Lectures @ the Linenhall Library
Wednesdays @ 1.00 pm. Free.
Fossils Tamed!
by Dr Mike simms, Curator of Palaeontology
An easy and painless introduction to the astonishing world revealed by fossils and the rocks in which they are found. You don't need prior knowledge of the subject, but you may be surprised by how much is already familiar.
5 November
How to become a fossil
They may be common in some rocks, but on average you have more chance of winning the lottery than becoming a fossil!
The Tooth Fairy's secret hoard - why your teeth may long outlast you.
Footprints can be fossils, too - traces of unknown animals.
12 November
Bringing fossils back to life
How architects, engineers, biologists and genealogists all have a role to play.
Colours in an ancient world.
Unravelling fossil behaviour.
19 November
Life's comings and goings: evolution and extinction
The vastness of time.
How Peter Pan, Mickey Mouse and the Giant Irish Deer can help us to understand evolution.
Extinctions large and small, what causes them, and the problems of Lazarus and Elvis.
How evolution helps us to tell the time.
26 November
The message in the mud: what the rocks can tell us
Secrets revealed by colour, texture and fabric.
Tales told by sand grains and pebbles.
Flattened fossils, Midas and Medusa.
Shaking, stirring and smothering - some ancient hazards.
3 December
The weird and the wonderful
Some fossil weirdos and the story of Hallucigenia.
Strange fossil names.
Crinoid arms, banana plantations and living on the edge of disaster.
Instant fossilisation.
Corals as calendars.
Fur, feathers and fakes.
10 December
Ireland's fossil highlights
Ireland's (and the world's!) oldest footprints.
The first trees.
'Cabbage stalks' and tropical sea floors.
Ulster's oldest rudist colony.
Marvels from the Minnis mudflow.