AMNH IP- Mackenzie (CC Intern) at the Museum (AMNH)

It has been a wonderful last few weeks at AMNH! I went on a tour around the Vertebrate Paleontology Department and got to walk through their fossil preparation lab as well as some of their collections. I was a fossil preparation intern at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science a couple years ago, and got to explore some of their vertebrate paleontology collections during my time there. Still, seeing the process of removing a fossil from the surrounding matrix, or the final product safely stored in collections, never ceases to amaze me. 

 

 Sauropod tail bones, Late Jurassic, Wyoming                     Holotype skull of Anchiceratops ornatus, Late Cretaceous, Alberta    

Background: Skull model from original Brontosaurus mount (or facsimile thereof)
Middle ground; Dinosaur long bone
Foreground: Cast of Late Jurassic Camarasaurus skull

The collections space we were exploring is aptly named the "Big Bone room." In the corner there was this fossil, that was taller than multiple members of our tour group. But we also got to see some of the small details that can be preserved in fossils! Carl Mehling (our tour guide and museum staff) proposed a question to the group: if anyone knew what the texture on a certain fossil was from. The answer was dinosaur skin! We all took turns running our fingers over the bumpy surface.

Camarasaurus bones including huge left femur, Late Jurassic, Colorado                 Lambeosaurus skin, Late Cretaceous, Alberta

Last week I also got the GIGAmacro set up! Hilary and I first tried to set up "the robot" weeks ago, but the control box got damaged in shipping. After receiving a new control box this week, we were able to get it up and running! At first I was trying to understand how it works and using various specimens to test it out. But halfway through the week a request came in to Bushra asking for photos of a specific specimen. The specimen in question is a fossil Cuckoo Wasp from the Florissant Formation, in Colorado, a locality which I visited as a kid and found a fossil bee myself! But this fossil bee is much smaller, less than a centimeter across. I had to mess with the lighting and zoom level on the camera for some time, but eventually I got a photo I was happy with. Luckily for me, everyone else was happy with it too! Hilary showed me the old specimen photo compared to this new one, showing how much higher quality of a photo it is. She pointed out how important the lighting on a photo is, pointing out how much clearer the texture of the specimen is. 

GIGAmacro Set Up

Old Catalog Photo of Specimen 18899                       Photo of Specimen 18899 taken with GIGAmacro

Last weekend I went to yet another museum, though this time it was one that was not on my radar before a friend suggested we visit it. The Museum of the Moving Image had a diverse array of artifacts from various eras of film and tv. The top floor was an exhibit about the Mission Impossible movies. While I have never watched this series, this exhibit made me want to fix that. Tom Cruises incredible stunts are often talked about, but it is one thing to hear others remark he is brave and another to learn what went in to filming some of these scenes. The next level down showed the history of cameras and audio equipment. Seeing the evolution of how films are produced over the last 100 years was fascinating. But my favorite part of the museum was the Jim Henson exhibit. There were many wonderful puppets throughout his career, but the main highlight was seeing Miss Piggy. 

I also got to see a few performances! I will say I absolutely loved hearing Jeremy Jordan and Lizzy Mcalpine sing in Floyd Colins, but boy it was sad! I won't say too much but I knew very little about it before seeing the show and it was more depressing than I expected. But Maybe Happy Ending was generally much lighter! I really enjoyed that performance, the actors did such an amazing job but I also loved the set and lighting design. 

I have discovered that one of the pros of living in New York is that there are many yummy treats to be found. I have also discovered that one of the cons of living in New York is that there are many yummy treats to be found. Anyone who knows me well knows it is dangerous for me to have easy access to sweets. But I have been able to show (some) restraint but have still found many amazing sweets along the way. Bushra took me around to show me some of the bakeries near the museum on our lunch break one day, and I discovered some new favorites. I think the coconut caramel chocolate chip cookie from Levain Bakery might be my favorite cookie ever!

Unfortunately, my time at the museum has come to an end, as this was my last week here. I want to thank EVERYONE who made this such a wonderful experience. I felt so supported the whole time I was here. Everyone was kind, helpful, and clearly wanted to ensure I enjoyed my time in New York. And thanks to them, I did! I mostly worked with Hilary, and I want to thank her so much for always taking the time to walk me through new tasks, and how she was always willing to answer every little question I had! I also want to thank Bushra, who not only taught me a lot about the museum and Invertebrate Paleontology but also gave me a lot of tips on what to do while in New York! And to Pete, Melanie, Gabe, Russell, Ana, Alexa, Mark, and everyone else I got to interact with, you made the museum so welcoming! I really could not have asked for a better group to spend these couple months with. I hope we can stay in touch, and maybe I will be able to visit again one day!

Bushra, Hilary, me, and "The Robot"