Digging for Dinos: Bringing The Cutting Edge To The Far Flung Past

August 5, 2022
2:30 pm – 3:30 pm

McCormick Place
McCormick Place, South King Drive, Chicago, IL, USA

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Program Series:
Science and Society

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Dinosaurs have captured the imaginations of children and adults for generations. In 1993, dino-fever soared to new heights with the release of Steven Spielberg’s classic science fiction film Jurassic Park (based on Michael Chrichton’s novel of the same name). Since then, there have been five more Jurassic Park films and a slew of comic books, video games, and toys. Dinosaurs show no signs of stopping as they stampede through our collective imagination.

But some questions remain: How accurate are dinosaurs’ depictions in popular culture? Aren’t they supposed to have feathers? Are the birds in our backyards actually dinosaurs?!

Join C2ST and a panel of experts as we dig into Jurassic Park and the representation of dinos in media. We’ll look at cutting-edge paleontological techniques, hash out recent dino discoveries, and answer your dino questions

 

*Note: This program is part of the C2E2 fan convention on August 5th – 7th, 2022. You must have tickets to the convention to attend this program (available for purchase on the website). *

Event Details

This program is part of the C2E2 fan convention on August 5th – 7th, 2022. You must have tickets to the convention to attend this program (available for purchase on the website). No single program passes are available for this program, but day passes to the convention are. For more questions about the convention and ticketing please go here.

Notice: As a guest of Chicago Council on Science and Technology (C2ST), you agree to be photographed, videotaped, or filmed and grant C2ST permission to put the finished footage/photography to any uses that it may deem proper including marketing, advertising (print, radio, and television) and PR-related activities.

We are dedicated to providing an inclusive environment for everyone. Please respect diversity in individuals and in cultures.

Featured Guests

Dr. Jingmai O'Connor

Jingmai O’Connor is a vertebrate paleontologist currently working at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago as the Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles. O’Connor was introduced to the field of paleontology by Dr. Donald Prothero while at Occidental College. With his help she conducted her undergraduate research on a new Miocene mustelid from Inner Mongolia with Dr. Xiaoming Wang at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History (LACM). She received her PhD from the University of Southern California under Dr. David Bottjer, where she studied Mesozoic birds with Dr. Luis Chiappe at the LACM. 

O’Connor’s research explores the evolution of flight in the Dinosauria, the dinosaur-bird transition, and the biology of stem-avians, not through any one aspect but exploring Paraves through feather origin and function, aerodynamics, reproduction, respiration, trophics, anatomy, systematics, ontogeny, taxonomy, histology, and other topics as exceptional specimens arise. Before moving to Chicago, O’Connor was a professor at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing where she worked for over ten years. O’Connor chose to work at the IVPP because Mesozoic deposits in northeastern China are the best source of paravian fossils and the IVPP, with over 80 professors of vertebrate paleontology and paleoanthropology under a single roof, it is arguably the greatest paleontological institute in the world. 

O’Connor is a very prolific researcher, already having published over 130 papers. This includes descriptions of 45 new species and unusual fossilized soft tissues in Cretaceous birds including lungs and traces of the ovary. She has conducted field work in China, Mongolia, Romania, Canada, and South Africa and now maintains an active field program in the US. In 2019 O’Connor was awarded the Schuchert Award by the Paleontogical Society which honors a paleontologist under the age of 40 who demonstrates excellence and promise. 

O’Connor also does extensive outreach in the form of podcasts, public talks, and documentaries, and she has recently written a children’s book about birds and other flying dinosaurs. 

Dr. Matteo Fabbri

Dr. Matteo Fabbri is an Evolutionary Biologist working on the macroevolution of reptiles. Their research combines the fossil record and developmental biology to disentangle the mechanisms underpinning the origin of morphological innovation through deep time.