In this Dinosaur-sized episode, Shawn Shafner (The Puru) joins paleontologist Carl Mehling for a deep dive into fossilized dung (called “coprolites”), the scientific method, and why truth is often controlled by the storytellers. Wanna borrow a bone from the American Museum of Natural History? Carl’s your man. We’ll go behind the scenes at the museum to understand how scientists study and share prehistoric resources, get the inside scoop on how fossils are formed, and learn what they reveal about the past, present and future. You’ll also get Carl’s tips for foraging wild food, loving your bacteria, and moving through knee-jerk resistance to open the door for wisdom. So settle into your teeny-tiny corner of the ever-expanding universe, grab a shovel, and let’s get digging!
Also mentioned in this podcast:
Senior Scientific Assistant, Vertebrate Fossil Amphibians, Reptiles, and Birds, Horatio Alger, Dinos After Dark, public liaison, methodology, Annie Levy, Higgs-Boson, order, chaos, research, guts, poop, microbiome, ecosystem, germs, Jessica Richman, uBiome, Mierle Ukeles, Queens Museum, sanitation, crocodile, turtle, mastodon, 3D scan, fermentation, bacteria, fecal transplant, Clostridium dificile, C. diff, Peterson Guide to Edible Wild Plants, urine, Steve Brill, hoshigaki, Central Park, Prospect Park, Staten Island, cololite, hematite, colon, preservation, Scipionyx, La Brea tar pits, Ice Age, Doomsday Clock, b’tzelem elohim, Judaism, Zen Buddhism, Neanderthals, colonialism, hominids, bias, Leonardo da Vinci, inclusion, carnivore, herbivore, wombat, dung beetle, Tyrannosaurus Rex, T-Rex, anus, Permian, dicynodont, mammal latrine, ghost shrimp, whale, wastewater treatment, Phosphorous, Nitrogen, Triceratops, Jurassic Park, matrix, gut flora, Moa, protozoan cysts, Cretaceous, meteorite, paleobotany, petrified wood, silica, Buddha, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, poudrette, musk, ambergris, perfume, coprophage, caddis fly, eyelash mite, arthropod, parasite, commensal, symbiont, coprophis, #ResistTheEww