On the Importance of Flying Lizards

by Damon Gambuto     Department: Behind the Scenes

Virtual Paleontology was a segment that we had to fight to keep alive.  Being that one of my failings is that I try to avoid conflict, this is a segment that could easily have gone the way of the dinosaur.

The story was found by associate producer Sáša Woodruff.  Sáša is. . . well. . . I could write a whole entry about her.  She's intelligent, graceful, committed, kind, funny, caring, sassy, strong, beautiful. . . okay, you get the idea - I think pretty highly of her.  She plans on living in the Four Corners region, having a garden, and telling stories for a living.  Sigh.  I know, me too.   In any case, it's my good fortune that after getting her masters degree in journalism from Berkeley she got sidetracked and found herself working at WIRED SCIENCE in Los Angeles.  Yay for the best laid plans. 

So Sáša comes skipping up to my desk (almost literally) and tells me that she's found an amazing story.  I've learned to be hesitant when she says this to me because it can mean one of three things: 1) she's putting me on in hopes I will ask serious questions about some ridiculous topic (like the time when she pitched a story about trepanning - not the medical kind - with a straight face); 2) she is being sincere, but she didn't mean it was a great story for WIRED SCIENCE per se, or she's totally serious and totally right, but we'll have to work really hard to get everyone else to see what's so cool about it (like with VP). 

After a somewhat heated pitching and re-pitching process Virtual Paleontology found its place among our elite group of approved field segment ideas.  It was assigned to producer Nancy Gimbrone.  I know it seems as though I like everyone, but I really do like Nancy.  She is. . . well. . . tough - in the best possible way.  She won't hesitate telling me, or anyone else for that matter, when they are being daft.  It's almost like having the straight-talking, salty character on sitcom sitting across from you all day.  I mean sitting across from me.  Nancy and I sit across from each other which tickles me to no end.  I'm sure Nancy loves sitting near me too.  I know because she wears headphones most of the day just to avoid getting sucked into a witty exchange with me.  Yeah.  Sure.   

Anyway, once we get the story in the hands of the producer, the structure of the segment becomes her and my responsibility.  We embark on writing that 'brief' thing I told you about in the last installment.  So Nancy writes up her draft and hands it to me and my red pen.  She likes to make fun of me for making my notes in red.  (I'm sure I don't know why she would do that.)  So we hammer out the brief and Nancy heads off to shoot the piece with Sáša coordinating from the office).  I cheerlead from the sidelines.  B-E aggressive!

So you saw the segment last night, right?  I mean, you watch the show every week and then immediately head to my blog the next day for the inside scoop, right?  Of course you do, but just in case you need to be reminded, take a watch here.  

There are a few things the segment doesn't go into detail on that we had initially imagined being in the piece.  It was science, but more of the natural history stuff.  That bran of science television tends to be the purview of other science shows on PBS.  Fear not.  I'm here for you.  And I'm down for some natural history.  Here goes.

The Triassic Period is sort of important.  It began with the greatest extinction in the history of life.  During this geologic period about ninety percent of all life disappeared, possibly as the result of global cooling or volcanic eruptions. The Triassic was a time of transition.  As many old forms of life died out, new ones appeared.  All life on the planet today evolved from that fit ten percent of Earth's life that made it through the Triassic's broad extinction events. 

But it's not just the natural history tidbits you missed out on.  It's also worth noting that the site of Nick Fraser's discovery, the Solite Quarry, was declared void of fossils in the 1990's by North Carolina's State Geologist.  Of course it wasn't devoid at all.  It was quite void.  Wait.  I mean it was full of fossils.  In fact, there was a super-cool, long-necked, gliding reptile waiting to be discovered.  Traditional techniques couldn't see the fossils locked inside the rock.  It was paleontologists' technology that was deficient.  Once they brought in the industrial CT scanner, bingo - fossilapalooza.  Here's a pretty picture of our segment's star.

The Mecistotrachelos apeoros is a small gliding lizard with a one-inch-long head and a neck twice as long.  It used its wings to glide and had curved feet that suggest it lived in trees. It probably fed on insects, scampered up tree trunks, and glided from on tree to the next.  It is also the first species ever identified through the use of CT scanning.  Nice work technology. 

So there you have it.  From our humble little research room to your living room.  

Tags: behind the scenes, paleontology, television, writing

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