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Synopsis Science is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary; the widespread emergence of dedicated interdisciplinary journals, conferences, and graduate programs reflects this trend. Interdisciplinary scientific events are extremely valuable in that they offer opportunities for career advancement, especially among early career researchers, for collaboration beyond traditional disciplinary echo chambers, and for the creative generation of innovative solutions to longstanding scientific problems. However, organizing such events can pose unique challenges due to the intentionality required to meaningfully break down the barriers that separate long-independent disciplines. In this paper, we propose five key strategies for organizing and hosting interdisciplinary scientific events. The recommendations offered here apply both to small symposia aiming to contribute an interdisciplinary component to a larger event and to broad interdisciplinary conferences hosting hundreds or thousands of attendees. 

Abstract Prokinesis—in which a craniofacial joint allows the rostrum to move relative to the braincase—is thought to confer diverse advantages in birds, mostly for feeding. A craniofacial joint would, however, be a weak link if cranial stability is important. Paradoxically, we have identified a craniofacial joint in helmeted hornbills (Rhinoplax vigil), birds known for violent head‐butting behavior. To understand how the helmeted hornbill balances the competing demands of kinesis and collision, we combine manual craniofacial joint manipulation, skull micro‐computed tomography (μCT) and articular raycasting, also comparing our data with μCT scans of 10 closely‐related species that do not aggressively head‐butt. The helmeted hornbill boasts a particularly massive casque, a distinctive upper mandible protrusion fronting the braincase; the craniofacial joint is immediately caudal to this, a standard prokinetic hinge joint position, at the dorsal border of braincase and upper mandible. However, whereas the craniofacial joint in all bucerotiform bird species we examined was only a slender bridge, the helmeted hornbill's joint is exceptionally reinforced. Raycasting analyses revealed high correspondence between the extremely broad joint facets, with reciprocal topographies of braincase and casque fitting like complex puzzle pieces. The result is a joint with a single degree of freedom and limited range of motion, increasing the gape when elevated, but conversely stable when depressed. With the dense network of bony trabeculae in the casque also funneling back to this joint, we infer that the damaging effects of high cranial impact are mitigated, not by dissipating impact energy, but through a skull architecture with a prodigious safety factor. 

Abstract Our knowledge of vertebrate functional evolution depends on inferences about joint function in extinct taxa. Without rigorous criteria for evaluating joint articulation, however, such analyses risk misleading reconstructions of vertebrate animal motion. Here we propose an approach for synthesizing raycast-based measurements of 3-D articular overlap, symmetry, and congruence into a quantitative “articulation score” for any non-interpenetrating six-degree-of-freedom joint configuration. We apply our methodology to bicondylar hindlimb joints of two extant dinosaurs (guineafowl, emu) and, through comparison with in vivo kinematics, find that locomotor joint poses consistently have high articulation scores. We then exploit this relationship to constrain reconstruction of a pedal walking stride cycle for the extinct dinosaurDeinonychus antirrhopus, demonstrating the utility of our approach. As joint articulation is investigated in more living animals, the framework we establish here can be expanded to accommodate additional joints and clades, facilitating improved understanding of vertebrate animal motion and its evolution.