
Solving the Mystery of the Tully Monster - curtis
http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/03/solving-the-mystery-of-the-tully-monster/473823/?single_page=true
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spdustin
Did not expect HN to make me feel nostalgic tonight.

I live not too far from Mazon Creek, where many of these fossil-containing
nodules were found, and a few summers back, I was fossil hunting (on allowed-
use lands) with my kids. We found about a dozen intact nodules; four of them
had fossils of some kind. Three were plants, and one ... The state fossil of
Illinois: The Tully Monster.

It's a lot of fun to see your kids' eyes open wide when they realize they just
exposed the deathbed of a life form older than they can imagine. That they're
the _only humans ever_ to touch the impressions left behind. Of course, I like
to wax poetic with my science lessons with them, but I don't mislead.

Kids (indeed, most adults) don't often stop and really _absorb_ the
significance of things that really are quite amazing. That when you see the
faint smudge of the Andromeda Galaxy, your retinas are the sole beneficiary of
particles of light that have been screaming through space longer than the
_Homo_ genus has been in our fossil record. When you see them, you've captured
them; they're gone. 2.5 million years, since saber-tooth cats were roaming the
Americas, and _blip_ ... gone. Just for you.

The Tully Monster fossils were the same for my family. An amazing and humbling
and exciting experience, just needed the right storytelling to help them
understand how special it was.

Edit: incidentally, the Field Museum [0] was truly instrumental to these
revelations, in cooperation with Argonne National Labs' [1] Advanced Photon
Source.

[0]: [https://www.fieldmuseum.org/science/blog/monster-mystery-
sol...](https://www.fieldmuseum.org/science/blog/monster-mystery-solved)

[1]: [http://www.anl.gov/photos/tully-monster-secrets-
revealed](http://www.anl.gov/photos/tully-monster-secrets-revealed)

~~~
jonchang
Unfortunately, the NSF announced today that it was suspending support to
natural history collections like the Field Museum. Hopefully they'll reverse
course but in general museums are on the decline and it's possible that our
ability to do this kind of work with fossils and other organisms will be
limited in the future.

[http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503651](http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503651)

~~~
spdustin
Cringe.

Just two months ago we were "dozin' with the dinos" at the Field Museum, and
went on a behind the scenes tour where we got to learn about the huge fish
collection there. Seeing the huge halls of movable shelving units on tracks,
filled with specimens, made me feel like the Field Museum may just have the
Ark of the Covenant (movie reference too vague?). Learning about the research
being done in just that one section was eye-opening, and I left feeling like
there was so much more to natural history collections than meets the eye.

So what can I do to help? Write my congress-critter? Donate to the museum?
Field Museum, MSI, Adler, Shedd - my kids love the hell out of each of them
and it makes me sad to know that institutions like these are hurting.

~~~
jonchang
Hi there, I didn't see this comment until just now. Unfortunately you don't
have contact information in your profile so hopefully you see this message.

If you are not a practicing scientist, contacting the NSF will work best if
you focus on how the _collections_ at the Field Museum helped the Field Museum
succeed in reaching out to the public about science. NSF has a dual purpose of
"intellectual merit" and "broader impacts", and if you can speak about how the
collections aligned with the NSF's goal of broader impacts that could make a
difference. The proper contact email is dbicsbr@nsf.gov

I know that the Field Museum has been doing a lot of layoffs recently. I don't
know how well it's managed but definitely things like being a museum member
and attending tours will signal to the museum that their research and outreach
missions are important.

Writing your senator and representative can definitely help, especially if you
live in the district where a museum with a major collections focus is located.
Most of them will have contact details or a constituent services form that you
can use to get their attention.

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tzs
Wow, that is one messed up creature. It's like something I'd expect from Chris
Sanders if he went for freaky/creepy instead of cute and adorable in his
character designs. (Sanders did Stitch from Lilo & Stitch, Toothless from How
to Train Your Dragon, and the animals in The Croods, if you need examples of
his work)

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codezero
I found this article a bit more palatable:
[http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/160316-tully-
mons...](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/160316-tully-monster-
vertebrate-fossil-animal-paleontology-science/)

