It came from my desk

March 8, 2012

I was putting a new card in my camera and needed some test photos, so I shot what was on my desk: some random doodles from discussions with various folks, and an ostrich cervical.

I love my job.

Bonus SV-POW!bucks to the first person to decipher the diagram on the lower left.

7 Responses to “It came from my desk”

  1. Andrea Cau Says:

    Air sacs evolution?

  2. dobermunk Says:

    damn. Too slow on the buzzer.

  3. dobermunk Says:

    My second guess would be an energetic academic sperm busily attempting to enter the hellish egg of scientific publishing.

  4. Matt Wedel Says:

    Air sacs evolution?

    Nope, but you’re on the right track. It is something that I’ve discussed a zillion times here and in my papers, but I don’t think I’ve ever illustrated before.

  5. dobermunk Says:

    process of penetration… wazzicalled.
    fenestration?

  6. Matt Wedel Says:

    We have a winner! Yes, it is supposed to be the process of pneumatization: a bone, nourished by a blood vessel (the squiggly thing on the right), being discovered by a diverticulum that followed that blood vessel and then burrowed inside.

    I didn’t think about it at the time I took the picture, but everything in it is related. The diagram at upper right is a simple dorsal or ventral view of cervical ribs attaching to a vertebra, from a completely separate conversation. The ostrich vertebra has cervical ribs, is pneumatic, and represents an avian dinosaurian ornithodiran archosaur, so it embodies concepts from all three diagrams.

  7. Matt Wedel Says:

    Oh, and since we’re all up in Elsevier’s business these days, I award you 2 billion SV-POW!bucks. You may now pay off your shareholders, buy some legislators, and start charging $30 a pop for people to view this post.


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