Fossils and Fiction

Fossils and Fiction

By Travis Holland and Alyssa Fjeld.ScienceNatural Sciences
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Fossils and Fiction episodes

  • Smashing dinosaurs in Central Park with Vicky Coules
    Vicky Coules is a PhD candidate and researcher at the University of Bristol in the UK looking into the entanglements between visual culture and dinosaurs. Her research took her into the story of the 1871 attack on a nascent Palaeozoic Museum destined for New Yorkā€™s Central Park. Vicky and Michael Benton recently published a paper on the topic.Ā 
    __
    Coules, V., & Benton, M. J. (2023). The curious case of Central Parkā€™s dinosaurs: The destruction of Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkinsā€™ Paleozoic Museum revisited. Proceedings of the Geologistsā€™ Association. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2023.04.004
    Bristol Palaeomedia Project https://palaeomedia.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/
    46 min
  • Science entertainer Michael Mills

    Multi-talented entertainer and science communicator Michael Mills is the feature guest on the first episode of Fossils and Fiction for 2023. Michael is the creative director of Heaps Good Productions and 'Vice-Chancellor' of Dinosaur University. Michael has a podcast, PalaeoJam, and a show playing at the Adelaide Fringe Festival about foundational palaeontologist Mary Anning. We cover all of these in our conversation.

    This episode also features a song called 'These Curious Things'. Words and music by Michael Mills, featuring Gemma Dandie on lead vocals with Professor Flint and Michael singing harmonies.

    Buy tickets to A Curious Thing: The Story of Mary Anning: https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/a-curious-thing-the-story-of-mary-anning-af2023Ā 

    More on 'Curious Things': https://linktr.ee/TheseCuriousThingsĀ 

    More on Professor Flint: https://linktr.ee/professorflint

    39 min
  • Research Journal: Paleogaming and Myanmar Amber

    Could you get two more different topics in palaeontology than gaming and the ethics of amber from conflict zones? Join Jake Atterby from the University of Birmingham to discuss the former and Dr Emma Dunne from Friedrich-Alexander University for the latter.Ā 

    Papers:Ā 

    1. Clements, T., Atterby, J., Cleary, T., Dearden, R. P., and Rossi, V.: The perception of palaeontology in commercial off-the-shelf video games and an assessment of their potential as educational tools, Geosci. Commun., 5, 289ā€“306, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-289-2022, 2022.
    2. Dunne, E.M., Raja, N.B., Stewens, P.P. et al. Ethics, law, and politics in palaeontological research: The case of Myanmar amber. Commun Biol 5, 1023 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-03847-2
      3. 34 min
    3. Research Journal: A Hidden Vulture and Sauropod Teeth
      In this edition of the Fossils and Fiction Research Journal, we hear from Dr Ellen Mather who was lead author on a paper reclassifying a long-known eagle fossil as instead belonging to Australia's first known vulture, and Dr Stephen Poropat who describes the discovery of sauropod teeth from Queensland.Ā 
      Access the articles here:Ā 
      Poropat SF, Frauenfelder TG, Mannion PD, Rigby SL, Pentland AH, Sloan T, Elliott DA. 2022. Sauropod dinosaur teeth fromthe lower Upper Cretaceous Winton Formation ofQueensland, Australia and the global record ofearly titanosauriforms. R. Soc. Open Sci.9:220381. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220381
      Mather EK, Lee MSY, Worthy TH. 2022.Ā A new look at an old Australian raptor places ā€œTaphaetusā€ lacertosus de Vis 1905 in the Old World vultures (Accipitridae: Aegypiinae). Zootaxa. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5168.1.1
      22 min
    4. The Research Journal: Pterosaurs and Kangaroos

      This episode of Fossils and Fiction features two Australian PhD candidates talking about papers they've recently published. Isaac Kerr from Flinders University discusses his paper reporting the discovery of a new ancient kangaroo in Papua New Guinea while Adele Pentland from Swinburne discusses her recent work on the pterosaur Ferrodraco lentoni.Ā 

      Follow Isaac on Twitter @IsaacARKerr and Adele @AdelePentland.Ā 

      Papers mentioned:Ā 

      1. Kerr, I. A. R. and Prideaux, G. J. (2022) ā€˜A new genus of kangaroo (Marsupialia, Macropodidae) from the late Pleistocene of Papua New Guineaā€™, Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia. Taylor & Francis, 00, pp. 1ā€“24. doi: 10.1080/03721426.2022.2086518.
      2. Kerr, I. A. R. (2022) 'This giant kangaroo once roamed New Guinea - descended from an Australian ancestor that migrated millions of years ago'. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/this-giant-kangaroo-once-roamed-new-guinea-descended-from-an-australian-ancestor-that-migrated-millions-of-years-ago-185778Ā 
      3. Pentland, A. H. et al. (2019) ā€˜Ferrodraco lentoni gen. et sp. nov., a new ornithocheirid pterosaur from the Winton Formation (Cenomanianā€“lower Turonian) of Queensland, Australiaā€™, Scientific Reports. Springer US, 9(1), pp. 1ā€“13. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-49789-4.
      4. Pentland, A. H. et al. (2022) ā€˜The osteology of Ferrodraco lentoni, an anhanguerid pterosaur from the mid-Cretaceous of Australiaā€™, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 41(5). doi: 10.1080/02724634.2021.2038182.
        5. 18 min
      5. Em Blamey talks Sea Monsters

        Mosasaurs, ichythyosaurs, and plesiosaurs galore! Em Blamey is the Creative Producer at the Australian National Maritime Museum. The Museum currently has an exhibition entitled 'Sea Monsters'. Em describes the specimens included and the stories told about these magnificent oceanic creatures.Ā Ā 

        'Sea Monsters' is open on the following schedule:Ā Ā 

        • Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney, 25 June 2022 to 14 August 2022;Ā 
        • Newcastle Regional Museum, September 2022 to February 2023;Ā 
        • Western Australian Maritime Museum, April to July 2023;Ā 
        • Museum of North Queensland, Townsville, September 2023 to February 2024.Ā 

          • More information and tickets https://www.sea.museum/whats-on/exhibitions/sea-monstersĀ 

          15 min
        • Tom Jurassic talks Jurassic World Dominion

          Tom Jurassic spills his thoughts on Dominion and being a fan creator in the Jurassic community. We dive deep into the biggest topics from the film, including [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]. This episode contains detailed spoilers from Dominion.Ā 

          Follow Tom on Twitter @Tom_Jurassic, and check out the Jurassic Park Podcast, Collect Jurassic, and Jurassic Collectables.Ā 

          43 min
        • The Legacy of Jurassic Park with Dr Ross Garner

          This episode features a chat about Sue the T. rex, Jurassic Park, Dr Who, dinosaur fandom, media tourism and more with Dr Ross Garner, Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University.

          Follow Dr Garner on Twitter @DrRPG_TV.

          Referenced material:

          1. Washington Post article on reviving the thylacine;
          2. Article in The Conversation about Claire Dearing;
          3. Article about Sarah Harding.
          4. 'Doctor Who and the Dinosaurs' in Doctor Who and Science, 2021
            5. 47 min
          5. Tullett, Modelbuilder for The Brickman
            Combine dinosaurs with LEGO in this episode of Fossils and Fiction. The interview guest is Tullett, modelbuilder for the Brickman. We chat about building LEGO dinos and the teamā€™s exhibition Jurassic World by Brickman, open now at the Australian Museum, Sydney, until July 17.
            For more information and to book tickets to Jurassic World by Brickman, visit https://exhibition.thebrickman.com/
            15 min
          6. Prehistoric Planet Review

            This brief episode of Fossils and Fiction is a review of the Apple TV+ series 'Prehistoric Planet', narrated by David Attenborough and produced by Jon Favreau.Ā 

            For more information about Prehistoric Planet, visit the Apple TV+ show page.

            12 min

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