Palaeo Jam
Palaeo Jam is a podcast exploring a range of issues in science and the community, using the multidisciplinary aspects of, and public fascination with, palaeontology. Palaeo Jam uses fossils, and other objects from palaeontology, to explore a range of scientific and social issues, and incorporate key research and discoveries into its content. Each episode has a theme and is restricted to a strict, 30-minute timeframe. Each episode has a panel of up to three guests, and is hosted by award-winning science communicator Michael Mills.
Episodes
![Theropods Down Under](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog14892432/PalaeoJam_S2E17_9tbp82_300x300.jpg)
Thursday Dec 07, 2023
Theropods Down Under
Thursday Dec 07, 2023
Thursday Dec 07, 2023
The fossil record of Theropod dinosaurs in Australia is sparse, and our understanding of them is poor. In a recent publication of the first chapter of his PhD, PhD Candidate Jake Kotevski is on his way to changing that.
In this episode of Palaeo Jam, host Michael Mills chats with Jake about the recent identification of the oldest-known Megaraptorid skull fragment, found on an Eastern Victorian beach in Australia, nearly 20 years ago. What does this unique and important fragment tell us about Australian Theropods and their place in the world? In just one of the concepts they discuss, it supports the theory that Megaraptorids originated in Australia. Tune in for more!
To read the paper, “A megaraptorid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) frontal from the upper Strzelecki Group (Lower Cretaceous) of Victoria, Australia”, head to… https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667123002975#sec7
You can find Jake on Twitter at @Dinoman_Jake
https://twitter.com/Dinoman_Jake
And on Instagram at @theropods_down_under
https://www.instagram.com/theropods_down_under/
The Evans EvoMorph Lab where Jake is based for his PhD is on Twitter at @EvansEvoMorph
https://twitter.com/evansevomorph
For information on visiting the Dinosaur Dreaming site mentioned in the podcast, head to…
https://www.visitgippsland.com.au/do-and-see/arts-culture-and-heritage/historical-towns-attractions/dinosaur-dreaming
And also Bunurong Coast Education at http://sgcs.org.au/programs.php
You can find Palaeo Jam host Michael Mills on Twitter at @heapsgood https://twitter.com/Heapsgood
To connect with Dinosaur University on Facebook, follow us at
https://www.facebook.com/DinosaurUniversity
On Instagram at @dinosauruniversity
https://www.instagram.com/dinosauruniversity/
And on Twitter at @DinosaurUni
https://twitter.com/DinosaurUni
Palaeo Jam also now has its own Instagram account at @palaeo_jam
https://www.instagram.com/palaeo_jam
![Connecting with the community](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog14892432/S2E16_Connecting_with_the_community_95b7ia_300x300.jpg)
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
Connecting with the community
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
In August 2023, Michael Mills travelled to various communities in Australia, to record multiple episodes of the Palaeo Jam podcast for National Science Week. One of the enduring conversations born of the tour was how a community might engage with its local fossil heritage, and
In this episode, recorded in Naracoorte, South Australia, in front of a live audience, we discuss a range of ideas of what local communities might do to better engage, and what the challenges and opportunities might be.
Do you know the fossil heritage of where you live? Do you have any ideas for better engaging your local community with that heritage? And even if you do, do you know how to go about doing something about it?
In the 15th episode of this season recorded for National Science week, host Michael Mills explores the possibilities with Site Manager, Naracoorte & Tantanoola Caves, Tom Short; University of Adelaide PhD candidate Nerita Turner; Site Interpreter at Naracoorte Caves National Park, Georgia Blows, and with an awesome appearance towards the end from Isla aged 9 and Quinny, aged 7.
Thanks to the Naracoorte Lucindale Council whose commitment to engaging with their community has helped make this project possible. You can find them on Facebook at… https://www.facebook.com/naracoortelucindalecouncil
And their website at https://www.naracoortelucindale.sa.gov.au/
You can find Palaeo Jam host Michael Mills on Twitter at @heapsgood https://twitter.com/Heapsgood
To connect with Dinosaur University on Facebook, follow us at https://www.facebook.com/DinosaurUniversity
We’ve recorded several episodes in Naracoorte across both seasons of Palaeo Jam. Subscribe now to listen to the rest, in which we chat about the fossils of the Caves while in the Caves. Here are direct links to 3 Naracoorte episodes.
“Professor Wells and the Chamber of Secrets” with Professor Rod Wells…
https://palaeojam.podbean.com/e/professor-wells-and-the-chamber-of-secrets/
“Caves- Ecosystems of the past, the present and the future” with Dr Elizabeth Reed…
https://palaeojam.podbean.com/e/caves-ecosystems-of-the-past-the-present-and-the-future/
“A Career in a Cave”, with Nicola Bail, Nerita Turner and Georgia Blows.
https://palaeojam.podbean.com/e/a-career-in-a-cave/
![The Dinosaur Kids-Part 2](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog14892432/Palaeo_Kids_Part_2_dx4s5u_300x300.jpg)
Thursday Nov 09, 2023
The Dinosaur Kids-Part 2
Thursday Nov 09, 2023
Thursday Nov 09, 2023
12 months ago, Palaeo Jam host Michael Mills chatted with three students from Flinders University in South Australia who had just completed the first year of a palaeontology degree, about their experiences in first year. In this episode of Palaeo Jam, Michael chats with the same three students… Dylan Slinn, Natalie Jackson and Thomas Khajeh… about their experiences in second year. Having finished for the year, and while waiting for their final results, we explore the challenges and the highlights of what was a very different year to first year. We find out how each of them are getting clarity in where they see themselves heading. We learn about what they have found matters for each of them in this important year in the journey.
And just as we got a commitment from all three at the end of last year to come together 12 months later, no matter what… Dylan, Natalie and Thomas have all made the same commitment to do it all again, same time, same place, in 2024. Bring on third year! And bring on what lies beyond!
You can find last year’s podcast episode, featuring Dylan, Natalie and Thomas on your preferred platform. You can also hear it here…
https://palaeojam.podbean.com/e/the-dinosaur-kids-part-1/
You can find Natalie at:
Tik Tok - @nataliemaree_art https://www.tiktok.com/search?q=nataliemaree_art
Twitter - @PalaeoNat https://twitter.com/PalaeoNat
Thomas’ sister, who he mentioned in season 1 is on Insta is at @thelostgirldraws https://www.instagram.com/thelostgirldraws/
Her etsy is at https://www.etsy.com/shop/LizzysStickerCo
Dylan Slinn can be found as Dylan Slinn on Facebook
Michael on Twitter at @HeapsGood https://twitter.com/Heapsgood
And Dinosaur University on Twitter at @DinosaurUni https://twitter.com/DinosaurUni
And Facebook at @DinosaurUniversity https://www.facebook.com/DinosaurUniversity
![Planet of the Plants!](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog14892432/S2_E_14_Planet_of_the_plants6ca4g_300x300.jpg)
Saturday Oct 21, 2023
Planet of the Plants!
Saturday Oct 21, 2023
Saturday Oct 21, 2023
Plants matter. Without them, there’d be no us! There’d have been no dinosaurs! There’d have been no animals of any kind. When we go into our gardens, the thing we see most clearly, are the plants. In this episode, Palaeo Jam host Michael Mills chats with Director of the N.C.W. Beadle Herbarium, and Lecturer in Plant Systematics, at the University of New England, Dr Andrew Thornhill about the evolution of plants, and why they’re rather important to all of us!
Recorded in the controlled environment that is the N.C.W. Beadle Herbarium, amongst thousands of plant specimens, Michael and Andrew talk about what a herbarium is and why it matters, and explore key moments in plant evolution.
For more information on Dr Andrew Thornhill check out the following blog from the University of New England…
https://blog.une.edu.au/pulsenews/2023/09/25/meet-andrew-thornhill-director-of-the-n-c-w-beadle-herbarium/
You can find links to Andrew’s research at https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=8QZdc_0AAAAJ&hl=en
Palaeo Jam host Michael Mills can be found on Twitter as @heapsgood https://twitter.com/Heapsgood
For more on the work Michael and HeapsGood Productions, check out the link… https://linktr.ee/HeapsGoodProductions
![The Mega-fauna muncher from Down Under!](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog14892432/PalaeoJamS2E13_bsgcdt_300x300.jpg)
Friday Sep 29, 2023
The Mega-fauna muncher from Down Under!
Friday Sep 29, 2023
Friday Sep 29, 2023
Eight million years ago, in what is now Alcoota, in central Australia, it is thought that a catastrophic event occurred leading to the death of hundreds of individual animals. While devastating for the individuals, it’s also an event that was followed by a process of fossilisation that has ensured we have a remarkable record of who lived in that place at the time, and who died in those moments.
In this episode of Palaeo Jam, recorded in the very place of its discovery, in the very week that its discovery was published, aside from getting a sense of what it was like in Alcoota eight million years ago, we get to learn about Baru iylwenpen, the single most complete known mekosuchine crocodile in Australia, if not the world.
The species name was taken from the Anmetyerre language, meaning excellent and skilled hunter. The fossils suggest Baru iylwenpen had the strength to prey on other megafauna such as the giant flightless bird Dromornis stirtini, also known as the Thunder Bird! Indeed, Baru iylwenpen was the largest and most dangerous predator that's found at the Alcoota fossil bed, and would have pretty much munched on whatever it wanted!
Here’s a link to the original paper on Baru iylwenpen…
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/spp2.1523
Dr Adam Yates is the Senior Curator of Earth Sciences at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. He is a palaeontologist with a broad interest in extinct fauna of Australia and South Africa where he spent 8 years prior to joining MAGNT in late 2011.
You can read some of Adam’s research here…
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Adam-Yates-3
Megafauna Central can be found at… https://www.magnt.net.au/megafauna-central
You can find Adam on Mastodon at https://sauropods.win/@alcootatooter
You can find Palaeo Jam host Michael Mills on Twitter at @heapsgood https://twitter.com/Heapsgood
To connect with Dinosaur University on Facebook, follow us at https://www.facebook.com/DinosaurUniversity
![A journey into accessibility- Digging for fossils from a wheelchair](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog14892432/PalaeoJamS2E12_b_8f2iy9_300x300.jpg)
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
A journey into accessibility- Digging for fossils from a wheelchair
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
Being able to access field trips to dig up fossils has long been a central feature of studying palaeontology, and being a palaeontologist. But what if you have been born with a rare and severe genetic condition, such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy type 1 like Eleanor Beidatsch? As a nine year old, Eleanor dreamed of being a palaeontologist, but always presumed her advanced physical disability, and use of a wheelchair would make “digging about in the dirt for fossils” impossible.
But Eleanor Beidatsch is many things, and being passionate and determined, is just a part of of it. In this episode of Palaeo Jam, recorded as part of our National Science Week tour, host Michael Mills chats with Eleanor about the challenges faced by students with disabilities in accessing opportunities to study, her own amazing journey to studying palaeontology at the University of New England, about her fascinating research into velvet worms, and about what comes next.
Check out this video from Eleanor’s YouTube channel of her remarkable adventure in 2016, to a paleontological dig in the opal rich desert town of Lightning Ridge, New South Wales…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTGxIR_yaNo
Stay up top date with a documentary project involving Eleanor, her family, and colleagues during their time at the 2023 Palaeo Down Under conference and the Kalbarri field-trip…
https://www.australasianpalaeontologists.org/documentary
Here’s a story about Eleanor’s journey on the University of New England’s website…
https://www.une.edu.au/connect/news/2022/09/unearthing-discrimination-in-science
Along with studying palaeontology, Eleanor is a disability rights journalist, and writes for the ABC…
https://www.abc.net.au/news/eleanor-beidatsch/101651018
You can find Eleanor on Instagram at…
https://www.instagram.com/eleanor.beidatsch/
And on Twitter at…
https://twitter.com/EBeidatsch
Here’s a link to Eleanor’s blog Accessible 4 Me…
https://accessible4me.wordpress.com/
For more information on the research being undertaken by the team at University of New England’s Palaeoscience Research Centre, head to
https://www.une.edu.au/research/research-centres-institutes/palaeoscience-research-centre
Palaeo Jam host Michael Mills is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Heapsgood
For more info on his work as Creative Director, HeapsGood Productions, head to… https://linktr.ee/HeapsGoodProductions
![Palaeo research from the high country](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog14892432/PalaeoJamS2E11_qrsjh2_300x300.jpg)
Sunday Sep 03, 2023
Palaeo research from the high country
Sunday Sep 03, 2023
Sunday Sep 03, 2023
What do we know about the boundary between the Ediacarans and the Cambrians, an astonishing predator from the early Cambrian, and one of the things palaeontologists get asked about more than just about anything… How did some dinosaurs get so big?
We’re LIVE for a second time in Armidale for National Science Week at The Welder’s Dog Brewery, on Anaiwan country, also known as high country, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.
In this episode, we discuss some of the fascinating paleontological research going on at the University of New England through the Palaeoscience Research Centre. To do this, Palaeo Jam host Michael Mills is joined by Professor John Paterson, Dr Marissa Betts, and Dr Nic Campione.
You can find our more about John’s research from his University of New England profile at https://www.une.edu.au/staff-profiles/ers/jpater20
Marissa’s UNE profile at https://www.une.edu.au/staff-profiles/ers/marissa-betts
And Nic’s UNE profile at https://www.une.edu.au/staff-profiles/ers/dr-nicolas-campione
For more information on the research being undertaken by the team at University of New England’s Palaeoscience Research Centre, head to
https://www.une.edu.au/research/research-centres-institutes/palaeoscience-research-centre
Palaeo Jam host Michael Mills is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Heapsgood
For more info on his work as Creative Director, HeapsGood Productions, head to… https://linktr.ee/HeapsGoodProductions
![Stories of the high country](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog14892432/S2E10Armidale_47te7n_300x300.jpg)
Tuesday Aug 29, 2023
Stories of the high country
Tuesday Aug 29, 2023
Tuesday Aug 29, 2023
We’re LIVE in Armidale for National Science Week at The Welder’s Dog Brewery, and in this episode, recorded on Anaiwan country, we’re talking about the creatures that once dwelt in this place, and nearby.
Of dinosaurs such as “Lightning Claw”, giant marsupials that left teeth marks on the bones of other giant marsupials, and tiny fossils too small for the naked eye to see. Along the way, we talk about the extraordinary changes that have taken place in the geology of the region that at one time during the Permian, was a volcanic wasteland, at an earlier time, was under the sea, and that is now, the highest city in Australia. In this episode we are reminded that wherever you are, there are fascinating prehistoric stories just waiting to be discovered!
To discuss all this and more, host Michael Mills is joined by Professor John Paterson, Dr Marissa Betts, and Dr Nic Campione, all from the University of New England, right here in Armidale.
You can find our more about John’s research from his University of New England profile at https://www.une.edu.au/staff-profiles/ers/jpater20
Marissa’s UNE profile at https://www.une.edu.au/staff-profiles/ers/marissa-betts
And Nic’s UNE profile at https://www.une.edu.au/staff-profiles/ers/dr-nicolas-campione
For more information on the research being undertaken by the team at University of New England’s Palaeoscience Research Centre, head to
https://www.une.edu.au/research/research-centres-institutes/palaeoscience-research-centre
Palaeo Jam host Michael Mills is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Heapsgood
For more info on his work as Creative Director, HeapsGood Productions, head to… https://linktr.ee/HeapsGoodProductions
![Image](https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/vjfag8/palaeo-opening-1.jpg)
About Palaeo Jam
Palaeo Jam is a podcast exploring a range of issues in science and the community, using the multidisciplinary aspects of, and public fascination with, palaeontology. It is an Australian-based palaeo podcast, which launched at a publicly accessible live event at Flinders University, where the first two episodes were recorded in front of an audience.
The format for Palaeo Jam is as follows
- Palaeo Jam uses fossils and other objects from palaeontology to explore a range of scientific and social issues, and incorporate key research and discoveries into its content. Each guest brings an object.
- Each episode has a theme.
- Each episode is strictly 30 minutes in length. There is always a timer present, and visible to the audience in live records.
- Each episode has a panel of up to four, including Michael Mills as the host. We aim to give voice to researchers who don’t often get the opportunity to participate in such forums.
- Palaeo Jam is discussion, curiosity, and exploration, rather than being a collection of presentations. Through pondering connections between items, we hope to uncover insights and delve into unusual and interesting corners of palaeontology.
- Show notes for people to dive deeper are uploaded to this website, with the work of each panelist being highlighted.