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CSI Miami: Match Made in Hell. Our alligator research is ready for its close-up.

Posted in 3D viz, crocs, CT scanning, outreach, Random, Uncategorized on January 18, 2011| 4 Comments »

Okay, that title is a little grandiose, but it was the first appearance WitmerLab research has made on a Top-10-rated network television show. We get requests all the time from the cable science networks for materials for documentaries, and we’ve even personally appeared in a number of them. But in October, I got a call from a producer at CBS’s hit show CSI: Miami, saying that they were doing a show in which an alligator necropsy figured in a couple of scenes (Spoiler Alert: the gator was used as a murder weapon). They had heard that we did high-tech-y stuff with alligators, and they needed some animations to run in the background, and, oh, could they have them…um…now? (more…)

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Happy Halloween from the WitmerLab!

Posted in crocs, dinosaurs, fun, holiday, lab activities, Random, Uncategorized on October 28, 2010| 5 Comments »

Happy Halloween from the WitmerLab! A pair of Velociraptors face off, as if engaging in some dark ritual. Photography by Amy Martiny.

Halloween means something different in Athens, Ohio. Sure, we have kids running around, trick-or-treating in Spiderman, Harry Potter, and princess costumes. But we also have what is reputed to be the third largest block party in the country, involving not just Ohio University students and locals but people from all over. Our little town of about 25,000 residents and 20,000 students swells with another 20,000–50,000 revelers (read the definitive history, Athens News, 31 Oct 2009). Costumes are elaborate and planned months or years in advance. There’s music, there’s food…and, yes, there’s drink. WitmerLab members work extremely hard, but even they are not immune to the pull of this annual event.
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Welcome to the WitmerLab blog!

Posted in Random on July 21, 2010| 7 Comments »

Who are we?
We’re a collection of scientists at Ohio University using 21st century approaches to “flesh out” the past. Our mission is to use the structure of extinct and modern-day animals to interpret evolutionary history…and to share that history with the broader community.