Apparently, the way to get an article in Science is to conduct research on fossilized dinosaur shit. (Here, I consider it necessary to point out that Caltech's class of 2000 came very close to donating a sample of this stuff, called "coprolite", as its class gift. The class of 1998's very-quickly-aborted idea of a Predator statue for the Registrar's office was even better, although the class of '00 gets points for apparently coming very close to getting away with it. For a while, I thought it happened, but somebody in the know informed me it never quite worked out.)
Oh, and I am only facetiously making fun of the research article. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using poo to time-stamp things. I just don't want that job...
Joe Kirschvinck every year would determine who had done the reading for the trip to mexico by asking, at the appropriate spot, who wanted to lick the coprolite.
ReplyDeleteFrancis MacDonald, I believe, actually did.
In reality, coprolites are just rocks.