Getting the Dirt On Ancient Life With Coprolites 51
the_newsbeagle writes "Paleoscatologist Karen Chin knows you can learn a lot about ancient ecosystems by studying coprolites — fossilized feces. She has studied dino droppings from herbivores, and identified the types of plants those dinosaurs ate. She has identified T. rex turds, and found evidence that prehistoric dung beetles made use of those king-sized dino patties. This profile of Chin goes through her greatest hits, then focuses on her latest work, which sheds light on the reemergence of life after the K-Pg extinction event that brought down the dinosaurs... but left some surprising creatures unscathed."
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You are aware of the fact that "y'all" is plural, right?
Easy way to spot a ringer from the wrong side of the Mason-Dixon--no respectable Southerner would be caught dead using it to mean only one person. :)
Another tip: In Kentucky, "you'uns" is actually much more common than "y'all".
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Y'all is singular. All y'all is plural.
Git yo grammar all in a ro fore I beat you, an yo nana fo raisin you like she did. NUH-uh, ain't nobody gon' listen achoo when yo words soun like at.
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"Y'all" is plural. "All y'all" is a greater/collective/encompassing plural.
Compare with "we" versus "we all" or "they" versus "they all".
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Not sure if you are trying to correct improper usage, or have never lived where such usage exists. Either way, you are wrong despite being right.
And this is why discussion on the internet is hard.
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I'm a native Southerner. My parents corrected me on the usage when I was a kid, pointing out that only ignorant Yankees and especially ignorant Yankee television writers use "y'all" for the singular.
And since I've already been modded Off-Topic, let me get back on topic by stating that I think the Golden Girls Cosmonaut Guy is probably nicer than the GNAA guy, and definitely gets more First Posts!
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For extra entertainment value, try reading the above aloud, with various regional/national accents.
Poop thread! (Score:4, Insightful)
...and our distant descendants will gain the most accurate picture of us from our landfills, if we haven't already mined them out.
Dedication ! (Score:1)
When one is dedicated, even research done on poop can yield amazing results !
On the other hand, when one lacks dedication, even with the most advance gadgets one still can't accomplish anything
Dr. Chin is of the former, and unfortunately, too many of the young uns are of the latter
A complementary article (Score:5, Informative)
There's another article on Karen Chin and the fossilized turds online, which complements TFA nicely
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/The-Poop-on-Dinosaurs-Menlo-Park-2950982.php [sfgate.com]
On the other hand, Dr. Karen Chin's site at Colorado U turns up with a picture of a bison
http://www.colorado.edu/geolsci/faculty/chin.html [colorado.edu]
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What you are looking for is:
http://www.colorado.edu/geolsci/faculty/chin.htm [colorado.edu]
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Yeah, but it's a shitty job and you wind up working with assholes.
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Most of us don't put poop in the land fill. That's what the sewage system is for. Of course, archeologists thousands of years from now will probably look at the dog poop, cat poop and diapers in the land fill and wonder just what the hell was going on.
I really feel sorry for them.
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They will be able to figure out that dogs like to eat cat poop, at least in this century.
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Actually landfill digging would be a wonderful exercise for an archaeology class. It would provide a good sharpening of their forensics and teach them to be careful,(watch out for that glass,razor blades, sharps etc) be aware of their environment (lookout! Gull attack!) and sharpen deduction skills (what is this fluid in this balloon-like structure?).
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Actually in a lot of areas you do, at least it's done for you. In may places sewerage solids can be used for fertilizer, but in areas where the heavy metal or other contamination is too high, or there's just no demand, it ends up in the landfill.
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Actually a lot of the extracted solids are shipped off to landfills. In most sewage treatment systems the first step is a settling tank that allows the heavier solids (sludge) to sink to the bottom where a screw then lifts them out. The solids (toilet paper, feces etc.) is then dewatered and shipped to landfills. I am familiar with the NYC DEP system as a family friend works for them. Some plants do not dewater their own solids and have to ship them by a DEP barge to other plants which do. One such plant is
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...and our distant descendants will gain the most accurate picture of us from our landfills, if we haven't already mined them out.
Sure, on our eating habits - Garbage in. But what if "garbage in = garbage out" doesn't hold true in the future?
Or what if they use our landfill as fossil fuel (wouldn't that be ironic)?
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"But what if "garbage in = garbage out" doesn't hold true in the future? "
Introducing a new line of USED FOOD STORES!
Where there's always a sale on corn...
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Re:Poop thread! Rust Layer? (Score:1)
A good deal of the steel we use in our modern civilization comes from ore produced by a singular event of some 2 billion years ago. The amount of oxygen in the atmosphere and ocean had increased to a level that all the Iron that had been in solution suddenly rusted out of sea water and settled out eventually becoming the worldwide distribution of ironstone deposits from that age.
In a few million years, our age will be marked by regions of very rusty deposits scattered about the continents. If you have se
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I hear ya brother, I'm colder than hell this week. Turn up the cow flatulence a bit, would you?
Getting the dirt? (Score:2)
s/dirt/poop/
What kind of editor would miss that opportunity?
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I shat a fact. Tis true. Disprove it, dare say I.
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You didn't wipe, you stink, that's a fact.
Soon you will be digging in you crack to relieve itching, that's a forecast.
You won't get laid, that's an outcome.
It's (Score:3)
It's turtle poop all the way down.
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Oh you ran into the Nintendo strata! You might find plumbers poop too. Everytime they got turtle bit...OH SHIT!
Greatest what (Score:3)
FTFY.
And can be buffed up. (Score:2)
These here coproliths in fact can be polished and made to shine. I bet someone's already got a line of coprolitic jewelry.
Great gift (Score:2)
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And you can make them yourself! Keep in mind that kids always want the most recent version of anything.
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Kids are also impatient. When they hear that it takes a million years to make one, they'll lose interest.
Chin's classroom humor? (Score:2)
I wonder if she starts out any of her "coprolite 101" classes with "This is a coprolite, it's fossilized dung. You may think it's just old shit but it's my bread and butter."
(I knew a Parasitologist who started his first lecture of his course somewhat like that.)