Sea monster fossils surface in Montana
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| Pat Druckenmiller, in the collection room of MSU's Museum of the Rockies, displays the skull and lower jaw of an ancient sea monster found in central Montana. |
"It's a very important specimen," MSU paleontologist Jack Horner said at the Museum of the Rockies, where the fossil rests in boxes. "We have been looking for it for a long, long time."
Ken Olson of Lewistown and his son, Garrett, found the fossils in mid-August about 75 miles northeast of Lewistown. Because Horner was in Mongolia, Olson said he prepared the fossils himself and delivered them to Horner about three weeks later. Olson, a retired Lutheran pastor, has long collected fossils for the museum.
Horner said the head of a short-necked plesiosaur was found previously in Montana, but he had been waiting for the discovery of a complete long-necked plesiosaur skull. Both were ancient sea reptiles that lived during the time of the dinosaurs.
"This critter is one of the long, ridiculously long-necked plesiosaurs," said Pat Druckenmiller, an MSU expert in marine reptile fossils. Based on other fossils of this type in the world, the new Montana fossil could have had as many as 50 to 70 vertebrae in its neck, Druckenmiller said.
Scanning fish
Just like clerks scan items in a grocery store, Shane Vatland will use technology to identify individual fish as they swim in the Big Hole River this summer. Bob Gresswell, research associate at the Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center at Montana State University, said Vatland is going to research native Arctic grayling for his doctoral degree. Vatland will start by inserting tags in the fish and placing antennas along the river. Then he'll monitor the fish to answer questions about their activities. Native Arctic grayling once occupied the entire Missouri River drainage upstream of Great Falls. They currently live in 80 miles of the Big Hole River and a few tributaries. The Big Hole contains the last native fluvial Arctic grayling in the lower 48 states.
Taking a stand
Montana will become a desert by 2100 if nothing is done to slow global warming, according to four MSU students. After researching global warming and climate change for their university seminar course in the College of Letters and Science, the students decided to request an appearance before the Bozeman City Commission, said instructor Teresa Greenwood. The students wanted the commission to endorse "The 10 Percent Challenge," a voluntary program to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent. The program recommends, among other things, that businesses turn down thermostats by one degree, replace incandescent bulbs with florescent bulbs, turn off office equipment when it's not being used, and use Energy Star appliances. The involved students were Heather DeGraw of Bozeman, Pelin Zan of Turkey, Brianne Barber of South Dakota and Krysten Fitzsimmons of Oregon.
Math, science and girls
MSU computer science professors Rafal Angryk and Anne DeFrance received a $75,000 National Science Foundation grant for a project that might lead to a more gender-balanced workforce in computer science and related fields. The pair plans to encourage 14- and 15-year-old girls to study more science and math through two, week long, summer workshops. The first workshop will be in June. Students who attend will program robots, among other fun activities. Local professional women who work in computer science or related fields will mentor the girls during the workshops and the following two school years.
Road trip shows two sides of Montana
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| Bill Wyckoff on the road again, this time on a dirt road east of Bozeman. |
Bill Wyckoff wanted to see how Montana's landscape was changing and understand the processes involved, so he drove around the state during the summers of 2001 through 2004, photographing scenes that were first photographed during the 1920s and 1930s. Staff with the Montana Department of Highways took the original photos to show how Montana's roads and bridges looked before and after receiving federal funds.
The historical geographer in MSU's earth sciences department saw that some places changed very little over 80 years. Other changes occurred unpredictably and quickly.
Some parts of Montana are struggling with too much growth, while other areas are coping with loss, Wyckoff said.
"We need to be humble, and we need to be careful," he noted. "If we are not, we will lose our biggest asset -- our big sky, Big Sky Country."
Wyckoff said he chose about 70 photos that showed more than roads and bridge abutments. Then he took off in his 1985 Toyota Tercel to see how those scenes look today. He wanted to photograph the sites with black-and-white film exactly where they were shot originally and at the same time of day.
Wyckoff's photos, the originals that inspired them and accompanying essays are part of a new book, On the Road Again: Montana's Changing Landscape.
Bite of bikers?
Rollerskating in a buffalo herd might not be feasible, but how about bicycling? David Kack of MSU's Western Transportation Institute is investigating the promotion of bicycle use on federal land. The two-year project pertains to national parks, wildlife refuges, national forests and other central lands of the Federal Highway Administration. Safety around wildlife will probably come up, Kack said. Do bicyclists really want to become "meals on wheels?" Another issue could be traffic. Bicyclists might not want to ride through Yellowstone National Park with a string of RVs behind them. Once he looks at all the issues, Kack will write pertinent guidelines. When traffic reaches a certain point, for example, administrators may want to compare the impacts and costs of adding shoulders or separate bicycle paths.
Ship of death
The single voyage of one ship, the Hankey, changed the history of North America, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean Islands, says MSU historian Billy Smith who is writing a book on the matter. Under contract with National Geographic Books, Smith said the Hankey carried 275 white British passengers to West Africa in 1792 to establish an anti-slavery colony. Many of the colonists died of tropical disease, however, and two dozen survivors tried to sail the Hankey home. In the process, they spread Yellow Fever to the Caribbean, Philadelphia and England. The death and devastation contributed to Napoleon Bonaparte's decision to sell the Louisiana Territory to the United States, Smith said.
Faculty noticed for work on common parasite
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| Toxoplasma gondii parasites invade a mouse cell. The parasites are green and the nucleus is blue. |
Their findings about Toxoplasma gondii and toxoplasmosis were published last winter in three major scientific journals -- Nature, Science and PLoS Pathogens.
"It's not often you get such a cluster of papers coming out," said Michael White, one of the authors and an MSU professor of veterinary molecular biology.
Toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Symptoms usually appear only in people with weakened immune systems, but on rare occasions, healthy people suffer serious eye and central nervous system problems from toxoplasmosis. Their babies can have birth defects. It can kill livestock and has devastated efforts to restore sea otters near Monterey, Calif. Because it's common, yet complex, toxoplasmosis is a potential weapon for bioterrorists.
Severe toxoplasmosis can cause AIDS patients to go into a deep dementia and become unconscious of their surroundings.
"It's one of the worst syndromes an AIDS patient can die from," said Jay Radke, another of the MSU authors.
> Spring 2007 Contents
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