Rising Star Expedition

  

For those of you who know me well you know I have a lifelong passion for paleoanthropology - the study of early human and human like fossils. I had the great thrill to spend a week last July in Dr. Lee Berger's lab in Johannesburg, South Africa. I had the chance to see the detailed work that is going on regarding his signature discovery, the 2 million year old specimens of the new species Australopithecus sediba which he and his son Matthew discovered in 2009.

This past week his team began the process of retrieving fossils from deep (30 meters down) in a cave located in the Cradle of Humankind near Johannesburg. The team has been doing a GREAT job of sharing their discovery in real time through Twitter. Seeing the work happen like this is amazing and I have been sharing it with my middle and high school students. I have begun creating a daily video update of relevant tweets from teh team to give sort of a "play by play" for those without access or the inclination to use Twitter. Below you will find my videos - feel free to get caught up and experience Science in the making! 

UPDATE (September 2015) - With the results of the Rising Star Expedition soon to be released, I had the chance to visit the Rising Star cave and work with many of the team members.  I interviewed them and many of those interviews can be found at THE RISING STAR INTERVIEWS page here on the Blue Lion Blog. 

Listen to Lindsay Eaves Describe the thrill of getting the skull from the deepest part of the Rising Star Cave to the surface! 

"ACCIO SKULL!"

Thanks so much for sharing this Lindsay!  

I'll be adding new updates and links about the Rising Star Expedition in this space as time progresses! 

• The Nat Geo Rising Star Expedition Blog  
• Lee Berger's Twitter Feed
• Rising Star Expedition's Twitter Feed
• John Hawk's Twitter Feed
• Lindsay Eaves Twitter Feed
• Elen Feuerriegel's Twitter Feed
• Alia Gurtov's Twitter Feed
• Mail and Guardian article detailing the end of Rising Star 2013
• TrowelBlazers Profiles of the 6 Advance Scientists
• Lee Berger's Interview with Boyd Matson on National Geographic Weekend Radio Show - A MUST listen ! 
• Catherine Brahic's superb overview of the Rising Star Expedition from the New Scientist- A great update from November, 2014.

A Primate Primer - Part 1

This post represents the beginning of an expansion of the scope of the Blue Lion Blog to include my work with biology education as well as my nature photography. Over the more than 20 years of teaching, I have had lots of parents express a desire to be able to visit my classes to learn some of the topics their children come home and talk about over the dinner table. In order to make this something of a reality, I have decided to take certain concepts and create  short five to ten minute videos that can serve as introductions to topics that are not always covered in traditional biology classes. Over time, I hope to develop a wide range of these videos that can serve as a mini course for people who wish they knew more about science, but never has a positive science experience in school. 


Initially, the choice of topics will relate to what I am teaching in class as these productions will serve my middle and high school students as well as the readers of the Blue Lion Blog. As such, the first "installment" deal with and introduction to primates as that is the topic of the coming week for my students as I prepare them to better understand human evolution. 


Just click on the video to view it. I recommend clicking the "full screen" icon in the lower right to make the video larger. I look forward to your feedback!