Podcast appearances and mentions of michael benton

There have been five Mass Extinctions in Earth's history and right now, we might be in the middle of a sixth. Paleontologist Dr. Michael Benton studies Mass Extinction events. We talk the history of mass extinctions, what causes mass extinction and if humans will survive the next one. Then, we countdown a special “touchy” Top 5. Dr. Michael Benton: 01:24 Pointless: 35:40 Top 5: 55:28 Contact the Show Extinctions: How Life Survives, Adapts and Evolves Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blue whales are genetically healthy but are breeding with fin whales, study suggests (1:03) Researchers have sequenced the genome of a blue whale that washed up in Newfoundland in 2014, and used it to do a comparative study of North Atlantic blue whales. A team led by Mark Engstrom, curator emeritus at the Royal Ontario Museum found that despite their small population, the whales are genetically diverse and connected across the north Atlantic, but that on average blue whales from this group are, genetically, about 3.5 per cent fin whale. The work was published in the journal Conservation Genetics. Sea otters' ravenous appetite for crabs is reshaping a California coastal marshland (10:10) The return of sea otters to salt-marshes on the California coast has halted the erosion of the marshes that occurred in their absence. Without otters, crabs quickly overpopulated and made the area look like “Swiss cheese” by burrowing into the marsh sediments and eating the vegetation's root system. Brent Hughes from Sonoma State University said their study demonstrates the importance of predators in maintaining the integrity of these vulnerable salt-marshes to boost climate change resiliency along the coast. What will become of our solar system as our sun evolves into a white dwarf star? (19:03) Over many billions of years our sun, and stars of similar size, will first swell into a red giant star, and then contract into a small, dense white dwarf star. A new study using the James Webb Space Telescope has surveyed nearby white dwarf star systems to understand the fate of their planets, and astronomer Susan Mullally says this can help predict our planet's fate as well. Permafrost has shaped Arctic rivers — and as it melts much will change (27:23) A satellite survey of the frozen north has demonstrated how much permafrost has shaped the landscape, by limiting the number of rivers that can carve into the frozen land. Geoscientist Joanmarie Del Vecchio warns that as permafrost melts, the waters will find many more paths, and this could unleash carbon equal to the annual emissions of 35 million cars for every degree of warming. The research was published in the journal PNAS. Understanding the evolution of what came first, the chicken or the egg (35:44) While the marine ancestors of all terrestrial vertebrates laid eggs in the water, scientists long thought that the first terrestrial animals must have been laying eggs to conquer life on land. In an attempt to untangle this mystery, scientists compared extinct and living animals to trace how far back in their evolution the first egg-layers appeared. Michael Benton, from the University of Bristol, said their study didn't discern if the first land animals were laying soft-shelled eggs or giving birth to live young, but hard-shelled eggs like modern bird eggs came much later. In the Australian Alps, egg-laying lizards from the valleys breed with live-birth bearing lizards from higher up in the mountain to create hybrids with traits across the whole spectrum in between. Katherine Elmer, from the University of Glasgow, described her study of this population that allowed them to identify the genetic differences between laying eggs and giving birth to live young.

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Terminator 2: Judgement Day is one of the greatest science fiction movies ever made. Michael Benton and Alejandro Espinoza are HUGE FANS. In this second (and final) episode we will be discussing the threats posed by artificial intelligence. They will discuss Skynet, the development of the computer, and will be interviewing Professor Michael C. Horowitz, professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania. See you next week at our new day of the week: Wednesday! Support the show

This episode discusses the alleged timeline of Prophet Adam (a) and various pieces of evidence including evidence in the fossil record, the Qur'an, and hadith. There are two plausible timelines for where to place Adam in history and the first is that is he existed more than 200,000 years ago and was the first of the Homo sapiens species. The second, and arguably more like possibility is that he existed 10-12,000 years ago. While exploring lines of evidence for human evolution, we will focus on explanations for the fossil record, and both scriptural and anthropological evidence that may help us navigate these two possibilities. References: Qur'anic References: Q.5:27-31 “What is a fossil?” , Idaho Museum of Natural History, accessed February 20, 2015, http://imnh.isu.edu/digitalatlas/geo/basics/fossil.htm Peppe, D. J. & Deino, A. L. (2013) Dating Rocks and Fossils Using Geologic Methods. Nature Education Knowledge 4(10):1 http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/dating-rocks-and-fossils-using-geologic-methods-107924044 Michael Benton, “Accuracy of Fossils and Dating Methods” Actionbioscience, modified January 2001, http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/benton.html. Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, “Human Evolution Timeline Interactive,” The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program, March 2010, http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-evolution-timeline-interactive. Thomas Sutikna et al., “Revised Stratigraphy and Chronology for Homo Floresiensis at Liang Bua in Indonesia,” Nature 532, no. 7599 (April 1, 2016): 366–369, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17179. Fahu Chen et al., “A Late Middle Pleistocene Denisovan Mandible from the Tibetan Plateau,” Nature 569, no. 7756 (May 2019): 409–12, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1139-x. Ker Than, “Oldest Burial Yields DNA Evidence of First Americans,” National Geographic, modified February 12, 2014, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/02/140212-anzik-skeleton-dna-montana-clovis-culture-first-americans/ Ayātullah Jawādī ʼĀmulī, Ṣūrat va Sīrat ʼInsān Dar Qur'an, accessed February 20, 2015, http://malakooti313.tebyan.net/post/7, 25-31. “Qafzeh: Oldest Intentional Burial” Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, accessed February 20, 2015, http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/behavior/qafzeh-oldest-intentional-burial. Rizwan Arastu, God's Emissaries: Adam to Jesus, (Dearborn: IMAM, 2014). “The Development of Agriculture” The Genographic Project: National Geographic, accessed February 20, 2015, https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/development-of-agriculture/. Simone Riehl, Mohsen Zeidi and Nicholas J. Conard “Emergence of Agriculture in the Foothills of the Zagros Mountains of Iran,” Science (5 July 2013, vol.341, NO. 61451, P.65-67), http://www.sciencemag.org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/content/341/6141/65.full “The Neolithic Revolution” Khan Academy, accessed February 20, 2015, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/prehistoric-art/neolithic-art/a/the-neolithic-revolution.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day is one of the greatest science fiction movies ever made. Michael Benton and Alejandro Espinoza are HUGE FANS. This two part miniseries is them dissecting two major themes from the film: the threat of artificial intelligence and today's subject... NUCLEAR ANNIHILATION.They will discuss the famous nuclear blast nightmare sequence from T2, the development of the Big Ol' Bomb, and what the future may look like. They will also be discussing the mechanics and realism of the film's depiction of a nuclear blast with Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, professor at Middlebury Institute and an expert in nuclear weapons, as well as working for a world with as few nuclear weapons as possible.Support the show

For links to every news story, all of the details we shared about Hateg Island, links from Michael Benton, and our fun fact check out https://iknowdino.com/Hateg Island-Episode-400/Join us at www.patreon.com/iknowdino for dinosaur requests, bonus content, ad-free episodes, and more.Dinosaur of the day Hateg Island, a Late Cretaceous island that included some tiny dinosaurs and at least one enormous pterosaur.Interview with Michael Benton, paleontologist and professor of vertebrate paleontology in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. He has written over 400 scientific papers and more than 50 books, about a wide range of topics, including animals in the Triassic, extinction events, and the Hateg Basin. His most recent books are “The Dinosaurs Rediscovered" and "Dinosaurs, New visions of a lost world"See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Meet Robiar Smith, the owner or R.B. Pest Solutions. The fastest growing pest control company owned by a woman in the Midwest! Pest control has allowed her to return home to her grassroots and it's her calling. She feels like her career and now having her own business has brought her full circle and she is fulfilling her destiny! She received her education and joined corporate America with one purpose in mind, but in reality, she was being prepared to run her own multi-billion dollar company. In a male-dominated field, she is trailblazing her way to the top, servicing her community and educating them along the way. She didn't choose Pest Control. Pest Control choose her! Anyone who talks to her can see the passion she has for this industry and the love she has for her family. The letter "B" in the name R.B. Pest Solutions is in honor of her father, Michael Benton. Since her parents, Michael and Dolores, didn't have any sons, it is important for Robiar to carry on her father's legacy with this company. His work ethic and business strategies will not go in vain. Generations to come will know about the man who taught her so much! He's the best teacher a woman could ask for. Dolores, Robiar's mother, introduced her father to extermination. In return, he showed his daughter, a little black girl from the south side of Chicago, the true meaning of entrepreneurship. She learned to create her own lane and live her dreams while fulfilling her other responsibilities. R.B. Pest Solutions is a locally owned business that services commercial and residential properties helping them get rid of bedbugs, termites, rodents, and general pests. You got Pests! We'll take care of the rest. R.B. Pest Solutions. 8243 S Cottage Grove, Chicago, IL 312-217-9605 All social media platforms @r.b.pestsolurions --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gofishvillage/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gofishvillage/support

Michael Benton, Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the University of Bristol and author of Dinosaurs: New Visions of a Lost World joined Sean on the show... Listen and subscribe to Moncrieff on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify.    Download, listen and subscribe on the Newstalk App.     You can also listen to Newstalk live on newstalk.com or on Alexa, by adding the Newstalk skill and asking: 'Alexa, play Newstalk'.

This week on the show Michael Benton and I celebrate the life and career of Director Richard Donner who passed away last Monday.  Slasher Movie Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/slasher-movie-podcast-now/id1447708090 Twitter Handles: @Moviekale @theyouthcritic @kHznetwork @SlasherMoviePod 

An Interview of Michael Benton, the Founder, Managing Director, and Principal Consultant with VyClimb Consulting, LLC. Mike started VyClimb Consulting, LLC in 2015 and had previously worked at Air Methods and Med-Trans Corporation as an Air Medical Line Pilot, National Relief Pilot, Aviation Compliance Manager, Check Airman, and Regional Aviation Manager. He served in the United States Army from 1993 to 2008 as a Standardization Instructor Pilot, and Instrument Flight Examiner.Mike’s consulting has taken him world-wide on a number of projects. He holds a Bachelor’s and Masters from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and an MBA from Colorado State University.

On this inaugural episode of Slasher Movie Podcast Now, director Michael Benton and indie pro-wrestler Phillip Shadburn break down the classic slasher flick FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH. Topics covered: Kevin Bacon's neck-related death Tom Savini's gore effects Harry Manfredini's iconic score The KILLER CAM movie pitch with special guest Alejandro Espinoza  What Local Film Critic Kale Smith thinksFor more examples of Alejandro Espinoza's artwork, visit his FB page: https://www.facebook.com/AespinozaArt/Check out Kale Smith's new film podcast, In Movies We Grow: https://anchor.fm/kale69 Rate & Review us on Apple Podcasts for a Special Slasher Shoutout at the end of the show! See ya next Monday for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/slasher-movie-podcast-now/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/slasher-movie-podcast-now/supportSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/pmtm)

Michael Benton looks at the potential effects of climate change on mass extinction. Rich scientific evidence comes from the history of life on Earth -- we just have to ask the right questions to find it. This talk was filmed at TEDxThessaloniki. All TEDx events are organized independently by volunteers in the spirit of TED's mission of ideas worth spreading. To learn more about TEDxSHORTS, the TEDx program, or give feedback on this episode, please visit http://go.ted.com/tedxshorts. Follow TEDx on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TEDx Follow TEDx on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tedx_official Like TEDx on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TEDxEvents

The Dead Speak! The Youth Critic makes a sudden and unexpected return to the podcast after a long absence. He's joined by The PMS crew Phillip Shadburn and Michael Benton for the first part of this 4-part epic saga about Jellicle cats and Palpatine spawns.    Twitter Handles: @Moviekale @theyouthcritic @kHznetwork  PMS: An Action Movie Podcast: https://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/bfeyr-7ef39/PMS-An-Action-Movie-Podcast

The history of cinema is littered with films that have nostalgia for a simpler time in the writer or director’s life. Often they’re done with quite a bit of distance which creates a sense of wistfulness.   Then there’s Dogs In Space.   Welcome to Episode 56 of See Hear Podcast.   This month our beloved Tim was relocating to Toronto after many years in Seoul, so he took the month off from gasbagging about movies while settling in. Bernard and I settle in the second of our requests for the year. Michael Benton, film studies lectuter at Kentucky College requested we tackle the 1986 film from Richard Lowenstein Dogs In Space based on Lowensein's recolletions of the wild and fun times living in a share household in the inner suburb of Richmond in Melbourne. The house is populated with punks, hippies, a lothario quoting socialism, and the worst sounding punk band around. The film is less of a narrative and more a slice of life. Unlike other films devoted to nostalgia (like American Graffitti), Dogs is set in the very recent past from the time Lowenstein filmed it. He was able to freshly recount the exciting times he'd had, while looking at the very point where the fun stopped and the parties ended. The film came under fire for focusing more on the fun and hedonism of his youth and less on the tragedy of heroin use. RL said it was his youth to document s he saw fit....and the heroin use is not painted lightly.   Bernard and myself discuss the punk scene of the day, Melbourne punk venues, Nick Cave, Michael Hutchence, rocker versus art school rivalries, and lambs as pets. We hope you enjoy the discussion.   NOTE: I realised later on that every time I mention the name Sam Sejavka (the real life singer of The Ears, who Michael Hutchence's character is based on), I say "Sevajka". My apologies for my tardiness. Please don't start a flame war on this.   You can download the show by searching for See Hear podcast on iTunes or download from http://seehear.podbean.com   If you dig what we do, could you please rate us at iTunes or even better, spread the word that the show exists on social media or at your next barbecue, gig, or marathon run so more folks can tune in.   Please join our friendly Facebook group at  http://www.facebook.com/groups/seehearpodcast   You can send us emails at seehearpodcast@gmail.com to suggest films you'd like us to discuss, give us your thoughts on what we do or anything else music-film related.  

Since the 1980s, Gerta Keller, professor of paleontology and geology at Princeton, has been speaking out against an idea most of us take as scientific gospel: That a giant rock from space killed the dinosaurs. Nice story, she says—but it’s just not true. Gerta's been shouted down and ostracized at conferences, but in three decades, she hasn’t backed down. And now, things might finally be coming around for Gerta’s theory. But is she right? Did something else kill the dinosaurs? Or is she just too proud to admit she’s been wrong for 30 years?   GUESTS Gerta Keller, professor of paleontology and geology at Princeton James Powell, geologist and author of Night Comes to the Cretaceous: Dinosaur Extinction and the Transformation of Modern Geology (St. Martin's Press)   FOOTNOTES Michael Benton reviews the many, sometimes hilarious explanations for the (non-avian) dinosaurs’ extinction. Note: Ideas marked with asterisks were jokes! More in Benton’s book. Walter Alvarez tells his own story of the impact hypothesis in T. Rex and the Crater of Doom. The New York Times interviews Luis Alvarez before he dies, and he takes some parting shots at his scientific opponents. The impact and the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary were simultaneous according to this paper. Learn more about how volcanoes are major suspects in mass extinctions. Read more about Gerta Keller, the holdout.   CREDITS This episode of Undiscovered was reported and produced by Elah Feder and Annie Minoff. Our senior editor is Christopher Intagliata. Original music by Daniel Peterschmidt. Fact-checking help from Robin Palmer. Lucy Huang polled visitors to AMNH about what killed the dinosaurs. Our theme music is by I Am Robot And Proud. Excerpts from All Things Considered used with permission from NPR.  

Since the 1980s, Gerta Keller, professor of paleontology and geology at Princeton, has been speaking out against an idea most of us take as scientific gospel: That a giant rock from space killed the dinosaurs. Nice story, she says—but it’s just not true. Gerta's been shouted down and ostracized at conferences, but in three decades, she hasn’t backed down. And now, things might finally be coming around for Gerta’s theory. But is she right? Did something else kill the dinosaurs? Or is she just too proud to admit she’s been wrong for 30 years?   GUESTS Gerta Keller, professor of paleontology and geology at Princeton James Powell, geologist and author of Night Comes to the Cretaceous: Dinosaur Extinction and the Transformation of Modern Geology (St. Martin's Press)   FOOTNOTES Michael Benton reviews the many, sometimes hilarious explanations for the (non-avian) dinosaurs’ extinction. Note: Ideas marked with asterisks were jokes! More in Benton’s book. Walter Alvarez tells his own story of the impact hypothesis in T. Rex and the Crater of Doom. The New York Times interviews Luis Alvarez before he dies, and he takes some parting shots at his scientific opponents. The impact and the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary were simultaneous according to this paper. Learn more about how volcanoes are major suspects in mass extinctions. Read more about Gerta Keller, the holdout.   CREDITS This episode of Undiscovered was reported and produced by Elah Feder and Annie Minoff. Our senior editor is Christopher Intagliata. Original music by Daniel Peterschmidt. Fact-checking help from Robin Palmer. Lucy Huang polled visitors to AMNH about what killed the dinosaurs. Our theme music is by I Am Robot And Proud. Excerpts from All Things Considered used with permission from NPR.  

The paleontologist Michael Benton describes a mass extinction event as a time when “vast swaths of the tree of life are cut short, as if by crazed, axe wielding madmen.” Elizabeth Kolbert‘s new book, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History (Henry Holt, 2014), explores the five major mass extinction events that have occurred on the Earth over the last half billion years. Kolbert contrasts these Big Five, as they are known, to the sixth mass extinction event, which we are in the midst of today. This time, instead of a massive asteroid or a sudden glaciation event, humans are the culprit. Travelling with different scientists to remote ecosystems around the world, Kolbert sees evidence of the many ways humans are altering the planet – through climate change, ocean acidification, and the spread of invasive species. By the end of the century, scientists predict we will lose 20 to 50% of all living species. Kolbert also places this current extinction event in the context of human history: although the rate at which we are driving species extinct has reached an unprecedented pace, humans have been responsible for causing species loss for tens of thousands of years. As Kolbert comments, “We’ve been at this project for a very long time.” Her book also addresses the paradoxical relationship that humans have with the species we share the planet with, especially the large and charismatic megafauna. Kolbert contrasts our remarkable proclivity to kill off species with some touching examples of the inexplicable lengths we will go to save a species from extinction. Elizabeth Kolbert has been a staff writer with The New Yorker since 1999. She is also the author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The paleontologist Michael Benton describes a mass extinction event as a time when “vast swaths of the tree of life are cut short, as if by crazed, axe wielding madmen.” Elizabeth Kolbert‘s new book, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History (Henry Holt, 2014), explores the five major mass extinction events that have occurred on the Earth over the last half billion years. Kolbert contrasts these Big Five, as they are known, to the sixth mass extinction event, which we are in the midst of today. This time, instead of a massive asteroid or a sudden glaciation event, humans are the culprit. Travelling with different scientists to remote ecosystems around the world, Kolbert sees evidence of the many ways humans are altering the planet – through climate change, ocean acidification, and the spread of invasive species. By the end of the century, scientists predict we will lose 20 to 50% of all living species. Kolbert also places this current extinction event in the context of human history: although the rate at which we are driving species extinct has reached an unprecedented pace, humans have been responsible for causing species loss for tens of thousands of years. As Kolbert comments, “We’ve been at this project for a very long time.” Her book also addresses the paradoxical relationship that humans have with the species we share the planet with, especially the large and charismatic megafauna. Kolbert contrasts our remarkable proclivity to kill off species with some touching examples of the inexplicable lengths we will go to save a species from extinction. Elizabeth Kolbert has been a staff writer with The New Yorker since 1999. She is also the author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The paleontologist Michael Benton describes a mass extinction event as a time when “vast swaths of the tree of life are cut short, as if by crazed, axe wielding madmen.” Elizabeth Kolbert‘s new book, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History (Henry Holt, 2014), explores the five major mass extinction events that have occurred on the Earth over the last half billion years. Kolbert contrasts these Big Five, as they are known, to the sixth mass extinction event, which we are in the midst of today. This time, instead of a massive asteroid or a sudden glaciation event, humans are the culprit. Travelling with different scientists to remote ecosystems around the world, Kolbert sees evidence of the many ways humans are altering the planet – through climate change, ocean acidification, and the spread of invasive species. By the end of the century, scientists predict we will lose 20 to 50% of all living species. Kolbert also places this current extinction event in the context of human history: although the rate at which we are driving species extinct has reached an unprecedented pace, humans have been responsible for causing species loss for tens of thousands of years. As Kolbert comments, “We’ve been at this project for a very long time.” Her book also addresses the paradoxical relationship that humans have with the species we share the planet with, especially the large and charismatic megafauna. Kolbert contrasts our remarkable proclivity to kill off species with some touching examples of the inexplicable lengths we will go to save a species from extinction. Elizabeth Kolbert has been a staff writer with The New Yorker since 1999. She is also the author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The paleontologist Michael Benton describes a mass extinction event as a time when “vast swaths of the tree of life are cut short, as if by crazed, axe wielding madmen.” Elizabeth Kolbert‘s new book, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History (Henry Holt, 2014), explores the five major mass extinction events that have occurred on the Earth over the last half billion years. Kolbert contrasts these Big Five, as they are known, to the sixth mass extinction event, which we are in the midst of today. This time, instead of a massive asteroid or a sudden glaciation event, humans are the culprit. Travelling with different scientists to remote ecosystems around the world, Kolbert sees evidence of the many ways humans are altering the planet – through climate change, ocean acidification, and the spread of invasive species. By the end of the century, scientists predict we will lose 20 to 50% of all living species. Kolbert also places this current extinction event in the context of human history: although the rate at which we are driving species extinct has reached an unprecedented pace, humans have been responsible for causing species loss for tens of thousands of years. As Kolbert comments, “We’ve been at this project for a very long time.” Her book also addresses the paradoxical relationship that humans have with the species we share the planet with, especially the large and charismatic megafauna. Kolbert contrasts our remarkable proclivity to kill off species with some touching examples of the inexplicable lengths we will go to save a species from extinction. Elizabeth Kolbert has been a staff writer with The New Yorker since 1999. She is also the author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The paleontologist Michael Benton describes a mass extinction event as a time when “vast swaths of the tree of life are cut short, as if by crazed, axe wielding madmen.” Elizabeth Kolbert‘s new book, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History (Henry Holt, 2014), explores the five major mass extinction events that have occurred on the Earth over the last half billion years. Kolbert contrasts these Big Five, as they are known, to the sixth mass extinction event, which we are in the midst of today. This time, instead of a massive asteroid or a sudden glaciation event, humans are the culprit. Travelling with different scientists to remote ecosystems around the world, Kolbert sees evidence of the many ways humans are altering the planet – through climate change, ocean acidification, and the spread of invasive species. By the end of the century, scientists predict we will lose 20 to 50% of all living species. Kolbert also places this current extinction event in the context of human history: although the rate at which we are driving species extinct has reached an unprecedented pace, humans have been responsible for causing species loss for tens of thousands of years. As Kolbert comments, “We’ve been at this project for a very long time.” Her book also addresses the paradoxical relationship that humans have with the species we share the planet with, especially the large and charismatic megafauna. Kolbert contrasts our remarkable proclivity to kill off species with some touching examples of the inexplicable lengths we will go to save a species from extinction. Elizabeth Kolbert has been a staff writer with The New Yorker since 1999. She is also the author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices