Damage to a specimen, or to the air scribe itself, can occur in several ways. Almost always it is due to operator error. The air scribe is very powerful and quite capable of quickly boring into mineralized bone or shell--with dire consequences. The reciprocating, or in-and-out, movement of the tool can actually pull the bit through the specimen in a series of millisecond-long bites that can leave the operator in a panic. The secret is to completely familiarize yourself with surface texture, color, and physical properties of both the fossil and the matrix--these are unique and vary greatly between specimens. champion Let the machine do the work. Knowledge of texture and color lets you know when to lighten up and pull away, and, for the most part, the movement of the chisel tip without any help except mini drill press guidance from the operator is sufficient to reduce matrix to a fine debris. this is perhaps the most difficult technique to learn because it is human nature to think that force from our own muscles press will make the job faster. quite the contrary, the application of too much pressure only ensures that your lab will be filled with an incessant whining, your air scribe life span will be considerably reduced, and you may snap off fairly expensive chisel bits. in addition, because air scribes are so powerful, the bit should never be used as a lever. it is the reciprocating movement of the tip of the bit that effectively breaks apart the rock matrix. wedging the bit into the rock, twisting, or levering off larger chunks not only breaks chisel bits, but also rapidly transforms your air scribe into a useless paperweight. with proper care, common sense, and regular lubrication, champion a pneumatic air scribe will last for years and will enable you to prepare fossils from nearly any matrix. lab technicians are also drill finding that air scribes enable them to develop fossils in a way never before available to them, bringing out details of specimens impossible with older, more traditional technologies.

meanwhile, the environment press ministry, champion which conducted separate research on feb. 23 and 24, said tuesday it found that nutrient salts necessary for the growth of seaweed had plunged in quantity to almost undetectable levels almost throughout the inland sea.the ministry also said in a report that quantities of ''''chlorophyll a'''' -- a substance in photo plankton -- in many of the 24 points surveyed in the sea were unusually high. photo plankton consume nutrient salts.in one area deep inside the bay, the ministry detected 20 drill micrograms of the substance per liter -- almost matching concentrations found during times of so-called red tides caused by massive outbreaks of photo plankton. a microgram is one-millionth of a gram.

air abrasive machines were originally designed for the dental industry; but having a mouthful of unsavory grit became disconcerting to the patient, and the dental use press quickly gave way to factory applications such as cutting glass and quartz and finishing mass-produced, hardened steel parts. the american museum of natural history first applied precision sandblasting units to fossils in the 1960s, and, as word spread of their versatility, most paleontology labs around the world found this tool indispensable.

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