Topic: Marshall professor?s research demonstrates cause of ice age extinction

[Flat Tire 2]

I thought the below was an interesting press release. Nice to have a MU faulty member using a National Science Foundation grant to do research, think R1. Making the cover of Science Magazine is impressive.

"Marshall University?s Dr. Robin O?Keefe has led research that was published today on the cover of the prestigious journal Science and demonstrates that the extinction of ice age mammals ? dire wolves, sabretooth cats, horses and other species ? was driven by a series of catastrophic fires in Southern California.

O?Keefe, a professor of Biological Sciences at Marshall, and his team used a large sample of new radiocarbon dates on extinct species from the tar pits at Rancho La Brea in Los Angeles. The data show that most species disappeared during a massive fire event that peaked about 13,000 years ago and was caused by humans and climate change.

Having research published on the cover of Science is a tremendous achievement, said Dean Wesley Stites of Marshall?s College of Science."

https://www.marshall.edu/news/2023/08/marshall-professors-research-demonstrates-cause-of-ice-age-extinction/

[marshallmark]

This is extremely prestigious and very cool

[MUonium]

i don't know if there's a person born in the U.S. who, at sometime in their youth, didn't learn something about prehistoric animals in relation to the La Brea tar pits, human interaction and the timeframe of the last ice age (give or take).  just so many interesting earth/animal dynamics going on then.  very 'worn' subject matter, which nonetheless, remains very interesting to me.

   thanks for posting