TLS10E12 End of Year Megasode!

Terrible Lizards

40:22

There’s only so much you can do in a week – or, according to Oliver Burkeman, in the roughly 4,000 weeks the average human lives. Oliver is a journalist and author of the books Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, Meditations for Mortals, and the newsletter “The Imperfectionist.” Chris and Oliver discuss the paradox of why change can only occur once we accept that we might not be able to change. Oliver also shares how life’s mishaps can become our most treasured memories and why sharing your imperfections is an act of generosity. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts For a chance to give your own TED Talk, fill out the Idea Search Application: ted.com/ideasearch . Interested in learning more about upcoming TED events? Follow these links: TEDNext: ted.com/futureyou Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

about a year ago 53:02

MP3•Episode home

Thanks to Kyle, Tom, Ashley, Aurous, Wayne, Paleo Pete, Tyler, Will, Israel, Charles, James and Edward

Support us on patreon.com/terriblelizards and be rewarded with extra content!

We are planning on going live on isztube at 16:00 GMT on Friday 26th December. (Time may change)

108 episodes

Terrible Lizards

TLS10E12 End of Year Megasode!

Terrible Lizards

214 subscribers

published about a year ago

MP3•Episode home

Thanks to Kyle, Tom, Ashley, Aurous, Wayne, Paleo Pete, Tyler, Will, Israel, Charles, James and Edward

Support us on patreon.com/terriblelizards and be rewarded with extra content!

We are planning on going live on isztube at 16:00 GMT on Friday 26th December. (Time may change)

108 episodes

All episodes

Terrible Lizards

1
TLS11E07 Flappy Flap Bum Flaps 54:06

7 days ago54:06

54:06

Pterosaur soft tissues It’s a double new paper episode this time as thanks to the magic of almost random review and publication times, Dave has two papers out on the same subject in the same month! So strap in for some absolute minutiae on pterosaur hands, feet, scales, and the oddly overlooked wing membrane that sits between their legs. Pterosaurs in general are not very common fossils and so it should be no surprise that we don’t have a great many examples of their soft tissues, from skin, to beaks and claws and other bits. So, having new examples, and synthesising the limited information we have, is really important for building an understanding of these incredible animals. It’s deep dive time. A link to Dave’s blogpost on the new hand and foot scale papers: https://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2025/06/10/new-data-on-pterosaurian-soft-tissues/ A link to a very old blogpost about pterosaur soft tissues generally: https://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2008/07/25/pterosaur-soft-tissues/ Iszi'a new book - featuring a pterosaur and perfect for 6-9 year olds is out on 28th August in the UK: https://amzn.eu/d/9kFiniD (message her on iszi.com if you want international posting).…

Terrible Lizards

1
TLS11E06 LIVE AT FOSSIL FESTIVAL 1:07:50

6 weeks ago1:07:50

1:07:50

June, rather incredibly, marks the fifth anniversary of the launch of series 1, episode 1 of the podcast. As a rather fortuitous bit of timing, we were invited to host a live Terrible Lizards event at Lyme Regis (home of Mary Anning) for their Fossil Festival. We could hardly say ‘no’, so here is a recording of that hour long session where we fielded a ton of questions from the audience (that was overflowing out of the room!) and even included a few professional palaeontologists in the audience to put a bit more pressure on Dave’s answers. A good time was apparently had by all, maybe this will happen again next year? A link to the Fossil Festival website. Stay tuned for next year’s details: https://fossilfestival.com/ For extra content go to patreon.com/terriblelizards…

Terrible Lizards

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TLS11E05 Curating Dinosaurs II Curate Harder 59:01

10 weeks ago59:01

59:01

Curating Dinosaurs II Curate Harder! On this episode we welcome Jordan Mallon, a long-time collaborator of Dave’s and, against the odds, a long-time listener of Terrible Lizards. While we talk about Jordan’s research and career in this pod, and his work on dinosaur sizes and ecology, this one also serves as something of a sequel to our previous episode. That’s because he is also the curator of the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, the national natural history museum of Canada. It’s a much more typical collection than the one we talked about last time out, so join us to learn more about how museum’s work, the importance of the behind-the-scenes jobs that people do, and Links: Support us and get extra content: https://www.patreon.com/terriblelizards A short interview Jordan did with Dave years ago: https://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2017/03/06/buried-treasure-jordan-mallon/ A blogpost by Dave on his paper with Jordan on giant T. rex . https://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2024/07/24/on-the-trail-of-giant-tyrannosaurus-rex/ Jordan’s webpage at the Canadian Museum of Nature https://nature.ca/en/our-science/science-experts/jordan-mallon/…

Terrible Lizards

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TLS11E04 Curating Dinosaurs 59:07

14 weeks ago59:07

59:07

We have talked about all manner of fundamentals of research on fossils over the years here on Terrible Lizards, including finding and excavating fossils, writing and publishing papers, reconstructing animals from fragments and more. But we’ve somehow really glossed over the role of museums that store and protect fossils and make them available for research, as well as carrying out their own work too. In order to correct this oversight, today we welcome ReBecca Hunt-Foster who is the curator on the legendary Dinosaur National Monument in Utah. Here she takes us through her background and research and the challenges of looking after one of the most famous and important dinosaur sites in the world. Links: https://www.patreon.com/terriblelizards ReBecca on Bluesky: @dinochick.bsky.social Here’s the link to the US National Parks website about Dinosaur National Monument: https://www.nps.gov/dino/index.htm An old blogpost of Dave’s about the bitten baby Diplodocus femur: https://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2018/04/22/non-tyrannosaurs-biting-like-tyrannosaurs/…

Terrible Lizards

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TLS11E03 T. rex slugfest! 54:57

19 weeks ago54:57

54:57

This time out we are joined by palaeontologist Andre Rowe to talk about his research into the skulls of giant carnivorous dinosaurs and what this means for their biology. This turns into a debate with Dave about how evidence can be interpreted in different ways and trying to piece together the often limited data we have to work out what these animals might have been doing. Though with her media-trained eye, Iszi wants to badge this as a heated fight over just how awesome Tyrannosaurus was (see previous episode for details). Andre takes us through the process of scanning skulls, restoring the bits and then testing ideas about bite force and skull strength and how the different giant theropod differed in their habits. Links: Support us on patreon and get extra content: www.patreon.com/terriblelizards Here’s an article Andre wrote on his T. rex bite research: https://theconversation.com/tyrannosaurus-rex-didnt-get-its-ferocious-bite-until-it-was-an-adult-new-research-156668 Here is Andre’s Instagram handle: @tyrannosaurrowe…

Terrible Lizards

1
TLS11E02 Dinos and Dragons 1:06:31

23 weeks ago1:06:31

1:06:31

This month’s episode is a sort of follow-up to that from the start of the year, looking at some of the more problematic areas of dinosaurs and palaeontology when it comes to online discussions. There is an online fandom of dinosaurs that treats them like monsters or superheroes, and can fixate on what is and isn’t the biggest / strongest / fastest dinosaur and who could beat up who. Joining us to discuss this is Dr Mike O’Sullivan, a palaeontologist and self-professed member of several fandoms. We talk about how this community works and what it means for scientists talking about research. Links: Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/terriblelizards Mike is part of Palaeogames, a company of professional palaeontologists making accurate books and games: https://palaeogames.com/ And here’s their latest Kickstarter, a Dungeons & Dragons companion book: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/palaeogames/professor-primulas-portfolio-of-palaeontology…

Terrible Lizards

1
TLS11E01 Say My Name 52:38

27 weeks ago52:38

52:38

Series 11, eh? We don’t think we, or anyone else reading this, expected that. Nor did we expect issues with Dave’s microphone (apologies)… Still, here we are and with more dinosaur goodness coming. We say ‘coming’ because this episode is far less about dinosaurs and pterosaurs than usual, but more about the mechanisms of science. In this case it’s really about Dave’s experiences as a science communicator and how things like this are increasingly important for science, but in the UK at least, this can be monitored and measured and so having ways to do that becomes important. And this is the central point of today’s show, a call to arms for all those who are involved in sci comms and delight in sharing new knowledge to understand why it’s important to credit your sources when new discoveries are made. Links: For extra content: patreon.com/terriblelizards If you want to know a bit more about REF in the UK, here’s the main pages for it: https://2029.ref.ac.uk/about/what-is-the-ref/ And if we’re talking communication, it seems a good time to say that Iszi and Dave are both now on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/davehone.bsky.social https://bsky.app/profile/iszi.com…

Terrible Lizards

1
TLS10E12 End of Year Megasode! 53:02

32 weeks ago53:02

53:02

Thanks to Kyle, Tom, Ashley, Aurous, Wayne, Paleo Pete, Tyler, Will, Israel, Charles, James and Edward Support us on patreon.com/terriblelizards and be rewarded with extra content! We are planning on going live on isztube at 16:00 GMT on Friday 26th December. (Time may change)

Terrible Lizards

1
TLS10E11 Skiphosoura - the pterosaur of the gaps 56:21

36 weeks ago56:21

56:21

Skiphosoura – the pterosaur of the gaps So last week Dave had a new paper out and this time it’s a new pterosaur, named Skiphosoura bavarica (the sword tail of Bavaria) and it is both really interesting and really important for pterosaur research. It tells us a lot about the key transition of pterosaurs from the early forms through to the derived pterodactyloids, which has been a major subject of research for the last 15 years. Skiphosaura also shows us that the Scottish Dearc (that we covered a couple of years back) is much more important than previously thought and helps create a fantastic series of species where we can now track a whole series of evolutionary steps for pterosaurs. This transition really is now a great example of being able to see an evolutionary change over time in the fossil record. So strap in for some overly-detailed anatomical descriptions of bits of obscure pterosaurs! Links: Support us on patreon and get extra content https://www.patreon.com/terriblelizards Here’s a link to the full paper – it’s open access so anyone can read it: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(24)01377-0 And here’s Dave’s blog post about the specimen and it’s significance: https://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2024/11/18/skiphosoura-solving-the-transition-to-pterodactyloids/ Link to the website of the Lauer Foundation: https://www.lauerfoundationpse.org/ The bonus episode we did on Dearc : https://terriblelizards.libsyn.com/tls06-bonus-jurassic-pterosaur-dearc-sgiathanach…

Terrible Lizards

1
TLS10E10 Uncovering Dinosaur Behaviour 46:54

40 weeks ago46:54

46:54

Dave has a new book out next week and it’s the culmination of several years work. Longtime listeners will know the major themes already from the episode title – a lot of stuff in the literature on dinosaur behaviour is badly framed, overstated, contradictory or contains major over extrapolations. Happily, you can listen to all of this again as Dave goes into all of this and more, what’s in the book, who it’s aimed at and what he’s trying to achieve with it. It's not out till next week, so this is a bit a of a sneak preview, even if various copies have snuck out the door and some (un?)lucky people have their hands on it already. Next month will be far less sycophantic and self publicising, honest. Support us on patreon and unlock extra content https://www.patreon.com/terriblelizards Special offer! Get 30% off Uncovering Dinosaur Behavior by Dave Hone. Use code UDB30 when you buy direct from Princeton University Press. (Postage costs will be added at point of purchase. Offer available until 31 December 2024.) https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691215914/uncovering-dinosaur-behavior…

Terrible Lizards

1
TLS10E09 Mike Benton 58:04

45 weeks ago58:04

58:04

Last month we mentioned that legendary palaeontologist Mike Benton had announced his retirement, but with a few quick emails, Dave was able to grab him for this month’s episode. So, join Dave and Iszi as we have celebration of Mike’s career and take him through his early interest in palaeontology, how he got his PhD, the death of Al Romer, rhynchosaurs, the rise of dinosaurs, mass extinctions, fieldwork in Russia, endless books, and his work on the colours of dinosaurs. It’s a whirlwind dash through an entire so strap in for the deluge of facts and fables and enjoy. And congratulations to Mike! Links: patreon.com/terriblelizards Mike’s webpage at Bristol which covers his career and achievements: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/people/person/Mike-Benton-e41eaef1-135d-40db-9b7f-e81f7d290f72/ A link to the Amazon page of (most of) Mike’s books: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Michael-Benton/s?rh=n%3A266239%2Cp_27%3AMichael+Benton…

Terrible Lizards

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TlS10E08 Sauropods couldn't lick 1:00:57

49 weeks ago1:00:57

1:00:57

We’ve made plenty of jokes over the years about the general lack of sauropod skulls and the frustrations of trying to work out what these animals were doing when it came to things like feeding when the most important bit is missing. Happily, this week we are joined by David Button who has done a ton of work in this area and is happy to chat to Dave and Iszi about how their heads and teeth were built and what this can (and can’t) tell us about their diets and habits. While we have him trapped, we also quiz him on his recent work on the behaviour of the thescelosaurs, an odd branch of dinosaurs we’ve taken till series 10 to even mention! Links: Extra content on patreon: www.patreon.com/terriblelizards And old post of Dave’s on the sauropod skeletons in Berlin, that really show off the issue of different feeding heights in these animals: https://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2013/01/27/berlin-sauropods/ David’s webpage at the University of Bristol: https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/persons/david-j-button…

Terrible Lizards

1
TLS10E07 The Megalosauroids 49:03

1 year ago49:03

49:03

The spinosaurs get all the love (OK, mostly hate) and attention when it comes to the megalosauroids, but they are but one weird branch of this group of theropods. Sadly they have a similar problem to the spinosaurs in that there are annoyingly few fossils of them, and there’s very few people working on these animals. Happily, today Iszi and Dave are joined by one of them, Cass Morrison who is doing his PhD on these unusual animals and is here to give us the lowdown on their evolution, diversity, biogeography and ecology and generally fill us in on these much under-appreciated animals. Links: For extra content go to our Patreon https://www.patreon.com/terriblelizards Apiece with Cass about his work on dinosaur brains: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/behind-the-science-cassius-morrison.html Find Cass on Twitter https://x.com/casscretaceous and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cretaceous.cass/?hl=en-gb…

Terrible Lizards

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TLS10E06 The Death of The Dinosaurs 54:48

1 year ago54:48

54:48

We have touched on the extinction that killed the dinosaurs plenty of times before over the various seasons of TL, but we have never really tackled it fully before. Finally, we are joined by a real expert on this subject, Melanie During who is in the process of finishing her PhD on this very subject. So prepare for not actually really any dinosaurs, but quite a lot of geology and geochemistry to learn how the impact was so utterly devastating and how we know. It turns out that they never stood a chance and that the damage was even worse than even Dave had realised. Links: support us on patreon and access extra content: www.patreon.com/terriblelizards A link to Melanie’s YouTube series which is on long term hiatus but full of cool videos to watch (even if it notably fails to include a certain silver-haired pterosaur and tyrannosaur researcher): https://www.youtube.com/c/GenuineRockstars/videos Here’s a link to Melanie’s press stuff for her papers but it includes some videos and graphs of that we talk about https://uppsala.app.box.com/s/ikmlwtb0vui7zn5k74jfokbhysla8ck1…

Terrible Lizards

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TLS10E05 Live Dinosaur Questions 1:03:18

1 year ago1:03:18