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:esconi.info@gmail.com. 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 esconi.info@gmail.com.  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 esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks!  email:esconi.info@gmail.com. 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:esconi.info@gmail.com. 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 esconi.info@gmail.com.  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 esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks!  email:esconi.info@gmail.com. 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: RSVPtoESCONI@outlook.com 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.

This is Mazon Monday post #297. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. We often focus on the beautiful fossils found in the Mazon Creek deposit, but sometimes overlook the rich history that surrounds them. Coal mining played a central role in shaping the Wilmington, Braidwood, and Coal City area, from the deep shaft mines of the mid-1800s to the massive strip mining operations of the 20th century.

ESCONI’s Holiday LuncheonSaturday, December 6, 2025 – 12:00 noonWarren’s Ale House, 51 Town Square, Wheaton. (Just north of Danada Square East)Website for Warren’s Ale House with Map & Menu: RSVPtoESCONI@outlook.com

There's a new episode of PBS Eons. This one is about teeth and chewing and how they may have helped mammals survive after the K-Pg extinction. Help understand what you enjoy and what you would want to see us make more of: 66 million years ago, after an asteroid slammed into the Earth and wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs, the world became a dark wasteland.

This is the “Fossil Friday” post #292. Expect this to be a regular feature of the website. We will post fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! Michele Micetich, curator at the Carbon Hill School Museum in Carbon Hill, IL, showed me a very nice…

This is Throwback Thursday #292. 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 esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks!  email:esconi.info@gmail.com. You may remember Throwback Thursday #284, where we discussed Isabel Bassett Wasson. Wasson (1897-1994) was one of the first female petroleum geologists in the world.

Researchers collecting paleomagnetic samples from the late Cretaceous at the Naashoibito Member in the San Juan Basin in New Mexico.Credit...Steven L. Brusatte The New York Times "Trilobites" column has a story about the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs some 66 million years ago. A long standing question about the extinction has been whether the age of dinosaurs came to a sudden end or were dinosaurs in decline when the asteroid struck the Yucatan Peninsula.

The Field Museum has a very nice Silurian marine diorama, which includes crinoids, cephalopods, corals, trilobites, and more from the Silurian period. It's meant to represent what the Chicago area looked like during the Silurian Period. Much of the insight comes from the the fossils found in Thornton Quarry. There is a little secret with the exhibit. One of the museum's staff hid a tiny cow in it.

This is Mazon Monday post #296. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Jim Turnbull, namesake for Anthracomedusa turnbulli (see Mazon Monday #278), worked for Abbott Labs for many years. Abbott has/had an internal newsletter called "AbbotTopics". In the October 8th, 1965 edition, Jim is the subject of an article titled "Prehistoric Insect Discovery May Bear Abbott Man's Name".

The first hand and foot fossils clearly linked to Paranthropus boisei reveal the human relative could have handled stone tools. Louise Leakey Smithsonian Magazine has a story about tool use in our ancient cousins. A recent discovery of the first hand and foot bones on Paranthropus boisei has shed light on whether the species was able to use tools. The research was…