Echinoderm project 2023 -Week 6

The final week is here, and it’s x-rays galore!

But before that, the end of last week was also big. That’s because the amazing Christine Siddoway was in town

and stopped by to visit. I (Mohan) and Emory both have her to thank that we are here at all– she’s the one who

put this amazing opportunity out on the Colorado College campus. We celebrated her visit with a New York

classic: Pizza! (Chicago style.) We also took a quick walk into Central Park to admire the view. No, not the city

skyline– the rocks! We found a metamorphic outcrop by a pond with awesome foliations from when it cooled

long ago deep within the earth, and pronounced striations raked over it by glaciers in the last glacial maximum

thousands of years ago. The fossils we’re preparing may come from all over the world, but our walk in Central

Park reminded us that there’s amazing natural history right here in Manhattan as well!

It's a rock! (courtesy Christine Siddoway)

This week we finished up the cleaning, photographing, and databasing of the fossils, as well as adding

brand-new labels printed from the online data we’ve been transcribing all these weeks. That brings the

grand total of completed cabinets in Invertebrate Paleontology up by three (hey, every little bit helps).

The main focus, however, was on CT scanning and 3D modeling a fossil of our choice. Monday morning,

we each picked out a presentable little specimen we thought would scan well (how blissfully ignorant we

were back then) and headed over to the room with the CT scanner.

What mysteries will this unassuming rock hold? We'll never know, I decided to scan a different one.

The extremely hi-tech way of packaging the specimen before scanning.

It works by slowly rotating the specimen, shooting x-rays through it to measure the differences in density, which correlate to different shades of gray. It takes a while, but eventually, it gets enough two-dimensional photos to construct a three dimensional object. Then it’s simply a matter of keeping the fossil-colored gray and deleting the matrix-colored gray and– what’s this? The color of the fossil overlaps with the color of the matrix and deleting one deletes part of the other? Well, time to painstakingly go in by hand!

Here's our boy, Phoenex. He's a little radioactive :)

The software had a somewhat steep learning curve and the specimens we picked out turned out to be

less-than-ideal, not to mention the fact that we had to spatially reason with three dimensions on a two

dimensional screen. But we persevered throughout the week, sometimes pivoting and scanning a new

specimen (with no matrix this time), and sometimes throwing up our hands and saying “good enough is

good enough”. The fossil models were soon so pockmarked and bumpy they looked like a swiss-cheese

carving of the original. Luckily, one of the steps involved smoothing and simplifying, so in the end, the

models ended up looking good enough to warrant uploading them into an online database (because we can

never have too many databases, right?). For it being our first foray into CT scanners and 3D modeling, we

made it out okay, and we ended up a lot more knowledgeable about the technical details, as well as the

process of learning difficult (and sometimes frustrating) new skills.

The digitized fossil model enters corporeal form once again, now with a bit more polymers.

We also got a tour of a collection with a special place in our hearts, the Geology Department. Our geology

backgrounds are what got us here, so it only makes sense for it to be the last tour of our stay. Most of the

“pretty” rocks (really the gems and minerals) are already on display in the Gems and Minerals Hall, but we

got to appreciate some newly acquired ones, as well as the ones that didn’t make the cut, and the “ugly” ones

that are nonetheless beautiful to researchers and scientists. The Geo collection had just been photographed and

cataloged, and it was partially that work which allowed for the creation of the new exhibit which has all the

pretty rocks occupied right now. It was heartening to see the direct good that can come out of this

behind-the-scenes collection work.

All the specimens are organized by chemical formula... except tourmalines. They defy organization.

The old school collection catalog

They're big, not ugly >:(

We're taking pictures of rocks here in an alternate universe

Meat rock

We are all so thankful for the opportunity we have had to contribute to the betterment of the Invertebrate

Paleontology collections at the museum, and by extension, to provide a service to science and the public.

We have learned so much these past six weeks– this is an experience we’ll cherish and take with us as our

educational and life journeys continue to unfold. Remember, anyone can make a difference– one storage

cabinet at a time.

(Courtesy Christine Siddoway) Special thanks to Bushra for bringing us this amazing opportunity and making our stay at the museum the best it could be. You're the best!

Emory taking photographs (Courtesy Christine Siddoway)

Mohan (me), probably listening to Weezer like the awesome guy I am (Courtesy Christine Siddoway)

So long!

Mohan's sketch of Ecphora quadricostata from the Miocene of Maryland, original specimen below

During my stay we had one drawing lesson, where I started on a shell drawing that I wasn't able to complete before my time at the museum ended. I'll admit that the project got thrown to the wayside a bit as I arrived home and then settled in on campus, but I am happy to report that at long last it is complete! I've attached the drawing and the reference image I used.  I decided to take some artistic liberty and not copy the image exactly. The shape of the inside swirl is still a bit too faithful to the reference and feels a bit awkward, but I'm pretty proud of the texturing I did on the shell ridge and outside edge. I struggled a little bit to show the three dimensions and texture of the shell. I hope that the end opening I added, as well as the linework, conveys it at least a little bit (it took a while to put in). I attempted to add some shading as well, although to be honest I'm not sure if it is an addition or detriment to the piece. Perhaps I should have expected a little more of myself considering how belated my finishing the drawing was, but I'm still overall happy with how it came out. It looks like a shell, at least!

I really had an awesome time working at the museum, and that afternoon I spent starting this drawing was really one of my highlights of my stay. (Mohan's email with drawing received on September 28, 2023)