| Science
Friday > Archives
> 1999
> November
> November 12, 1999:
Hour One: New Dinosaurs / Lake Michigan
Imagine that you're a twenty-ton, seventy-foot-long plant-eating dinosaur. Your name is Jobaria tiguidensis (at least, that's what other folks called you.) You're minding your own business, just strolling along the African Sahara. Suddenly, you're attacked by the meat-eater Afroventor.... or perhaps you and your relatives get washed away in a flash flood. Then, to top it all off, about 130 million years later, some scientists dig up your fossilized bones, ship them to Washington, and build models of your family. This week, scientists announced that they had discovered two new species of sauropod -Jobaria tiguidensis, which they describe as quite primitive for its spot on the Earth's timeline, and an extra-toothy distant relative named Nigersaurus taqueti. The researchers used their finds to conclude that several different strains of sauropod roamed Africa at approximately the same time - and not all of those strains evolved at the same rate. Their findings are published in this week's edition of the journal Science, and the discovery will be featured in an upcoming National Geographic. We'll talk to one of the researchers...
We'll also take a look at some ecology happening a little closer to home - Lake Michigan. | This week, the US EPA hosted a conference on the state of the world's sixth-largest lake, bringing together environmental scientists, property owners, and people that use the lake for their livelihoods or for recreation. The researchers agreed that the water in the lake was cleaner than in years past, and that the quality of the sport fishing in the lake had improved. However, they still have several mysteries to deal with, such as the dropping water level in the lake, and tumors on some of the shrimp-like zooplankton that live in the lake's water. | 
A pretty great lake.
Nat'l Park Service image. | On this hour of Science Friday, we'll find out about the health of the second-greatest Great Lake -- and about some no-longer healthy dinosaurs. Tune in!
Guests:
Paul Sereno
Paleontologist
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
Janet Vail
Senior Program Manager
Robert B. Annis Water Resources Institute
Grand Valley State University
Allendale, Michigan
Chuck Pistis
District Sea Grant Extension Agent
Michigan Sea Grant College Program
Grand Haven, Michigan
Roger Gauthier
Hydrologist, Detroit Office
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Detroit, Michigan
Books/Articles Discussed:
Related Links:
Lake Michigan Monitoring Coordination Council
Lake Michigan Forum
Great Lakes References
Visualizing the Great Lakes
- Gigantic Plant-Eating Dinosaur @ nationalgeographic.com
Jobaria
Paul Sereno's Dinosaur Web Site
Paul Sereno's Audio Discussion of the Science Article, Dinosaur Evolution -
- This segment produced by:
Karin Vergoth
Web producer:
Charles Bergquist
|