Fossils and Fiction

Zach Vanasse, founder and director of Dinosaur Trips, discusses his journey in creating a unique travel company that offers dinosaur-themed trips. He shares his childhood fascination with dinosaurs and how it led him to combine his passion for palaeontology with his experience in the travel industry. Zach explains the offerings of Dinosaur Trips, which include visits to museums, dinosaur digs, and other attractions in various destinations. He emphasises that the trips cater to both dinosaur enthusiasts and curious travellers who want to explore destinations through the lens of palaeontology.

In this conversation, Dr. Catherine Pugh and Dr. Ross Garner discuss their chapters in 'The Jurassic Park Book' and provide new perspectives on the classic 1990s blockbuster. Dr. Pugh analyses a play called 'The Jurassic Parks' that riffs on the film and explores themes of family and grief. Dr. Garner focuses on the role of merchandise and franchising in the Jurassic Park franchise and the lack of academic attention towards it.

They also discuss the impact of Jurassic Park on dinosaur fandom and the genre of eco-horror. The conversation explores the themes of environmental impact, the future of the Jurassic Park franchise, the portrayal of dinosaurs as animals or monsters, and the use of dinosaurs as agents of punishment. The discussion also touches on the tension between realism and spectacle in the films, the changing debates and viewpoints within the franchise, and the engagement with cultural and scientific debates. The conversation highlights the unique nature of the Jurassic Park series in actively engaging with these themes on screen.

This is Part 2 of coverage of 'The Jurassic Park Book', edited by Dr Matt Melia and published by Bloomsbury.

More info:

Bronwyn Saunders, a children's author and citizen scientist, discusses her book 'Diprotodon: A Megafauna Journey' and the importance of Australian megafauna. She shares her journey as a writer and the research process she went through to write the book. Bronwyn also mentions her author inspirations and hints at future projects.

More:

Jake Kotevski is a PhD candidate at Monash University studying Australian theropods, specifically megaraptorids. Are they just big raptors? Find out in our wide-ranging discussion about the known knowns, the known unknowns, and some speculation on the unknown unknowns. Jake also describes his journey into palaeontology and how the pieces fit together between Australia, South America, Antarctica and Asia.

Do you know what to do if you find a fossil or First Nations artifact? Sally Hurst made it her business to find out as part of her Masters study at Macquarie University. We talk about the Found a Fossil project, Sally's journey to palaeontology, and her outreach work with school children.

More info:

• Found a Fossil website https://www.foundafossil.com/

From a dino-themed wedding to running the world’s biggest dinosaur podcast, it’s Garret from I Know Dino! Garret joins Fossils and Fiction to chat about the lessons he and Sabrina have learned while covering new dinosaur discoveries every week for the past decade. 

Dinotherium, diprotodon, mastodon and more! Dr Chris Manias discusses his book The Age of Mammals: Nature, Development and Paleontology in the Long Nineteenth Century. Chris is Senior Lecturer in the History of Science & Technology at Kings College London.

Books mentioned:

I've been writing, thinking, and talking about Jurassic Park *a lot* lately. It's time to wrap all that work up into something listenable for Fossils and Fiction.

___

Articles/interviews mentioned:

If there's one thing that will spark an interest in palaeontology, it might just be finding 450 million-year-old fossil as a child. That's exactly what happened to Dr Nic Campione. Nic is originally from Canada but is now a Senior Lecturer in Earth Sciences (Palaeontology) at the University of New England in Australia. Nic tells the story of his childhood fossil find and talks about his approach to teaching troublesome palaeontology students like your host, Dr Travis Holland.

__

Packed with emotion and pulling the nostalgia heartstrings, how does The Land Before Time (1988) hold up today? Clemson University English Lecturer Peter Cullen Bryan takes us through the links between Don Bluth's classic film and other palaeomedia.

_______________

Multi-talented entertainer and science communicator Michael Mills is the feature guest on the first episode of Fossils and Fiction for 2023. Michael is the creative director of Heaps Good Productions and 'Vice-Chancellor' of Dinosaur University. Michael has a podcast, PalaeoJam, and a show playing at the Adelaide Fringe Festival about foundational palaeontologist Mary Anning. We cover all of these in our conversation.

This episode also features a song called 'These Curious Things'. Words and music by Michael Mills, featuring Gemma Dandie on lead vocals with Professor Flint and Michael singing harmonies.

This episode of Fossils and Fiction features two Australian PhD candidates talking about papers they've recently published. Isaac Kerr from Flinders University discusses his paper reporting the discovery of a new ancient kangaroo in Papua New Guinea while Adele Pentland from Swinburne discusses her recent work on the pterosaur Ferrodraco lentoni. 

Mosasaurs, ichythyosaurs, and plesiosaurs galore! Em Blamey is the Creative Producer at the Australian National Maritime Museum. The Museum currently has an exhibition entitled 'Sea Monsters'. Em describes the specimens included and the stories told about these magnificent oceanic creatures.  

'Sea Monsters' is open on the following schedule:  

• Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney, 25 June 2022 to 14 August 2022; 
• Newcastle Regional Museum, September 2022 to February 2023; 
• Western Australian Maritime Museum, April to July 2023; 
• Museum of North Queensland, Townsville, September 2023 to February 2024. 

Tom Jurassic spills his thoughts on Dominion and being a fan creator in the Jurassic community. We dive deep into the biggest topics from the film, including [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]. This episode contains detailed spoilers from Dominion. 

This episode features a chat about Sue the T. rex, Jurassic Park, Dr Who, dinosaur fandom, media tourism and more with Dr Ross Garner, Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University.

This brief episode of Fossils and Fiction is a review of the Apple TV+ series 'Prehistoric Planet', narrated by David Attenborough and produced by Jon Favreau. 

Dr Adam Yates is the Senior Curator of Earth Sciences at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. He joins Fossils and Fiction for a discussion about the history of megafauna, dinosaurs, and other creatures of the Australian continent. We focus on the Alcoota Fossil Beds, crocodiles, geologic change, and Antarctica. 

Penny Packham is the Museum Coordinator for the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum in Bathurst, NSW. Penny talks to Fossils and Fiction about the Museum's extraordinary collection and their new kids' exhibition, the Dino-Store. This episode features the voices of children interacting with animatronic dinosaurs, discussions about tourism during COVID, and a magnificent Tyrannosaurus specimen. 

Trish Sloan is the Collection Manager at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Natural History Museum in Winton, Queensland. Trish joins Fossils and Fiction to talk about engaging with her community, developing the Museum’s collection, and offering visitor-focused experiences.

Boria Sax is an author and Adjunct Professor at Mercy College whose work focuses on the relationship between humans and the natural world. He joins Fossils and Fiction for a discussion about his book Dinomania: Why we love, fear, and are utterly enchanted by dinosaurs.

Resources referenced in this episode: