Travis went to Europe and Alyssa went to Chattanooga. All to find out more about your favourite fossils. We bring you some news on extraordinary palaeo discoveries, a fascinating interview with Dr Indrani Mukherjee about the state of geoscience in Australia and her research into Earth's earliest life, and Alyssa ranks 2025's big hits (come at her).

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Tess Gallagher, Dan Folkes, Michael Pittman, Tom G. Kaye, Glenn W. Storrs, Jason Schein; Fossilized melanosomes reveal colour patterning of a sauropod dinosaur. R Soc Open Sci. 1 December 2025; 12 (12): 251232. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.251232

Delclòs, X., Peñalver, E., Jaramillo, C. et al. Cretaceous amber of Ecuador unveils new insights into South America’s Gondwanan forests. Commun Earth Environ 6, 745 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02625-2

Dinosaur mating? Two new tyrannosaurs? We discuss a couple of groundbreaking papers followed by a trip to Wellington Caves, the site of some of Australia's earliest and greatest palaeontological discoveries.

More info:

Join us in Adelaide for Fossils and Fiction live on November 29! https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/1964100016020?aff=oddtdtcreator

Visit Wellington Caves https://www.wellingtoncaves.com.au/

Bertozzo, F., Tanke, D. H., Conti, S., Manucci, F., Arnott, G., Godefroit, P., Ruffell, A., Fowler, D., Freedman Fowler, E. A., Bolotsky, I. Y., Bolotsky, Y. L., & Murphy, E. (2025). Deciphering causes and behaviors: A recurrent pattern of tail injuries in hadrosaurid dinosaurs. iScience, 113739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.113739

Zanno, L. E., & Napoli, J. G. (2025). Nanotyrannus and Tyrannosaurus coexisted at the close of the Cretaceous. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09801-6

Seals. What do they know? Do they know things? Let's find out.

Dr James Rule gives lets us in on the secrets of the seals, covering their evolution, fossil history, and some challenges with modern marine mammal research. James tells us the best and worst seal and lays down the terms to the whales. Also, it's Halloween, so we take a look at some creepy museum exhibitions.

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Flynn, A. G., Brusatte, S. L., Chiarenza, A. A., García, J., Davis, A. J., Secord, R., Shelley, S., Weil, A., Heizler, M. T., Williamson, T. E., & Peppe, D. J. (2025). Late-surviving New Mexican dinosaurs illuminate high end-Cretaceous diversity and provinciality.

Sereno, P. C., Saitta, E. T., Vidal, D., Myhrvold, N., Real, M. C., Baumgart, S. L., Bop, L. L., Keillor, T. M., Eriksen, M., & Derstler, K. (2025). Duck-billed dinosaur fleshy midline and hooves reveal terrestrial clay-template “mummification.” Science, science.adw3536. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adw3536

Travis and Alyssa discuss the challenges and implications of open access publishing in science. They explore the paywall paradox, the role of jargon in scientific communication, and the peer review process, particularly in the context of palaeontology. The conversation also touches on global inequities in access to research, innovations in open access publishing, and the importance of data accessibility. The episode concludes with a light-hearted segment on the frustrations of academic publishing and a fun bingo game.

Support the Diplodocoid publishing campaign: https://experiment.com/projects/reassessing-the-evolutionary-family-tree-and-biogeography-of-the-iconic-sauropod-group-diplodocoidea?s=search

Virtual Paleo Art Gallery curator Karim talks the intersection of art, technology, and community building. Meanwhile, Alyssa and Travis discuss some historical paleo and museum heists.

Check out the palaeo art gallery here https://extinctfineart.com/virtual-paleoart-gallery/

Artist, cartoonist, communicator Zev Landes talks through his experiences and process. We get the low-down on how he created the Fossils and Fiction logo featuring Scratch and Skitters, as well as his work with museums, palaeo-tourism initiatives, and much more.

Check out Zev's website https://www.zevlandes.com/ or Instagram @ZevLandes.

Alyssa and Travis delve into a fascinating new paper on dinosaur tracks, dubbed the 'Dinosaur Dance Floor.' They discuss the implications of the findings, including the behavior of ceratopsians and tyrannosaurs. The conversation shifts to exciting announcements in paleontology, including a new season of Prehistoric Planet. They also interview shark palaeontologist Ben Francischelli, exploring the megalodon and other ancient sharks. The episode concludes with a fun 'Would You Rather' segment.

More info:

Bell, P. R., Pickles, B. J., Ashby, S. C., Walker, I. E., Hurst, S., Rampe, M., Durkin, P., & Brown, C. M. (2025). A ceratopsid-dominated tracksite from the Dinosaur Park Formation (Campanian) at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada. PLOS ONE, 20(7), e0324913. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0324913

Ben's website: https://www.benfrancischelli.com/

Poo and poetry.

George Frandsen is founder of the Poozeum in Williams, Arizona. He shares the story of the Poozeum and its mission to educate the world about coprolites. George also introduces us to Barnum - the world's biggest T. rex poop. Alyssa and Travis review Walking with Dinosaurs and Jurassic World: Rebirth before Travis unleashes his softer side with a little palaeo poetry ('Species' by Tishani Doshi, from A God at the Door published by Cooper Canyon Press).

From Part 2 of our interview with palaeontologist and palaeoartist Mark Witton featuring chat on AI, to news about the origins of teeth, and a very difficult game of 'guess that fossil', this episode has a little bit of everything.

More info:

• King Tyrant on Amazon
• Haridy, Y., Norris, S.C.P., Fabbri, M. et al. The origin of vertebrate teeth and evolution of sensory exoskeletons. Nature 642, 119–124 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08944-w

Can they spell it? No, they can't!

This episode features renowned palaeoartist Mark Witton talking about his new book King Tyrant and other topics in palaeoart. Plus, news on the world's first sauropod gut contents. Then, Travis and Alyssa challenge each other to a prehistoric spelling bee.

More info:

Mark Witton's website https://www.markwitton.co.uk/

Poropat, S. F., Tosolini, A.-M. P., Beeston, S. L., Enchelmaier, M. J., Pentland, A. H., Mannion, P. D., Upchurch, P., Chin, K., Korasidis, V. A., Bell, P. R., Enriquez, N. J., Holman, A. I., Brosnan, L. M., Elson, A. L., Tripp, M., Scarlett, A. G., Godel, B., Madden, R. H. C., Rickard, W. D. A., … Grice, K. (2025). Fossilized gut contents elucidate the feeding habits of sauropod dinosaurs. Current Biology, 35(11), 2597-2613.e7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.04.053