Center for the Study of Dead Clams

Their motto is "Putting the dead to work since 1992."

UA geosciences dept head Karl Flessa and colleagues run the Centro de Estudios de Almejas Muertas (C.E.A.M.) [English translation: Center for the Study of Dead Clams], an informal organization dedicated to the study of taphonomy. Taphonomy is the study of dead things and how they get incorporated into the fossil record.

The Center was highlighted on Thursday in the dotearth blog on the New York Times site in a story about demands for fresh water along the Colorado River and the impacts on the Gulf of California [right, Colorado River delta. Credit, Visible Earth/NASA] including dolphins and clams.