Did you know that humans are a type of lobe-finned fish!?

Turns out our story begins 400 million years ago, when some very special fishies began making the move from sea to land, and we want to talk about it!! Dr Alice Clement heads up the Early Vertebrate Evolution Lab at Flinders University and has dedicated her career to understanding this history of life on Earth ... how the evolution of fish is the story of our own beginnings, too.

Alice joins us in the studio for a conversation about her first fieldwork at the GoGo Formation in the Kimberley - one of the most extraordinary fossil sites in the world - to the moment she split open a limestone nodule and found a beautifully preserved fish inside (now on display at Melbourne Museum!). Alice brings the joy of discovery into every corner of this fun episode. One of our favourite moments was when she walked us through her favourite fossil - an Elpistostege - a predatory fishapod from a famous site in Quebec that Alice then helped image using high-powered X-rays. The x-rays revealed finger bones, hidden inside a fish's fin, that are anatomically equivalent to your own. How good!

And we get the full story of Materpiscis, the pregnant fish with a fossilised embryo and umbilical cord still intact, whose species name is Attenborough (yes, the Sir David...). Alice is a wonderful guest, and this won't be the last time you hear her on Wonder.

Thanks to the Geological Society of Australia for making this episode of Wonder possible!

Find us at www.thegeoco.com.au

Instagram & TikTok: @thegeoco

Sign up for GeoCo News on Substack: thegeoco.substack.com

GeoCo comes to you from the traditional country of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains, South Australia. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.

What does it take to discover a continent? Apparently four months in the Madagascan wilderness with no phone, some crunchy crickets to snack on, and a whole lot of time bouncing around on terrible roads in a beat-up Peugeot while thinking some very big thoughts.

Professor Alan Collins from Adelaide University joins Holly and Anthony for a conversation that spans the formation of Gondwana, the naming of a long-lost ancient continent, and the importance of being beautifully, productively bored.

This is a genuine delight as Alan shares with us his vintage field photos, stories of sleeping in remote villages, learning Malagasy on the fly, and finding dinosaur bones by the side of the road. What a geology-kinda-life!!

And the science? Alan's research reconstructed continental collisions 600–700 million years ago when the oceans were pink and the continents a rusty-red... and a mountain range as mighty as the Himalaya that has long since vanished. Alan walks us through the plate reconstructions and explains why understanding all of this helps us understand why our planet turned out the way it did. Oh, and we find out where the name Azania actually came from. Spoiler: it involves a very well-thumbed Lonely Planet!

Alan is a returning guest on Wonder. If you’ve heard him before, you’ll already know why we had to get him back. If you haven’t, this is a very good place to start.

Make sure you're following Wonder wherever you get your podcasts - and chuck that notifications bell on!

Find us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.thegeoco.com.au⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

And on Instagram & TikTok: @thegeoco

We release a GeoCo News email newsletter. You wouldn't want to miss out... ⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up here https://thegeoco.substack.com/?u...​

Thanks to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Geological Society of Australia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for making this episode of Wonder possible!

GeoCo comes to you from the traditional country of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains, South Australia. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.

The Rocky Mountains - lands of towering peaks glacier carved valleys, huge faults and unique geological heritage.

In this episode of Wonder, we lace up our boots and head into the heart of the Rockies with the endlessly enthusiastic Nick Zentner, professor of geology at Central Washington University . Nick is a great storyteller, and together we unravel the colossal forces that built this iconic mountain range.

Nick is a friend of our little podcast and we really appreciate his generosity of spirit in giving us his time.

Make sure you're following Wonder wherever you get your podcasts - and chuck that notifications bell on!

Find us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.thegeoco.com.au⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

And on Instagram & TikTok: @thegeoco

We release a GeoCo News email newsletter. You wouldn't want to miss out... ⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up here https://thegeoco.substack.com/?u...​

Thanks to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Geological Society of Australia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for making this episode of Wonder possible!GeoCo comes to you from the traditional country of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains, South Australia. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.

We adored our time with writer, illustrator, educator, and 'not-geologist(!!!)', Vojta Hybl (aka @vojta.illustrates). Look, we don't have better words to summarise these ideas than those Vojta gifted us throughout this conversation.... so, please, go listen & enjoy 💗 What a joy.

Here you can Vojta's gorgeous new book, Rocks, A Guide to the Stones Around Us and the Stories They Tell.

Make sure you're following Wonder wherever you get your podcasts - and chuck that notifications bell on! We release a GeoCo News email newsletter. You wouldn't want to miss out... ⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up here.⁠⁠⁠⁠

Find us on Instagram & TikTok: @thegeoco

Thanks to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Geological Society of Australia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for making this episode of Wonder possible!

GeoCo comes to you from the traditional country of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains, South Australia. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.

We start todays episode at the end of the world with Professor of Earth System Evolution, Ben Mills. Soon we're looking at his incredible grid cell model of the Earth and watching 537 million years of evolution play out in pixels: continents drifting, plants evolving, ice sheets growing, CO2 falling, climates flipping. Ben then really shows us something cool: a simulation wherein we build, or rather terraform, an exoplanet from scratch into a habitable planet. In realtime we seed a lifeless world with cyanobacteria... wait for oxygen... drop in algae, tinker with plants... And how did we go? Well, let's just say we're glad Gaia took care of this all on our planet, because left to us three, we're probably not making it out of the Snowball...

If you haven't listened to part 1 yet, don't start this episode until you've done that!!! Watch here.

Make sure you're following Wonder wherever you get your podcasts - and chuck that notifications bell on! We release a GeoCo News email newsletter. You wouldn't want to miss out... ⁠⁠⁠sign up here.⁠⁠⁠

Find us on Instagram & TikTok: @thegeoco

Thanks to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Geological Society of Australia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for making this episode of Wonder possible!

GeoCo comes to you from the traditional country of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains, South Australia. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.

Todays show is something super special for you guys... Professor Ben Mills joins us in studio (all the way from the UK!) to walk us through what is genuinely one of the most interesting scientific ideas about our planet: the Gaia hypothesis. The Gaia hypothesis posits that life doesn't just passively inhabit habitable conditions on the Earth ... rather, life itself regulates the atmosphere, oceans and climate over billions of years and thus maintains a habitable planet.

Ben explains it all to us, and on the way we walk through his origin story as a mathematician at the University of East Anglia, through his chance introduction to the Gaia hypothesis under PhD supervisor Andy Watson, and into the heart of modern Earth system modelling – where simple equations on a piece of paper are now evolving into 3D simulations of our living planet.

Along the way we get into oxygen, wildfires, cigarettes in bell jars, Daisy World, and what all of this might tell us about finding life on other worlds.

Make sure you're following Wonder wherever you get your podcasts - and chuck that notifications bell on! We release a GeoCo News email newsletter. You wouldn't want to miss out... ⁠⁠sign up here.⁠⁠

Find us on Instagram & TikTok: @thegeoco

Thanks to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Geological Society of Australia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for making this episode of Wonder possible!

GeoCo comes to you from the traditional country of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains, South Australia. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.

Today we continue our electrifying conversation with the hilarious Dr Chris Voisey about his impressive experiments and what they tell us about the mysterious ways of gold nugget formation.

Find Chris and friends Nature Geoscience paper here.

Thanks to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Geological Society of Australia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for making this episode of Wonder possible!

Make sure you're following Wonder wherever you get your podcasts - and chuck that notifications bell on! We release a GeoCo News email newsletter. You wouldn't want to miss out... ⁠sign up here.⁠

Find us on Instagram ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thegeoco or our website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.thegeoco.com.au⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

GeoCo comes to you from the traditional country of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains, South Australia. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.

Gold is one of the most chemically inert elements on the periodic table, and the fluids that carry it through the crust contain barely any of it… so how on Earth do we end up with enormous gold nuggets? Dr Chris Voisey, research fellow at Monash University, joins Wonder to talk about the geology of gold deposits, the mystery of how gold nuggets actually form, and the weird property of quartz crystals that might hold the answer: piezoelectricity. This is part 1 of two conversations we have with Chris – say tuned!!

Find more from Dr Chris Voisey from his piece in The Conversation, 'How do you make a giant gold nugget? Take a vein of quartz, add a few thousand earthquakes'. Or check out his article in Nature Geoscience 'Gold nugget formation from earthquake-induced piezoelectricity in quartz'.

Make sure you're following Wonder wherever you get your podcasts - and chuck that notifications bell on! We release a GeoCo News email newsletter. You wouldn't want to miss out... ⁠sign up here.⁠

Find us on Instagram & TikTok: @thegeoco

Thanks to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Geological Society of Australia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for making this episode of Wonder possible!

GeoCo comes to you from the traditional country of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains, South Australia. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.

Fifty million years ago, two colliding tectonic plates began building the biggest mountain range on Earth today. Structural geologist Dr Melanie Finch from the University of Melbourne joins Wonder to explain exactly how these mountains are rising: deep in the crust, where it's too hot for rocks to snap, thin layers of rock flow like honey, slowly pushing everything above them skyward. These are shear zones, and just three of these conveyor belts built the entire Himalaya. In this episode, Melanie takes us from the marine fossils sitting on top of Mount Everest to the five kilometre high mountains that once stood in the middle of Australia – where, to our delight, we also detour into the geological story of Uluru.

Find more beautifully written pieces by Melanie in The Conversation, 'The epic, 550-million-year story of Uluṟu, and the spectacular forces that led to its formation' and on her website.

Thanks to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Geological Society of Australia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for making this episode of Wonder possible!

Make sure you're following Wonder wherever you get your podcasts - and chuck that notifications bell on! We release a GeoCo News email newsletter. You wouldn't want to miss out... sign up here.

Find us on Instagram ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thegeoco or our website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.thegeoco.com.au⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

GeoCo comes to you from the traditional country of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains, South Australia. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.

Earth scientists Holly Cooke and Dr Anthony Reid are back in the hot seat for 2026! We're reviewing some of our favourite new scientific discoveries, plus reminding ourselves of last years escapades (into Malaysian jungle with Mark, across the cosmos with Brian, and around ancient stone structures with Heidi...)

Make sure you're following Wonder wherever you get your podcasts - and chuck that notifications bell on!

We release a ⁠GeoCo News⁠ email newsletter. You wouldn't want to miss out... follow that link to sign up.

Thanks to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Geological Society of Australia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for making this episode of Wonder possible!

Find us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.thegeoco.com.au⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Instagram ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thegeoco⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Got questions? Get in touch- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

GeoCo comes to you from the traditional country of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains, South Australia. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.