Field Adventures in Paleontology - Enthusiastically written site by a Palaeontologist who gives readers an account of her expeditions. The site cleverly starts with a map so that you can pick the place you want to visit - go from Alaska, Canada, Ontario, Florida. Utah, Arizona, Colorado and even Australia, hunting for cycads and trilobites to much bigger finds. The contents are really the writer's travel journal, so it is more a day to day description of events with her family and friends than a collection of scientific papers. All the information on palaeontology is bound to be reliable, but it would have been nice if the author had checked up on a few botanical and geo-morphological uncertainties she had before putting them on the web. Especially to be appreciated is the print-out book on fossils for children with pictures of small finds, dinosaur tracks and mammoths etc., complete with instructions for assembly. Others for older kids are there for the asking. Very well presented, punctuated with nice photography that can be blown up. French and Spanish versions also available. The site is well worth a visit and has lots of links for those interested in the subject. Rating: 8 out of 10 (3 January 2003) CCL
http://www.fieldadventures.org/
Becoming Human - Becoming human is the prize winning website of the Institute of Human Origins, associated to the Arizona State University, USA. Written by a prestigious ensemble of experts from the different fields of palaeontology, it accompanies us from the first hominids discovered in Ethiopia, through four millions years of human evolution, to our to our own species, explaining links, anatomy and culture along the way. Before embarking on the site, you will need a macromedia flash layer 5, high speed connection, loudspeakers and plenty of time. 'Becominghuman' is divided into three main sections: the documentaries, learning centre and news and views, the last section is constantly and continually being updated. The documentaries are commentated films. These are packed full of all sorts of related information so, to get the most out of them, I suggest clicking on the "help" button which will explain how the system works. This is because the films are 'interrupted' every now and then by 'learn more' signals, which access to even more mini-films/commentaries/summaries - for example, the 'interpreting evidence' inset goes deeper into geological phenomena and how fossils were cemented, fossil pollens, measuring foot step strides etc. etc.. If 'becominghuman' is to be used as a work tool, then open up "related resources" too, as this section offers an excellent glossary, bibliography and web-index on line. The tool bar at the bottom of the documentaries also includes a highly useful 'hominid profile' that summarises details of the age, diet, habitat etc. of the twelve hominids we meet, with the possibility of examining the most recent skulls in detail by rotation. The learning centre offers down-loadable lessons and printable handouts on a variety of subjects. For those with a passion for palaeoanthropology, this site is a must, to be book-marked and revisited again and again.. Apart from the outstanding content and excellent presentation, the text of 'becominghuman' is beautifully written, giving us a fine example of scientific writing in itself, and is clearly and pleasantly spoken. Rating: 10+ out of 10 (7 December 2002) CCL
http://www.becominghuman.org/
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County - Content at museum sites can consist merely of enticements - a brief glimpse of a promising exhibit here, a short description there - it's understandable, but frustrating, especially if a trip there is out of the question. The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is an exception, and has taken great care to present a meaty overview of their offerings. A searchable database of their enormous fish collection returns a detailed report of your query. There are many images and accounts of invertebrate, vertebrate, and mineral sciences (the best collection of U.S. gems and minerals west of Washington, D.C, so they say), with an extensive anthropological section coming soon.Accounts of ongoing projects, such as the study of marine invertebrates in the British Virgin Islands, are also well done. All the features are easy to access from the site map. Rating: 10 out of 10 (27 August 2002) AD
http://www.nhm.org/
The Mammoth Saga - The MAMMOTH SAGA web site is dedicated to an exhibition held at the Swedish Museum of Natural history exhibition in 1994. It gives a good account of the history, ecology and geological phenomena associated with the Ice ages, supported by maps showing the extension of the ice caps. Other subjects treated are Flora and Fauna. 'Flora' for example discusses arctic plants such as Poa Salic and Betulla. Perhaps it would have been a good idea to put the common names first, with the Latin in brackets afterwards, as for the mammals. Sabre-tooth Cats and Mammoths always stimulate the imaginations of school children and the fact files, as well as on modern mammals such as Reindeer, are brief but just the right length for school projects. The fact files also treat subjects like adaptation to the cold (brown fat, size of body appendages), causes of extinction and are well supported with photographs, diagrams etc. It is also possible to enlarge the photographs but getting back to the text is not smooth, only via the back key. This site comes within the realm of the Swedish Natural History Museum general web-site and so back-leads to a host of other interesting features (which appear to be better written). The educational content, as expected for a museum, is excellent but unfortunately there are several grammatical errors. In themselves they are not important nor do they distract away from the text too much, but should not be found in a site of this calibre. The general design could undoubtedly be better, but then technology was different when the site was originally designed for the exhibition. No doubt the site could be improved with updating. Rating: 6 out of 10. (23 July 2002) CCL
http://www.nrm.se/virtexhi/mammsaga/welcome.h...
Dino Directory - Have you ever wondered how tall Iguanadon was, or what are the differences between Velociraptor and Utahraptor? Then this site is for you. This is a fascinating resource from the Natural History Museum. Although at the moment, only a limited number of dinos are available, the museum is adding to this all the time. The directory can be searched by name, era or by region. So, for example, if you wanted to know what dinosaurs were found in South America, now you can. Clicking on a dinosaur brings up details including family, period, diet and the correct pronunciation. There are also a wealth of pictures available from the museum. In fact, a criteria for inclusion in the site is that the museum holds a good image. This site is a fascinating resource, easy to use and linked to one of the most respected museums for dinosaur information. My only complaint would be that most of the dinosaurs currently included in the directory are those that a lot has already been written about. It would be nice to see some information about those that we know less about. (10 December 2001) SC
http://flood.nhm.ac.uk/cgi-bin/dino/
Drought: A Paleo Perspective - In an attempt to learn as much as possible about the cycles of drought, scientists at NOAA have been investigating ancient clues. Tree rings can yield data dating thousands of years back, but for information beyond that, researchers must examine sediment from lakes and sand dunes. The devastating effects of drought are outlined here, limiting the focus to North America. We don't tend to think of droughts as being as severe as tornadoes, for instance, but their tendency to be prolonged (parts of the Plains region of the U.S. suffered for eight years during the Dust Bowl Drought) can result in profound economic hardship. There is bad news: droughts with lengths surpassing any occurring in the 20th century have been seen in the not too distant past, and can be expected to occur again. By amassing quantities of data, scientists hope to be able to predict these natural hazards. (28 November 2001) AD
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/drought/drght_...
The Dawn of Animal Life - This Canadian site goes back in time, not to the age of the dinosaurs, but much, much farther. Three billion years, in fact, when things were classified as Archean, and cyanobacteria were the primary living organisms. Layers of cynaobacteria formed stromatolites, and while fossils of these are rare, three areas in Canada have examples. From there, the site moves on to eurkaryotes, then to the Ediacaran fossils of Canada. Pictures of the multicellular fossils found at Mistaken Point in Newfoundland, oldest collection in the world, offer a look at the astonishing diversity of early life forms. They may lack the scale and drama of dinosaurs, but they have the distinction of being here first. (29 October 2001) AD
http://geol.queensu.ca/museum/exhibits/dawnex...
Dinorama - This National Geographic site on dinosaurs discusses the Dino-Bird Fossil Controversy featured in 2000. Were feathers widespread among carnivorous dinosaurs, like T. rex and Velociraptor, were dinos warm-blooded and was the famous fossil find in China, exhibiting bird-like and dinosaur features, a true missing link or a mixture of two distinct creatures? The site offers the opportunity of following the debate on video to any one who missed the original presentations. Other icons let you follow scans of T. rex, tell how computer models help understand dinosaur movements, explain the steps in making and sculpturing moving dino models, cover dino egg finds and reveal new discoveries in the Sahara Desert. All great stuff. (5 September 2001) CCL
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/di...
