About 466 million years ago, long before the age of the dinosaurs, the Earth froze. The seas began to ice over at the Earth's poles, and the new range of temperatures around the planet set the stage for a boom of new species evolving. The cause of this ice age was a mystery, until now: a new study in Science Advances lead by Birger Schmitz, a Professor at Lund University and an international team of colleagues incl.
This September we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the fall of the Murchison meteorite, one of the most important meteorites to science. Since its fall near Murchison, Victoria in September 1969, the Murchison meteorite has been the source of numerous spectacular discoveries. Thanks to the large amount recovered, about 100 kg comprising of a large number of specimens, and its availability to the scientific community, the Murchison meteorite is one of the most studied meteorites of the type carbonaceous chondrite.
Philipp Heck (Robert A. Pritzker Associate Curator for Meteoritics and Polar Studies) has received a grant from NASA’s Emerging Worlds program. Together with Resident Grad Student Jennika Greer (University of Chicago) and collaborators from Northwestern University and ETH Zurich, Switzerland, the research will focus on “Underexplored aspects of the history of our solar system’s presolar starting material.” The knowledge of the origin of the starting material of our Solar System is an issue of fundamental interest in planetary science.
On the weekend of June 13 and 14 the Field Museum's Robert A. Pritzker Center of Meteoritics and Polar Studies will be hosting FameLab USA. FameLab is something like American Idol for scientists. Sponsored by NASA in the US, it’s a fun-filled day of competition, coaching, and camaraderie that’s all about science communication!
The rare fossil meteorites are now on public exhibit at the Field Museum in the Main Hall (Stanley Field Hall next to Sue) extended until April 2015. After that they will be incorporated into a permanent exhibit that will open end of 2015. This is the first and only exhibit of fossil meteorites in the Western Hemisphere.
To learn more about the fossil meteorites watch the BrainScoop video and read the News article.