Re: Mars Fossils

[N.MacLeod@xxxxxxxxx (N. MacLeod)]

This message is posted for Nicole Smith

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I do not feel that paleontologists lack credibility, but rather
visibility(save for a few...Baker, Gould, etc...)---and this may be why so
few  paleontologists have been contacted concerning this Mars issue,
(ridiculous though all this may seem.)

Dinosaur studies are more of a media darling than invertebrate
paleontology (for instance)--and the media will go with what they are familiar
with more quickly than bothering to research an issue fully.(Much easier
to get to press that way--grossly inaccurate--but easier.)

>From what I glean from the public in general, paleontology is often
grouped under the general category of geology----so much so that little
to no distinction is ever made between the general and the speciality.  When
speaking of matters paleontological--people want to talk to a "geologist".
Any geologist will do--and so the local paper goes hammering on their local
geologist's door--ignoring the fact that she is really a geochemist (insert
any other speciality of geology here.)

That's my two-cents worth.


Nicole Smith
Geology/anthropology
Auburn Univeristy