What happens in the field, stays in the field!

Or does it? In the latest episode of Palaeo Jam, host Michael Mills talks to Dr Diana Fusco and Nathan Phillips of Flinders University about what it’s actually like to head into the field, and dig up fossils. All three have had multiple opportunities to go out to dig sites and do so, and in this podcast, each of them give some great insights into life in the field, and what it is really like!

 

In so doing, we delve into some into the challenges of working remotely! What happens, for example, when you leave behind a critical part of the thunderbox on a remote field trip? And what even is the thunderbox? Tune in to find out!

 

Each episode of Palaeo Jam is recorded with a strict 30 minute timer-limit and is unedited. What you hear is how it went! As part of each episode, the host and each guest bring along an object to open the discussion on the day’s theme. Michael’s item was a half a billion year old Trilobite fossil he dug up in Emu Bay, South Australia. Tune in to find out what Diana and Nathan brought along.

 

Dr Diana Fusco is a palaeoecologist, who combines palaeontology and ecology, to explore interactions between organisms and their environments across geological timescales. Her PhD at Flinders University focused on how Australia’s fauna countered its changing environment in the past, and how this information can be applied as a tool for current and future conservation. As part of her involvement with the Flinders University Palaeontology Society, Diana has been actively involved on the organisational side of field trips.

You can find her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/HvyMetalPalaeo

And if you want to see what an actual thunderbox looks like, check out her Twitter post here… https://twitter.com/HvyMetalPalaeo/status/1578242452770631680

 

Nathan Phillips has been actively involved with the Flinders Uni Palaeo lab since primary school and the Flinders University Palaeontology Society since high school. Along the way he did a bachelor of science with a major in vertebrate palaeontology, has run the moulding and casting for the Flinders palaeo Lab, and was more recently a tour guide for Australian Age of Dinosaurs in Winton Qld.