The cuscus is a small possum, a ball of fluff the size of a housecat, found in northern Australia, Papua New Guinea, and various islands across Southeast Asia. But this wasn’t always the case – cuscus were brought to the islands by people thousands of years ago and, by studying the spread of this animal, researchers are hoping to learn more about the connections and trade routes of past people. 

In this episode, we chat with archaeologist and palaeobiologist Dr Shimona Kealy (@ShimonaKealy) from the Australian National University’s College of Asia and the Pacific who is using DNA sequencing technology to analyse modern and historical genetic samples to figure out when and where cuscus was introduced across the region.

For more information, go to: https://bit.ly/cuscuskealy

Got questions? We'll get you answers. Tweet us @SuppInfopod or click here and follow the prompts.

Pollen isn’t just the stuff that gets up your nose during the hayfever season. Pollen, an integral part of plant reproduction, also serves as a time capsule of past environments; by analysing these microscopic marvels, researchers can determine what plants were present in a landscape thousands to millions of years ago. 

In this episode, Matthew Adeleye (@matt_adeleye) from the Australian National University helps us understand the journey of pollen grains – from a plant to being trapped in the mud at the bottom of lakes to the microscope slides examined by palynologists (people who study pollen). By counting and measuring these grains, palynologists like Matthew can discover invaluable information about past landscapes and vegetation.

For more information, go to: http://bit.ly/pollensi 

Got questions? We'll get you answers. Tweet us @SuppInfopod or click here and follow the prompts.

The rainforest trees of the Surrey Hills region of northwest Tasmania feel immensely ancient but they are actually less than 180 years old. Once upon a time, this region was more of an open-woodland than the dense, wet rainforest we see there today, and the land was actively managed and maintained by Aboriginal Australians for millenia.

In this episode Associate Professor Michael-Shawn Fletcher (@theotheroad) explains the use of fire by Indigenous people and the impact that it had on shaping the natural environment.

For more information, go to: http://bit.ly/rainforestredux 

Got questions? We'll get you answers. Tweet us @SuppInfopod or click here and follow the prompts.

In this episode, we talk to Dr Ariana Lambrides about her work pulling together the data on fish remains excavated from archaeological sites all along the Queensland coast since the 1950s. This meta-analysis provides some useful information about diverse fish exploitation along the coast by Indigenous people throughout the Holocene (last ~11,700 years) but highlights the large gaps in data for these regions.

Got a question for any of our guests? We'll get you answers. Send us your questions via Twitter @SuppInfoPod #SuppInfo or click here and follow the prompts.

More information: http://bit.ly/fishforthought

Do you know what it takes to put together a broken thousand-year-old pot scattered among 20,000 other pieces? This is just another day’s work for Holly Jones-Amin, Senior Objects and Archaeological Conservator at the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation at the University of Melbourne.

In this episode, Holly takes us through the careful reconstruction of the Ruisasi 1 incised pot, excavated from an archaeological site in Caution Bay, Papua New Guinea.

Got a question you'd like us to get answers to? Let us know. We're on Twitter @SuppInfoPod #SuppInfo.

More information: http://bit.ly/potspuzzles

In the Bass Strait Islands, the removal and eradication of Wedge-tailed Eagles, quolls and Tasmanian devils and the introduction of livestock and invasive predators like cats have brought about drastic declines in native wood bird populations. Could the reintroduction of these native predators help to rebalance this ecosystem? This week we talk to Matthew Fielding about roadkill, ravens, currawongs and the pros and cons of trophic rewilding, a form of ecosystem management where top-level predators are reintroduced, aiming to restore the natural structure of food webs.

For more information, go to: http://bit.ly/rewildtheisles

Got a question you'd like us to get answers to? Let us know. We're on Twitter @SuppInfoPod #SuppInfo.

Professor Kris Helgen, a mammologist interested in how modern mammals evolved reduces some of the mystery around the dingo, walking us through the evolution of dogs from wolves and the arrival of dingoes in Australia.

Prof Kris Helgen is Chief Scientist and Director of the Australian Museum Research Institute (AMRI) at the Australian Museum. Prof Helgen studies mammals and has documented over 100 previously overlooked species of mammal from the Skywalker hoolock (Hoolock tiaxing) gibbon of southern China to the olinguito (Bassaricyon neblina) a member of the racoon family in the cloud forests of Columbia, Ecuador and the northern Andes.

For more information, go to: https://bit.ly/dogmaofdingoes

Got a question you'd like us to get answers to? Let us know. We're on Twitter @SuppInfoPod #SuppInfo.

Introducing Supplementary Information, a podcast series digging into the research that's revealing new information about Australia's natural and cultural heritage.

Meet Supplementary Information co-hosts Dr Nathan Jankowski and Dr Kelsie Long who go digging behind the scenes of research at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH).

Dr Nathan Jankowski is a geologist at the University of Wollongong node of CABAH.

Dr Kelsie Long is an archaeological scientist at the Australian National University node of CABAH.