The obsessionally perfect news story

Local scientists, ancient reptiles, volcanic eruptions, and Antarctica! All in one story! Really, this article was written precisely and exactly for me. In brief, a paleontologist from Berkeley (across the Bay from me) was involved in a spectacular find: an almost complete skeleton (cartilage and all) of a juvenile plesiosaur, buried in 70 million year old volcanic ash. The team found it on their second trip to Vega Island, off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Strangely, the coverage in the Valley’s local paper, the Mercury News (linked above), is of better quality than the corresponding news article in Nature. That doesn’t happen often.