McSween Says Some Are Meteorite, But Most Are ‘Meteor Wrong’
Times Daily interviews Hap McSween about verifying a meteorite.
New York Times: Ancient Crocodiles Once Feasted on Giant Tortoises on This Island
UT paleontologist Stephanie Drumheller-Horton is quoted in a New York Times article about Aldabra Atoll, an island in the Indian Ocean near Madagascar that is a predator-free paradise for more than 100,000 giant tortoises.
Study: Moon’s Crust Underwent Resurfacing After Forming from Magma Ocean
A research team, which included UT assistant professor Nick Dygert, took to the lab to recreate the magmatic melt that once formed the lunar surface and uncovered new insights on how the modern moonscape came to be.
WVLT: UT Students Roam Planet Mars with New Glasses
WVLT-TV Local 8 Now reported that UT students can now roam the planet Mars with new glasses. Using new Hololens designed by Microsoft, students can actually virtually walk on the planet, while studying the sandy, rocky terrain. Linda Kah, a UT carbonate sedimentology and geochemistry professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said
National, International Media Feature Drumheller-Horton Prehistoric Croc Identification
Stephanie Drumheller-Horton, an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, was part of a team that identified a new species of delta crocodile. These giant prehistoric crocodiles roamed the coasts and waterways of what’s now north-central Texas about 95 million years ago. Scientists say the Deltasuchus motherali, named after a dig
UT Professor Comments in Science News on History of Edrioasteroid Tube Feet
Science News reports that like sea stars, ancient echinoderms used to eat, breathe and scuttle around the seafloor with tiny tube feet. Scientists suspected that the ancient marine invertebrates, called edrioasteroids, had tube feet. A set of unusually well-preserved fossils from around 430 million year ago–described September 13 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B–provides
Decades of Growth and Discovery Mark NASA Research at UT
Through that Apollo 17 mission 45 years ago, geoscientist Lawrence “Larry” Taylor—who would go on to establish UT’s Earth and Planetary Sciences program—formed a longtime friendship and collaboration with astronaut Harrison “Jack” Schmitt that would come to shape the collaboration between the university and NASA.
In Memoriam: Lawrence “Larry” Taylor
Lawrence “Larry” Taylor, a faculty member who was founder and director of UT’s Planetary Geosciences Institute, passed away September 18. He was 79. A prolific researcher, Taylor had a career at UT that spanned 46 years. He was one of the geoscientists based at the Johnson Space Center during Apollo 17, NASA’s last manned mission
Professor Helps Identify New Prehistoric Crocodile Species
Around 95 million years ago, a giant relative of modern crocodiles ruled the coastlines and waterways of what would one day become north central Texas.
McSween Discusses Mars 2020 Rover Mission Details in Scientific American, Space.com Stories
With the Mars 2020 rover mission just around the corner, NASA has created a Returned Sample Science Board to grapple with the scientific, technological, and policy issues that come with such a robotic venture. Members will discuss the best strategy for hauling Red Planet rock and dirt to Earth. Harry McSween, UT professor of Earth
UT’s Engel Co-Investigator on Grant Funded Through Oil Spill Penalties
A UT earth and planetary sciences professor is co-principal investigator on a project that will study how practices to restore coastal marshes and lands are impacting marsh food webs. The project recently received a $2 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s RESTORE Science Program. NOAA disbursed a total of $16.7 million to
Christian Science Monitor Interviews McSween on Trump’s Proposed Budget Affecting Space Exploration
The Christian Science Monitor recently interviewed Hap McSween, an emeritus professor at UT who has studied meteorites for almost 40 years. President Trump has said he wants NASA to refocus its energies beyond our home planet. But even planetary scientists have expressed concerns about scaling back Mission to Planet Earth.