Palaeo Jam

Tens of thousands of years ago, in and around what is known as Lake Callabonna, in outback South Australia, all manner of now extinct Australian animals dwelt. But whether they walked, or slithered, or crawled, or hopped,  or flew, or swam in that place, it was soon to become what has been described in an ABC Australia documentary series as the “Lake of the Dead”.

In this episode of Palaeo Jam we travel back in time with host Mic...

In 1990, Mike Cleland was fossicking around a coastal region of the state of Victoria in Australia, when he came across a fossil discovery that was to change his life. The fossil he discovered was to become known as Koolasuchus cleelandi, and in 2022, Koolasuchus to became the state’s official fossil emblem, following a public vote.

In this episode of Palaeo Jam, host Michael Mills chats with Mike, and Lesley Kool, after whom the...

What happens when two people who create palaeontology podcasts get together for a chat? Tune in to find out!

In this episode of Palaeo Jam, host Michael Mills chats with vertebrate Palaeontologist and expert in Australian pterosaurs Adele Pentland of the “Pals in Palaeo” podcast about Australian pterosaurs, about each of their podcasts, and about science heroes.

Along the way we get an insight into where Australian pterosaurs f...

May 7th has come to be known as Australia’s National Dinosaur Day! A day in which Australians are being asked to celebrate the remarkable dinosaurs that once walked where we now walk. Or as we like to call them, the Dinosaurs Down Under!

What is the significance of May 7th? And how did this date, in particular, become the day now known as Australia’s National Dinosaur Day?

Phil Hore has worked in a lot of cool places, including...

We’re back for Season 3, and we begin in the palaeo lab at Flinders University!

We’re delighted that in this first episode of the new season, Palaeo Jam host Michael Mills chats with Dr Isaac Kerr about a remarkable research paper, just published, that seeks to more clearly define what is and what isn’t a Protemnodon… AKA a giant, prehistoric kangaroo!

During the course of the conversation, we hear from Isaac about the features tha...

There’s something quite delightful about seeing the skeleton of a prehistoric animal move in a way that it might have moved when the bones were covered in flesh, and the animal was alive. Jack O Conner is a PhD candidate at Monash University, and that’s exactly what he's doing at the Evans EvoMorph Lab.

In this episode of Palaeo Jam, host Michael Mills chats with Jack about how he came to be doing what he does, explores the proce...

Australia is currently home to 17 species of hawks and eagles. Tens of thousands of years ago, however, there were more. What were they like? What happened to them? And what can we learn about past ecosystems and the extinction that wiped out the Australian mega-fauna, in studying such prehistoric birds?

In this episode of Palaeo Jam, host Michael Mills chats with Dr Ellen Mather, Adjunct Associate lecturer at Flinders University...

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 ...

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 b...

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...

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 rat...

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, reco...

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 “diggin...

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...

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...

In a special edition of Palaeo Jam, recorded LIVE at the Western Australian Museum Boola Bardip, guest host Professor Flint chats with some of his Western Australian palaeo pals, about their favourite fossils, their best moments in the field, and a broad range of other palaeo-themed topics.

In a chat amongst friends, we hear about the group’s favourite fossils that include a giant skink, a tree kangaroo on the Nullarbor Plain, an...

World renowned geologist, Professor Walter Alvarez once noted that…

“Rocks are the key to Earth history, because solids remember but liquids and gases forget.”

In this episode of Palaeo Jam, host Michael Mills chats with Professor Tom Raimondo about how learning about our local geology can help us better connect to where we live. Of how rocks are places where stories from the past are etched, and that by learning to read the rock...

The Virtual Museum of Australian Palaeontology, or VAMP, as it is known, was launched several months ago to much acclaim. So, what is it, why does it matter, and how has it been going?

In another episode recorded live during the Palaeo Jam National Science Week tour, we discuss why in an age of of misinformation, it is important that researchers and the public have access to information, and why projects such as VAMP are a great ...

Before there were dinosaurs, Queensland, Australia was home to a fascinating array of reptiles, amphibians, and the ancestors of mammals. And then, 252 million years ago, just about everything on Earth died! So let’s talk who survived, and why!

In an episode supported by National Science Week, host Michael Mills is joined by Dr Espen Knutsen, Senior Curator of Palaeontology at the Museum of Tropical Queensland, and James Cook Unive...