Category: Academia

I’m working on a paper right now for my vertebrate paleontology class. The thesis of the paper is that climatic conditions in the Cretaceous, particular levels of O2 and CO2, allowed for terresterial vertebrates to exist which were up to 5x larger than anything which appeared after the KT extinction. The theory being that with higher levels of oxygen in the atomshpere, and CO2 which would allow for higher levels of dissolved oxygen in the blood, terresterial vertebrates would be able to grow larger.

There has been quite a bit of work done showing a link between invertebrate growth and oxygen levels, but not much with vertebrates.

At this point, I think I might just end up debunking the theory. The problem, as I’ve discovered, is that there is a limit to the amount of oxygen your blood can hold. (one corralary to this is that football players who wear an oxygen mask may not be getting any more oxygen than if they would from just breathing deeply) Currently, the atmosphere is about 20% oxygen, and it was about 30% oxygen when the big dinosaurs lived (saurapods).

We of course have no clue what the blood of dinosaurs was like, but if it was in any way like that of extant vertebrates, I’m not sure if they oxygen would have made that much of a difference.

http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/comments/odd_academic_habits/

In high school, I remember being told all sorts of things about what we were expected to do in college. It all turned out to be BS.

With regards to presentations, I’ve noticed a very sharp divide in my professors between those who use powerpoint and thier age. If your above 45, you tend not to use it. Everyone under 45 does.

I’m currently sitting in my Electron Microprobe lecture. I figure its a good time to show some photos of the electron microprobe. Its very impressive looking:

It looks like I might be able to work on my first honest to goodness research project.

Its pending approval from the National Science Foundation, but if it goes through I’ll be working with the Institute for Rock Magnetism.

Shane Colin used to work at the IRM doing programming and such and I always gave him shit about it because I had no clue what they did. Now I know what they do and its pretty cool….I’m still not sure if Shane knows, however.