
After five years of controversy, the fossil bird Archaeopteryx lithographica is to be officially represented by the spectacular specimen held by the Natural History Museum in London. This changes the primary reference, or type specimen, from an impression of a small fossil feather to the complete bones and feathers in a large limestone slab. The ruling is announced by theInternational Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) in its latest publication, out today...READ MORE