Mr Williams has worked with Dennis Parsons at the Somerset Heritage Centre, Somerset Archaeological Natural History Society, which owns the collection, and leading insect fossil expert Andrew Ross, from the Museum of Scotland, to get the Taunton collection curated.

BBC: Museum of Somerset marine insect fossil study starts

As a leading exporter of fossil fuels, Russia may well play a stabilizing role in global energy markets, despite its purported truculence in recent years.

FORBES: For U.S. Businesses, Russia Means Immense Opportunity -- and Immense Exposure

Chu, who turns 65 this month, was a leading advocate in the Obama administration for alternative energy development, making him a target of the fossil fuel industry and its conservative supporters in Congress.

CNN: Energy secretary resigning from Obama Cabinet

The fossil record also shows an apparent lack of dinosaur fossils in the last few million years leading up to the impact.

BBC: Closing the 'three metre gap'