Fossil bonanza in Colorado Springs

Just east of my home town of Colorado Springs, a mind-blowing fossil discovery has been made. Kudos to the people, including my friend Erika Maurer, who stopped the area from being converted to a dirt bike park until it could be checked out. That was three years ago, and it's amazing the museum paleontologists (from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, specifically) were able to keep it secret until they were ready to announce it in a journal and an exhibit. 
It's surprisingly difficult to find fossils from the million years following the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K-Pg)  impact. This is going to rewrite what textbooks say about that critical period. The discovery chronicles the critical time when the mammals started to exploit the niches left by the dinosaurs. Nova on PBS will show a documentary, Rise of the Mammals, to accompany a new museum exhibit.  Not-so-BTW, the first paper has appeared in Science, the most prestigious scientific journal in America (whether it's the most prestigous in the world is between them and Nature). 

There will be many more papers, articles, new species, and new studies in the years to come. This is amazing stuff.  (Image: National Science Foundation)