The Fossil Files
Podcast Description
In “The Fossil Files”, a pair of palaeontologists delve into the latest discoveries from the world of palaeontology and seek to bring fossils to back to life. Each episode, Susie and Rob will discuss an interesting new research paper ranging from topics of what dinosaurs ate, how plesiosaurs swam, where we came from, and the science of de-extinction. Whilst doing so, we peek under the hood of how the science of palaeontology is done and how research gets to see the light of day. It is for anybody interested in palaeontology and past life whether that is students, researchers themselves, or simply the fossil-curious - we laugh as we learn, and hope you will too.
Episode guide at https://fossils.libsyn.com/
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on various aspects of palaeontology, covering topics such as dinosaur diets, plesiosaur locomotion, human evolution, and the science of de-extinction, with episodes like a deep dive into exceptional preservation examples in Jurassic fossils and discussions about soft tissue analysis to reconstruct past life.
In “The Fossil Files”, a pair of palaeontologists delve into the latest discoveries from the world of palaeontology and seek to bring fossils to back to life. Each episode, Susie and Rob will discuss an interesting new research paper ranging from topics of what dinosaurs ate, how plesiosaurs swam, where we came from, and the science of de-extinction. Whilst doing so, we peek under the hood of how the science of palaeontology is done and how research gets to see the light of day. It is for anybody interested in palaeontology and past life whether that is students, researchers themselves, or simply the fossil-curious – we laugh as we learn, and hope you will too.
Episode guide at https://fossils.libsyn.com/
Bonus content at Patreon https://patreon.com/FossilFiles
Are we alone? For decades a global effort has been made to search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), but have we been looking in the wrong place? A new paper suggests that we should be looking for advanced technological civilizations that had access to coal as this was an important energy rich source enabling industrialisation. In this bonus episode, Susie and Rob take a look at the geological, palaeontolological and evolutionary implications of the seach for coal burning aliens.
This week’s paper is “How common are oxygenic photosynthesis and large coal deposits on exoplanets?” by Lincoln Taiz and colleagues, published in the International Journal of Astrobiology in January 2026.
Widescreen art by NASA/SETI.
![Aliens burning coal? [bonus preview]](https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/7/5/9/5/7595f4c31196844616c3140a3186d450/episode_31_header.jpg)
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