Roy Plotnick – Medium

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Roy Plotnick

I found a meteorite! (Probably not)

Near midnight on Thursday, March 27, 2003, as I was preparing for bed, I noticed a bright flash outside. I did not think more about it at…

5 min readMar 14, 2022

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I found a meteorite! (Probably not)

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Roy Plotnick

A Fossil Park for Illinois

One of the greatest challenges I face in teaching paleontology in Chicago is finding a place to bring my classes on field trips. I also am…

5 min readApr 1, 2019

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A Fossil Park for Illinois

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Roy Plotnick

What is a fossil?

In a Peanuts comic that had a place of honor on my dorm door, Peppermint Patty is taking an exam and is asked to: “Explain World War II.”…

3 min readJan 27, 2020

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What is a fossil?

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Roy Plotnick

I found a fossil!! (or did I?)

You are walking along a creek bed when you see an oddly shaped and colored rock. You pick it up and think “this must be a fossil!” So, you…

5 min readDec 14, 2021

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I found a fossil!! (or did I?)

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Roy Plotnick

What are fossils worth?

$2.36 million dollars. That’s how much a private seller paid for a nearly complete skeleton of a carnivorous dinosaur sold at auction in…

4 min readJun 14, 2018

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What are fossils worth?

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Roy Plotnick

Introduction to Palaeontology: A Podcast

Thought I would share this just released podcast on the site Palaeocast (https://www.palaeocast.com/category/podcast/), long run by Dave…

1 min readFeb 25, 2024

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Roy Plotnick

Paleontology Is Far More Than New Fossil Discoveries: Understanding the ancient past is critical to…

Roy E. Plotnick, Brendan M. Anderson, Sandra J. Carlson, Advait M. Jukar, Julien Kimmig and Elizabeth Petsios

5 min readDec 1, 2023

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Paleontology Is Far More Than New Fossil Discoveries: Understanding the ancient past is critical to…

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Roy Plotnick

I’m Sorry I Missed Your Talk! (and yours, and yours…)

I just returned from the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America (GSA) in Pittsburgh. At this point in my career, I have lost…

3 min readOct 25, 2023

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I’m Sorry I Missed Your Talk! (and yours, and yours…)

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Roy Plotnick

The Continuing Importance of Paleontology

As my-coauthors and I argue in a recently published opinion piece in Scientific American, paleontology is far more than new fossil…

5 min readOct 8, 2023

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The Continuing Importance of Paleontology

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Roy Plotnick

The World Turned Upside Down

One of my prized possessions is an original reprint of the seminal 1972 paper on punctuated equilibrium by Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay…

8 min readMay 4, 2023

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The World Turned Upside Down

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Roy Plotnick

Roy Plotnick

Paleontologist, geologist, ecologist, educator. Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Author of Explorers of Deep Time.

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