This is Throwback Thursday #295. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to [email protected]. Thanks!   email:[email protected]. Don Auler and his wife Dorothy were very active with ESCONI from 1967 until 2002, when Don passed away at the age of 84. 

The Conversation has a story about a chance discovery in a thrift shop. The owner of Thrifty Boutique in Chilliwack, B.C. reached out to the archaeologists at Simon Fraser University in the spring of 2024. The owner wanted to know if some ancient artifacts had historical significance. Turns out the objects in question date to late antiquity or the medieval period.

This is Mazon Monday post #300.  What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected]. The Lauer Foundation just won't let the Mazon Creek horseshoe crabs alone... first it was Euproops danae remains in bromalites (see Mazon Monday #283), now they've found evidence of ancient algal or parasitic infestation in another Euproops danae fossil from the Mazon Creek biota.

The ESCONI December 2025 General Meeting was held on December 12th, 2025 at 8:00 PM via Zoom. The presenter was Steve Miller of the Western Interior Paleontological Society (WIPS). His topic is “Fossils of the Comanche National Grasslands located in southeastern Colorado”. Fossils of the Comanche National Grasslands located in southeastern Colorado The area offers access to the rocks and fossils of the first major cycle of marine deposition of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway.

Southern mammoth bone fragments at the Historyland museum in Hellevoetsluis, the Netherlands. Fossil discoveries in Rotterdam kicked off in the 1950s when fishers dredged the sea floor. The New York Times has an interesting story about “citizen paleontologists” in the Netherlands. The beaches around Rotterdam's port, the largest harbor in Europe, are loaded in Pleistocene fossils from the dredging of the North Sea floor.

This is the “Fossil Friday” post #295.  Expect this to be a regular feature of the website.  We will post fossil pictures you send in to [email protected].  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! We have a particularly special Mazon Creek fossil to share this week, a juvenile amphibamid, possibly…

This is Throwback Thursday #294. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to [email protected]. Thanks!   email:[email protected]. Yes, you read that correctly... Snowflake Collecting. Is that even possible? Well, ESCONI member Mark Blazek wrote this article for the January 1975 issue of the ESCONI newsletter.

The ESCONI December 2025 General Meeting will be held on December 12th, 2025 at 8:00 PM via Zoom. The presenter is Steve Miller of the Western Interior Paleontological Society (WIPS). His topic is "Fossils of the Comanche National Grasslands located in southeastern Colorado". Fossils of the Comanche National Grasslands located in southeastern Colorado The area offers access to the rocks and fossils of the first major cycle of marine deposition of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway.

PBS Eons has a new episode. This one is about 2 million year old DNA from Greenland. It made the front page of the New York Times. Ancient DNA over 2 million years old, retrieved from the frozen dirt of Greenland. It reached back further in time than many scientists used to think was even theoretically possible. And it contained the genetic ghost of an /entire ecosystem/ – one that has no counterpart in today’s world and one that we had /no idea/ even existed. It told of a time when Greenland was green…and how we might borrow genes from that ancient past to help us adapt to the future.

This is Mazon Monday post #301. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:[email protected]. Whole-plant reconstruction of Cordaites borassifolius (Sternberg) Unger (reconstruction by J. Svoboda). Cordaites borassifolius is an extinct genus of early gymnosperms. Cordaites probably grew maybe 100 feet tall in the drier areas of the Carboniferous swamps. They had stilt-like roots, forming forests similar to modern day mangroves.

The 2025 ESCONI Holiday Luncheon was held on December 6th, 2025 at Warren's Ale House in Wheaton, IL. We had a nice turnout. President Chris Berg had a very nice speech to highlight where we are and where we are headed for 2026. It was a very special day as we awarded an honorary membership to John and Kathy Catalani (yes, spelled correctly this time!).

The snout of Nanotyrannus. For years paleontologists assumed this was a teenaged T. rex but new research suggests this is actually a separate smaller species. (N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences) CBC Radio's Quirks & Quarks has a great segment about Nanotyrannus. There's an interview with James Napoli of Stony Brook University, who was coauthor on "Nanotyrannus and…

This is the “Fossil Friday” post #294.  Expect this to be a regular feature of the website.  We will post fossil pictures you send in to [email protected].  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! Phenopterum briggsi is a grylloblattidan species of insect from the Stephanian (Late Carboniferous) deposit of Montceau-les-Mines in southeastern France.

PRESIDENT: Chris Berg 1ST. VICE PRESIDENT: Katherine Howard 2ND. VICE PRESIDENT: Keith Robitschek RECORDING SECRETARY: Valerie Anderson TREASURER: Andrew Jansen PUBLICITY: Elizabeth Magnus-Gentry LIBRARIAN: Andrew Jansen CURATOR: Chris Cozart HISTORIAN: Richard Holm Assistant Field Trip Chairman: Connor Puritz Assistant Field Trip Chairman: Jeremy Zimmerman EDITOR: Don Cronauer CIRCULATION: Rose Jansen PAST PRESIDENT: Phil Anderson MEMBERSHIP: Rose Jansen SHOW CHAIRMAN: Phil Anderson…

This is Throwback Thursday #294. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to [email protected]. Thanks!  email:[email protected]. The stone on display in the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce and Runestone Museum 25 Years Ago – December 2000 Ray Wiggers was the speaker at the ESCONI Holiday Party, which was held at the Greek Island Restaurant in Lombard, IL.

The ESCONI 2026 Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show will be held on March 21st and 22nd, 2026 at the DuPage County Fairgrounds.

The November 2025 Paleontology Study Group Meeting was held on November 15th, 2025 via Zoom. John Cataloni presented “Gonioceras: A Most Unusual Cephalopod”. The diversity of nautiloid shell shapes in the Upper Ordovician of central Laurentia is remarkable. However, one shape is often missing from lists of shell shapes and that is the so-called “flat-fish” form of 

This is Mazon Monday post #298. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:[email protected]. With winter arriving this weekend, it’s the perfect time to set out a few containers of Mazon Creek concretions and let nature do the work. Many collectors take advantage of the season’s freeze/thaw cycles to speed up the opening process, by placing buckets or smaller containers of nodules gathered throughout the year outside to weather naturally in the cold of winter.

An artistic reconstruction of Spongiophyton during the Early Devonian in the Paraná Basin in present-day Brazil.  J. Lacerda/Bruno Becker-Kerber et al., “The rise of lichens during the colonization of terrestrial environments,” in Science Advances, Vol. 11, No. 44; October 29, 2025 Scientific American Magazine has an interesting story about the spread of terrestrial plants during the Early Devonian Period. A…

PBS Eons has a post about the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. The story of how we discovered it happened is a great example of how science works. 66 million years ago a giant space rock crashed into our planet and killed the dinosaurs. In the span of just four decades, we’ve gone from not knowing there was a space rock at all to knowing exactly where that planet-killer came from.

This is the “Fossil Friday” post #293.  Expect this to be a regular feature of the website.  We will post fossil pictures you send in to [email protected].  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! We have a couple rare cones from the Mazon River for this week's Fossil Friday.

This is Throwback Thursday #293. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to [email protected]. Thanks!  email:[email protected]. Photo from c. 1914 The Field Museum has an interesting Photo Archive page about Charles Knight. Knight was an American wildlife and paleoartist during the early 1900s.

Field trips require membership, but visitors are welcome at all meetings! Sat, Dec 6th Holiday Luncheon– 12:00 Noon at the Warren's Ale House, 51 Town Square, Wheaton, IL Please RSVP to the following email: [email protected] Fri, Dec 12th General Meeting – 8:00 PM – a Zoom link will be provided. Steve Miller, of the Western Interior Paleontological Society (WIPS), will be presenting on fossils of the Comanche National Grasslands located in southeastern Colorado. No meeting this month Junior Study Group No meeting this month Mineralogy Study Group No meeting this month Paleontology Study Group

From Khaleej Times. National Geographic has a story about the new Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, which opened on November 22nd, 2025. The videos for the story are stunning. It huge with not one, but four sauropods on display. They have two T-rexes, which are displayed fighting. The museum also documents the natural history of the region and hopes to inspire the next generation of scientists.