I speak to Professor Patricia Vickers-Rich, the Director of the Monash Science Centre and Personal Chair of Palaeontology at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, about palaeontology. Topics we covered included:

- What is palaeontology?
- What areas of science does palaeontology cover?
- If you’re interested in palaeontology, what should you consider learning?
- Prof Rich talks a little about the origin of birds in Australia
- How big were these birds?
- How closely related are animals of different continents, and why?
- Some of the unusual structures of animals from the past - and their relation to microbial life
- What jobs can palaeontologists get?
- Some examples of different places in the world palaeontology has taken Prof Vickers-Rich, and some of the cultures she experienced
- The value of learning different cultures and how this relates to research

Today’s listener of the episode is Sharon Ryan from Australia.

Download MP3 of Ep 118

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