Palaeocast

Life On Our Planet (LOOP) is a new 8-part series created for Netflix by Silverback Films and Amblin Television. This Steven Spielberg produced series, narrated by Morgan Freeman, is hugely ambitious in its scope, telling the story of life throughout the whole Phanerozoic Eon. Ancient organisms and environments are painstakingly recreated by the supremely talented Industrial Light and Magic, whilst modern natural history scenes add vital context to the story.

This show has been worked on for six years, during which time countless papers were read and around 150 different palaeontologists contributed their time and knowledge. The whole production had culture of letting the scientific research dictate scenes, resulting in one of the most accurate on-screen representations of prehistoric life there has ever been.

And how do we know all this? Well, our very own team members Tom Fletcher and Dave Marshall have been embedded within the LOOP team since day one! We are therefore in a totally unique position to reveal to you the work that went into this series, from both the production and research side of things.

In this series, we've been granted exclusive access to many of the people responsible for creating LOOP, we explore what it takes to create a palaeontological documentary and we delve deeper into the science with some of the show's academic advisors. We will be releasing batches of interviews, each relating to an episode of LOOP.

In episode 1.1, we introduce ourselves and explain our roles in the documentary. We look forward to the release of the series and discuss the scope of episode 1 and some of the 'rules of life'. Images courtesy of Netflix.

Following up on an initial discovery of ice-age remains in Byron, New York, in the 1950's, Dr Richard Laub took on the task of systematically excavating the 'Hiscock Site' for the Buffalo Museum of Science. Fieldwork commenced in 1983, but as more and more fossils were discovered at the site, the 'Byron Dig', as it became known, would continue for almost three decades. In that time, countless numbers of significant Late Pleistocene and Holocene discoveries were made, including those of mastodon, caribou and bird remains, as well as a rich record of Paleoindian tools.

The Hiscock site proved to be incredibly challenging, not just in terms of physical excavation in its water-logged sediments, but also in developing an understanding of how this complex deposit had formed and evolved over the last ≈13,000 years. In many cases, it took years to figure out some of the details and whilst we have a good understanding of the site 40 years on, several questions still remain unanswered.

In the second part of this interview, Dick continues to look back at his time leading the Byron Dig. As we work our way through each distinct layer of the deposit, he reconstructs the local environment for us and paints a picture of the flora and fauna of the relatively recent past.

Further details about the Hiscock Site, the Byron Dig and the history of its study can be found in Dick's recent book: Two Acres of Time.

Following up on an initial discovery of ice-age remains in Byron, New York, in the 1950's, Dr Richard Laub took on the task of systematically excavating the 'Hiscock Site' for the Buffalo Museum of Science. Fieldwork commenced in 1983, but as more and more fossils were discovered at the site, the 'Byron Dig', as it became known, would continue for almost three decades. In that time, countless numbers of significant Late Pleistocene and Holocene discoveries were made, including those of mastodon, caribou and bird remains, as well as a rich record of Paleoindian tools.

The Hiscock site proved to be incredibly challenging, not just in terms of physical excavation in its water-logged sediments, but also in developing an understanding of how this complex deposit had formed and evolved over the last ≈13,000 years. In many cases, it took years to figure out some of the details and whilst we have a good understanding of the site 40 years on, several questions still remain unanswered.

In this interview, Dick joins us to look back at his time leading the Byron Dig. As we work our way through each distinct layer of the deposit, he reconstructs the local environment for us and paints a picture of the flora and fauna of the relatively recent past.

Further details about the Hiscock Site, the Byron Dig and the history of its study can be found in Dick's recent book: Two Acres of Time.

A new Ordovician lagerstätte (site of special fossil preservation) has just been described from Llandrindod Wells, Wales. The site contains the remains of well over 150 different species, most of which are entirely new to science. It is dated to around 461 million years old, placing it at a critical point in life's evolution: the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event. This is even more significant, considering the relative sparsity of lagerstätten of this time.

We are joined in this interview by Drs Joe Botting and Lucy Muir, who discovered the Castle Bank site a short walk from their house whilst fossil collecting during covid lockdown in 2020. From them, we're able to learn what it's like to discover a new site of international significance and we question why the fossil from this site are so small.

Part 2. Caecilians, sometimes known as 'blind worms', are a lesser-known group of lissamphibians (all living amphibians). Most modern caecilians are all fossorial (burrowing) and are restricted to the moist soils and leaf litter of tropical forests. Adaptation to this specific ecology has led to radical modification of their bodies, from fusion of the bones in the head and the function of the jaw, to the loss of limbs and development of unique sensory organs.

The fossil record of caecilians is incredibly poor, with only 10 specimens available for researchers to piece together their evolutionary history with. This is further problematic because without a firm understanding of caecilian evolution, we can't understand the origins of lissamphibians, which includes the ecologically significant groups of frogs and salamanders.

Published in Nature today, a new study led by Ben Kligman, Petrified Forest National Park and Virginia Tech, details numerous specimens of a new fossil caecilian. Discovered within a Triassic deposit, Funcusvermis gilmorei is not only the oldest known caecilian, but it also displays a unique combination of anatomical characteristics that helps illuminate the evolutionary origins of caecilians and all lissamphibians.

Whilst this discovery goes some way to answer some of the bigger questions, other problems that are raised, most notably why there is such an over-representation of Funcusvermis's lower right jaw.

Caecilians, sometimes known as 'blind worms', are a lesser-known group of lissamphibians (all living amphibians). Most modern caecilians are all fossorial (burrowing) and are restricted to the moist soils and leaf litter of tropical forests. Adaptation to this specific ecology has led to radical modification of their bodies, from fusion of the bones in the head and the function of the jaw, to the loss of limbs and development of unique sensory organs.

The fossil record of caecilians is incredibly poor, with only 10 specimens available for researchers to piece together their evolutionary history with. This is further problematic because without a firm understanding of caecilian evolution, we can't understand the origins of lissamphibians, which includes the ecologically significant groups of frogs and salamanders.

Published in Nature today, a new study led by Ben Kligman, Petrified Forest National Park and Virginia Tech, details numerous specimens of a new fossil caecilian. Discovered within a Triassic deposit, Funcusvermis gilmorei is not only the oldest known caecilian, but it also displays a unique combination of anatomical characteristics that helps illuminate the evolutionary origins of caecilians and all lissamphibians.

Whilst this discovery goes some way to answer some of the bigger questions, other problems that are raised, most notably why there is such an over-representation of Funcusvermis's lower right jaw.

Palaeontology (dinosaurs in particular) are incredibly well represented in nearly all forms of popular media today. From documentaries and films to computer games and even specialist podcasts. But where did the public fascination in dinosaurs come from? Has it always been there, ever since the existence of dinosaurs was first revealed, or has interest grown cumulatively with every public engagement milestone.

This third and final part examines the need for modern films and documentaries to be able to substantiate their claims. How do we know whether or not the scenes they depict are based on palaeontological facts? The series then ends by stepping back and considering what the point of this kind of science communication is anyway.

Palaeontology (dinosaurs in particular) are incredibly well represented in nearly all forms of popular media today. From documentaries and films to computer games and even specialist podcasts. But where did the public fascination in dinosaurs come from? Has it always been there, ever since the existence of dinosaurs was first revealed, or has interest grown cumulatively with every public engagement milestone.

In this second part of a special three-part episode, Vicky Coules talks all about dinosaurs in films and animation, but examining titles from within their original historical scientific and social contexts. How have such titles been influenced by the world around them? But equally, how were these titles able to influence science?

Palaeontology (dinosaurs in particular) are incredibly well represented in nearly all forms of popular media today. From documentaries and films to computer games and even specialist podcasts. But where did the public fascination in dinosaurs come from? Has it always been there, ever since the existence of dinosaurs was first revealed, or has interest grown cumulatively with every public engagement milestone.

In this special three-part episode of Palaeocast, guest host Dr Suresh Singh interviews Vicky Coules about the history of palaeontology in pop culture. Vicky is a PhD student at the University of Bristol, but has a background in art, engineering and documentary production. Her current research focuses on the interrelationship between palaeontology as a science and as an art, with a focus on late 19th and early 20th century America.