What Should I Read?

I encourage you to read Darren Naish‘s recent post on the “Mountain Beaver”, an unusual rodent which is not a member of the beaver family, nor is it mountain-dwelling. The article also goes into other members of the aplodontoidea so, if you like horned extinct cousins of the squirrel (of course you do), it’s well worth a read.

Why do all the beautiful things crack? Paintings by old masters, antique furniture, … and historical taxidermy. The Grant Museum has been running a project where they take their important taxidermy specimens in for essential conservation work and place stuffed toys on display in their place. A chance to see Jack Ashby‘s favourite teddy? You’d be crazy not to. For an example of the beautiful restoration work carried out by Lucie Mascord, check out this piece on the Owl Formerly Known as Googly-eyed.

What Should I Do?

What are you doing on the 22nd September? Keep it free if you can because we have a great workshop event coming up called Bringing the Dead to Life: How to Display Museum Natural Science. Among other things, you will hear testimonies from the Lapworth Museum, who were recently shortlisted for Museum of the Year.

If you haven’t been to Wollaton Hall yet, stop what you’re doing and go now. They are currently hosting a temporary exhibition called Dinosaurs of China, which I cannot recommend strongly enough. It was also the set for Wayne Manor in the recent Batman movies, as if you needed any further encouragement.

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy (SVPCA) is holding their 65th symposium next month. It’s in Birmingham this time and culminates with a field trip to the afore-mentioned Chinasaurs exhibit, so you get both. I’ll be there so do come and say hi if you’re going.

What Should I listen to?

NatSCA patron Ben Garrod is going to be on BBC Radio 4 next week, with a new series called Bone Stories. You can tune in to it here.

I’ve been having great fun listening to a podcast called Palaeo After Dark. If you like your podcasts polished and concise then this probably isn’t for you but there’s some really interesting discussion in there and plenty of comedy value. If you’re looking for something new to get into, I recommend it.

Before You Go

Our Emma Louise Nicholls is getting married tomorrow! Please join me in wishing her a fantastic day and a long and happy union.