Podcasts about Richard Fortey

The ceasefire in Gaza is in tatters; the campaign against Hizbullah is flaring up again. Yet the most telling battles are those happening inside Israel. Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico's president, is coolly dealing with the fitful aggression of her northern neighbour (10:25). And our obituaries editor pays tribute to Richard Fortey, a fossil obsessive who spent a career telling the world about trilobites (16:50).Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The ceasefire in Gaza is in tatters; the campaign against Hizbullah is flaring up again. Yet the most telling battles are those happening inside Israel. Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico's president, is coolly dealing with the fitful aggression of her northern neighbour (10:25). And our obituaries editor pays tribute to Richard Fortey, a fossil obsessive who spent a career telling the world about trilobites (16:50).Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

The Earth is about 4.5 billion years old. How can we begin to grasp what this vast period of time really means, given that it is so far beyond the time scale of a human life, indeed of human civilization? Richard Fortey has devoted his long and prolific research career at the Natural History Museum in London to the study of fossils, especially the long-extinct marine arthropods called trilobites.  In an earlier episode of Geology Bites, he talked about measuring time with trilobites. In this episode, he describes how it was the fossils in the geological record that gave us the first markers along the runway of deep time, providing the structure and language within which our modern conception of deep time emerged.

Episode: 2496 Trilobites: Wondrous window upon the processes of evolution.  Today, the evolution of the trilobite.

Richard Fortey is a paleontologist with a passion. As a boy he went on a search for fossil trilobites. He found one and turned his interest into a career. His enthusiasm is hugely engaging.

This is an episode that first aired in 2018 and then again in the thick of the pandemic in 2020. Why? Because though Horseshoe crabs are not much to look at, beneath their unassuming catcher's-mitt shell, they harbor a half-billion-year-old secret: a superpower that helped them outlive the dinosaurs, survive all the Earth's mass extinctions, and was essential in the development of the COVID vaccines.  And what is that secret superpower? Their blood. Their baby blue blood.  And it's so miraculous that for decades, it hasn't just been saving their butts, it's been saving ours too. But that all might be about to change.   Follow us as we follow these ancient critters - from a raunchy beach orgy to a marine blood drive to the most secluded waterslide - and learn a thing or two from them about how much we depend on nature and how much it depends on us. Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today. Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about special events. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org. And, by the way, Radiolab is looking for a remote intern! If you happen to be a creative, science-obsessed nerd who is interested in learning how to make longform radio… Apply! We would LOVE to work with you.  You can find more info at wnyc.org/careers. Citations: Alexis Madrigal, "The Blood Harvest" in The Atlantic, and Sarah Zhang's recent follow up in The Atlantic, "The Last Days of the Blue Blood Harvest"  Deborah Cramer, The Narrow Edge Deborah Cramer, "Inside the Biomedical Revolution to Save Horseshoe Crabs" in Audubon Magazine  Richard Fortey, Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms Ian Frazier, "Blue Bloods"  in The New Yorker  Lulu Miller's short story, "Me and Jane"  in Catapult Magazine Jerry Gault, "The Most Noble Fishing There Is"  in Charles River's Eureka Magazine or check out Glenn Gauvry's horseshoe crab research database

Long before radiometric dating appeared on the scene, the geological time scale was defined by the sedimentary record, and particularly by key fossils preserved within them. Throughout the Cambrian, and to a lesser extent until the end-Permian extinction about 300 million years later, trilobite fossils served as some of the most useful of these key fossils. Richard Fortey explains why. Here he is holding a trilobite from the calymene genus. Richard Fortey is formerly head of arthropod paleontology at the Natural History Museum in London and is visiting professor of paleobiology at Oxford University. He has devoted much of his research career to the study of trilobites — their systematics, evolution, and modes of life, and has named numerous trilobite species. Podcast illustrations and more about Geology Bites are on geologbites.com.

Richard Fortey takes us on an energetic sprint through 65 million years of Europe's complex biological history; David Robey introduces the life and work of Emilio Salgari, the Italian Rider Haggard; Ella Baron, the TLS's regular cartoonist, discusses her work, including this week's European cover.BooksEurope: A natural history by Tim FlanneryEmilio Salgari: Una mitologia moderna tra letteratura, politica, società (volumes I and II) by Ann Lawson LucasElla Baron's work will be exhibited at Christie's in London, from April 5 to 10 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This episode is dedicated to one of the biggest scientific mysteries of the modern world: how living things came to be. The chemistry of life is examined and various hypotheses are discussed. Evolution by natural selection is explained, and the history of the world - from 4.03 billion to 541 million years ago - continues, covering the rise of multicellular life, Snowball Earth, and the first animals.Transcript: https://riverofhistory.tumblr.com/post/182173306141/episode-3-the-origin-of-lifeLinks and Referenced Mentioned:Geologic Time Scale: http://www.stratigraphy.org/ICSchart/ChronostratChart2018-08.jpg Richard Fortey quote: Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth. Richard Fortey, Vintage Books (1997)RNA experiment: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/08/10/1610103113 Quebec Putative Micro-Fossils: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/112179/ August 2018 Genetic Study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0644-x

This episode is dedicated to one of the biggest scientific mysteries of the modern world: how living things came to be. The chemistry of life is examined and various hypotheses are discussed. Evolution by natural selection is explained, and the history of the world - from 4.03 billion to 541 million years ago - continues, covering the rise of multicellular life, Snowball Earth, and the first animals.Transcript: https://riverofhistory.tumblr.com/post/182173306141/episode-3-the-origin-of-lifeLinks and Referenced Mentioned:Geologic Time Scale: http://www.stratigraphy.org/ICSchart/ChronostratChart2018-08.jpg Richard Fortey quote: Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth. Richard Fortey, Vintage Books (1997)RNA experiment: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/08/10/1610103113 Quebec Putative Micro-Fossils: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/112179/ August 2018 Genetic Study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0644-x

This episode is dedicated to one of the biggest scientific mysteries of the modern world: how living things came to be. The chemistry of life is examined and various hypotheses are discussed. Evolution by natural selection is explained, and the history of the world - from 4.03 billion to 541 million years ago - continues, covering the rise of multicellular life, Snowball Earth, and the first animals.Transcript: https://riverofhistory.tumblr.com/post/182173306141/episode-3-the-origin-of-lifeLinks and Referenced Mentioned:Geologic Time Scale: http://www.stratigraphy.org/ICSchart/ChronostratChart2018-08.jpg Richard Fortey quote: Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth. Richard Fortey, Vintage Books (1997)RNA experiment: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/08/10/1610103113 Quebec Putative Micro-Fossils: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/112179/ August 2018 Genetic Study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0644-x

This episode is dedicated to one of the biggest scientific mysteries of the modern world: how living things came to be. The chemistry of life is examined and various hypotheses are discussed. Evolution by natural selection is explained, and the history of the world - from 4.03 billion to 541 million years ago - continues, covering the rise of multicellular life, Snowball Earth, and the first animals.Transcript: https://riverofhistory.tumblr.com/post/182173306141/episode-3-the-origin-of-lifeLinks and Referenced Mentioned:Geologic Time Scale: http://www.stratigraphy.org/ICSchart/ChronostratChart2018-08.jpg Richard Fortey quote: Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth. Richard Fortey, Vintage Books (1997)RNA experiment: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/08/10/1610103113 Quebec Putative Micro-Fossils: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/112179/ August 2018 Genetic Study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0644-x

This episode is dedicated to one of the biggest scientific mysteries of the modern world: how living things came to be. The chemistry of life is examined and various hypotheses are discussed. Evolution by natural selection is explained, and the history of the world - from 4.03 billion to 541 million years ago - continues, covering the rise of multicellular life, Snowball Earth, and the first animals.Transcript: https://riverofhistory.tumblr.com/post/182173306141/episode-3-the-origin-of-lifeLinks and Referenced Mentioned:Geologic Time Scale: http://www.stratigraphy.org/ICSchart/ChronostratChart2018-08.jpg Richard Fortey quote: Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth. Richard Fortey, Vintage Books (1997)RNA experiment: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/08/10/1610103113 Quebec Putative Micro-Fossils: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/112179/ August 2018 Genetic Study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0644-x

This episode is dedicated to one of the biggest scientific mysteries of the modern world: how living things came to be. The chemistry of life is examined and various hypotheses are discussed. Evolution by natural selection is explained, and the history of the world - from 4.03 billion to 541 million years ago - continues, covering the rise of multicellular life, Snowball Earth, and the first animals.Transcript: https://riverofhistory.tumblr.com/post/182173306141/episode-3-the-origin-of-lifeLinks and Referenced Mentioned:Geologic Time Scale: http://www.stratigraphy.org/ICSchart/ChronostratChart2018-08.jpg Richard Fortey quote: Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth. Richard Fortey, Vintage Books (1997)RNA experiment: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/08/10/1610103113 Quebec Putative Micro-Fossils: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/112179/ August 2018 Genetic Study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0644-x

This episode is dedicated to one of the biggest scientific mysteries of the modern world: how living things came to be. The chemistry of life is examined and various hypotheses are discussed. Evolution by natural selection is explained, and the history of the world - from 4.03 billion to 541 million years ago - continues, covering the rise of multicellular life, Snowball Earth, and the first animals.Transcript: https://riverofhistory.tumblr.com/post/182173306141/episode-3-the-origin-of-lifeLinks and Referenced Mentioned:Geologic Time Scale: http://www.stratigraphy.org/ICSchart/ChronostratChart2018-08.jpg Richard Fortey quote: Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth. Richard Fortey, Vintage Books (1997)RNA experiment: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/08/10/1610103113 Quebec Putative Micro-Fossils: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/112179/ August 2018 Genetic Study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0644-x

This episode is dedicated to one of the biggest scientific mysteries of the modern world: how living things came to be. The chemistry of life is examined and various hypotheses are discussed. Evolution by natural selection is explained, and the history of the world - from 4.03 billion to 541 million years ago - continues, covering the rise of multicellular life, Snowball Earth, and the first animals.Transcript: https://riverofhistory.tumblr.com/post/182173306141/episode-3-the-origin-of-lifeLinks and Referenced Mentioned:Geologic Time Scale: http://www.stratigraphy.org/ICSchart/ChronostratChart2018-08.jpg Richard Fortey quote: Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth. Richard Fortey, Vintage Books (1997)RNA experiment: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/08/10/1610103113 Quebec Putative Micro-Fossils: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/112179/ August 2018 Genetic Study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0644-x

Horseshoe crabs are not much to look at.  But beneath their unassuming catcher’s-mitt shell, they harbor a half-billion-year-old secret: a superpower that helped them outlive the dinosaurs and survive all the Earth’s mass extinctions.  And what is that secret superpower? Their blood. Their baby blue blood.  And it’s so miraculous that for decades, it hasn’t just been saving their butts, it’s been saving ours too. But that all might be about to change.   Follow us as we follow these ancient critters - from a raunchy beach orgy to a marine blood drive to the most secluded waterslide - and learn a thing or two from them about how much we depend on nature and how much it depends on us.   BONUS: If you want to know more about how miraculous horseshoe crabs are, here's a bunch of our favorite reads: Alexis Madrigal, "The Blood Harvest" in The Atlantic, and Sarah Zhang's recent follow up in The Atlantic, "The Last Days of the Blue Blood Harvest"  Deborah Cramer, The Narrow Edge Deborah Cramer, "Inside the Biomedical Revolution to Save Horseshoe Crabs" in Audubon Magazine  Richard Fortey, Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms Ian Frazier, "Blue Bloods"  in The New Yorker  Lulu Miller's short story, "Me and Jane"  in Catapult Magazine Jerry Gault, "The Most Noble Fishing There Is"  in Charles River's Eureka Magazine or check out Glenn Gauvry's horseshoe crab research database   This episode was reported by Latif Nasser with help from Damiano Marchetti and Lulu Miller, and was produced by Annie McEwen and Matt Kielty with help from Liza Yeager. Special thanks to Arlene Shaner at the NY Academy of Medicine, Tim Wisniewski at the Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives at Johns Hopkins University, Jennifer Walton at the library of the Marine Biological Lab of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Glenn Gauvry at the Ecological Research and Development Group. Support Radiolab today at Radiolab.org/donate. 

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Henry K. Miller on the cinematic progress of Christopher Isherwood, a novelist who wanted nothing more than to be a filmmaker; Lamorna Ash on All This Panic, a dreamy documentary about seven girls stumbling towards womanhood in Brooklyn; Richard Fortey tells the story of the British landscape, a sweeping tale spanning several millennia, from the retreat of the ice caps in 9700 BC to the crowded island of today. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Physicist, writer and broadcaster Dr Helen Czerski joins Josie and Robin this week to talk about the science of every day things, which just happens to be what her new book, ’Storm in a Teacup’ is all about. There’s also love for the work of Richard Fortey, Grayson Perry, Bruce Chatwin and more. And there’s also a special announcement this week. Robin and Josie are off on tour with Cosmic Shambles LIVE, a science, comedy, literary, musical variety night. There’ll be plenty of guests along for the ride, including Helen, and the show is going around Australia and New Zealand in early 2017. Tickets and details at cosmicshambleslive.com

Natural history museums may not come to life as they do in a Hollywood movie, but they do have some amazing stories. They also have all kinds of cool stuff that many of us never get to see. Paleontologist Richard Fortey talks about the life and some of the treasures hidden behind locked doors at natural history museums that are also part of his book Dry Store Room No.1.

Richard Fortey found his first trilobite fossil when he was 14 years old and he spent the rest of his career discovering hundreds more, previously unknown to science. He is a Professor of Palaeontology at the Natural History Museum and talks to Jim al-Khalili about why these arthropods, joint-legged creatures which look a bit like woodlice and roamed the ancient oceans for almost 300 million years, are so important for helping us to understand the evolution of life on our planet. These new trilobite fossils were found at an exciting time for the earth sciences because of the emergence of plate tectonics. The discovery of communities of trilobite fossils could be used to reconstruct the shape of the ancient world and Richard used the new discoveries to help map the geologically very different Palaeozoic continents and seas. He admits that he is a born naturalist, fascinated by all aspects of the natural world (he's a leading expert on fungi) with a powerful drive to communicate its wonders to a wider public. His books and TV programmes on geology, the evolution of the earth, fossils as well as the creatures that survived mass extinctions, have brought him a whole new audience. And also he reveals an earlier secret life as a writer of humorous books, all written under a pseudonym. (Photo: Richard Fortey. Credit: BBC)

Richard Fortey found his first trilobite fossil when he was 14 years old and he spent the rest of his career discovering hundreds more, previously unknown to science. Professor of Palaeontology at the Natural History Museum, he talks to Jim Al-Khalili about why these arthropods, joint-legged creatures which look a bit like woodlice and roamed the ancient oceans for almost 300 million years, are so important for helping us to understand the evolution of life on our planet. These new trilobite fossils were found at an exciting time for the earth sciences because of the emergence of plate tectonics. The discovery of communities of trilobite fossils could be used to reconstruct the shape of the ancient world and Richard used the new discoveries to help map the geologically very different Palaeozoic continents and seas. He admits that he's a born naturalist, fascinated by all aspects of the natural world (he's a leading expert on fungi) with a powerful drive to communicate its wonders to a wider public. His books and TV programmes on geology, the evolution of the earth, fossils as well as the creatures that survived mass extinctions have brought him a whole new audience. And Richard reveals to Jim an earlier secret life, as a writer of humorous books, all written under a pseudonym.

Trilobites are one of the most instantly recognisable groups of fossils. They were present from the very start of the Paleozoic and went on the fill a great number of ecological roles before going extinct at the Permo-Triassic mass extinction event 252 million years ago. They ranged from the very small to the very large, from the most basic appearance to the most elaborately ornamented. We were lucky enough to get the opportunity to speak to Prof. Richard Fortey of the Natural History Museum, London, all about trilobite morphology and ecology.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the significance of fossils. In the middle of the nineteenth century the discoveries of the fossil hunters used to worry poor Ruskin to death, he wrote in a letter in 1851, “my faith, which was never strong, is being beaten to gold leaf…If only those Geologists would let me alone I could do very well, but those dreadful Hammers! I hear the clink of them at the end of every cadence of the Bible verses.”The testimony of fossils over the ages has been remarkably eloquent when we have wanted to listen; and now with mass spectrometers, electron microscopes and secondary X-ray detectors, these long dead organisms can speak to us of the past in ways they never could before.With Richard Corfield, Research Associate in the Department of Earth Sciences at Oxford University; Dianne Edwards, Distinguished Research Professor in Palaeobotany at Cardiff University; Richard Fortey, Senior Research Palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the significance of fossils. In the middle of the nineteenth century the discoveries of the fossil hunters used to worry poor Ruskin to death, he wrote in a letter in 1851, “my faith, which was never strong, is being beaten to gold leaf…If only those Geologists would let me alone I could do very well, but those dreadful Hammers! I hear the clink of them at the end of every cadence of the Bible verses.”The testimony of fossils over the ages has been remarkably eloquent when we have wanted to listen; and now with mass spectrometers, electron microscopes and secondary X-ray detectors, these long dead organisms can speak to us of the past in ways they never could before.With Richard Corfield, Research Associate in the Department of Earth Sciences at Oxford University; Dianne Edwards, Distinguished Research Professor in Palaeobotany at Cardiff University; Richard Fortey, Senior Research Palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum.