WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.480 Imagine the place where you can escape for a day, 2 00:00:04.280 --> 00:00:08.800 get immerged in a world of rooms, inspiration and expertise, 3 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:14.480 where you can lay in luxury, accommodation and kids cam 4 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:20.320 Fees from ninety five sets. Tickets are free to everyone 5 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:25.559 and include all the attractions you've just imagined a day 6 00:00:25.719 --> 00:00:29.640 out at the Kia Tikia the wonderful every. 7 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:32.640 Day get value you can't argue with at Tesco with 8 00:00:32.679 --> 00:00:35.520 their amazing club card prices. Have the perfect night in 9 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:38.200 with their finest frozen pizza meal deal. Get the finest 10 00:00:38.200 --> 00:00:40.920 frozen pizza, chips and ice cream all for six euro 11 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:43.920 like our delicious spicy Salami, hot honey and do Ya 12 00:00:44.200 --> 00:00:47.280 or Margarito wood fired pizzas, served up with their crispy 13 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:50.159 chunkie chips and ice cream like sea salted caramel or 14 00:00:50.200 --> 00:00:53.719 pistachio for dessert. Can't argue with that shop in store 15 00:00:53.799 --> 00:00:57.920 or online Tesco. Every little helps available at most stories. 16 00:00:57.960 --> 00:00:59.280 Prices vary in express. 17 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:03.719 So I'm gonna be super super honest with you. And 18 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:06.200 this pains me to say because it's kind of a 19 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:10.079 point of shame for me as a science enthusiast, But 20 00:01:10.200 --> 00:01:12.840 I don't really give a fuck about dinosaurs, at least 21 00:01:13.079 --> 00:01:17.040 I didn't for a long time. Flies, turtles, birds, nests, plants. 22 00:01:17.079 --> 00:01:19.599 I'm down with all of these because in my brain, 23 00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:21.560 I'm like, we share the planet with them. I can 24 00:01:21.560 --> 00:01:23.719 look at them, I can watch how they grow, you 25 00:01:23.799 --> 00:01:25.599 can look at what they eat, how they get it on. 26 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:28.719 Dinosaurs were always the wing of the museum that I 27 00:01:28.760 --> 00:01:30.680 was like, Ugh, I don't know, I'm going to go 28 00:01:30.760 --> 00:01:33.480 to the food court and eat a soft pretzel, but enjoy. 29 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:36.599 So don't judge me, because I know people love dinosaurs. 30 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:39.760 People get crazy. And I read Jurassic Park in high school. 31 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:41.560 I loved it. I was so into it that I 32 00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:44.439 was working at a stationary shop and I couldn't put 33 00:01:44.439 --> 00:01:48.079 it down, so much so that on my watch two 34 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:52.000 ceramic bunnies were stolen and I was almost fired. So 35 00:01:52.040 --> 00:01:54.519 whenever I think about Michael Crichton, I say to him, hey, dude, 36 00:01:54.680 --> 00:01:56.879 nice work. Your book was so good. It distracted me 37 00:01:56.920 --> 00:02:01.799 from someone putting two football sized porcelain bunnies down their 38 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:04.239 pants or under their shirt or something. But what I 39 00:02:04.280 --> 00:02:07.480 loved about Jurassic Park was the dinosaur behavior. But I 40 00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:11.159 wasn't really that stoked about fossilized bones. I just didn't 41 00:02:11.159 --> 00:02:13.960 connect with it until last year. I went to this 42 00:02:14.039 --> 00:02:16.199 party that was kind of like a science salon, and 43 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:19.120 this week's guest stood up and he gave an informal 44 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:23.400 talk about terosaur wings, and suddenly I thought, Okay, I 45 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:26.400 think I get it, because I'd never really thought about 46 00:02:26.520 --> 00:02:29.759 dinosaurs in motion like that. Also side note for the 47 00:02:29.800 --> 00:02:33.840 truly self congratulatory, you know that terosaurs, the flying things 48 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:37.240 that are like Terry on Peewe's Playhouse, are not actually dinosaurs. 49 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:39.560 They're flying reptiles. I learned that this year or too. 50 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:43.879 But paleontology actually isn't even the study of dinosaurs. It 51 00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:48.879 comes from paleo, which means old and anto meaning being, 52 00:02:49.159 --> 00:02:52.319 so it's the study of just old beings. So this 53 00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:55.800 guest sparked my interest in dinosaurs in a way that 54 00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:58.599 I'd never had before, because the way he talks about 55 00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:01.879 them and how they move really puts life to them. 56 00:03:02.280 --> 00:03:05.319 So he's a paleontologist and a research associate in the 57 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:08.280 Dinosaur Institute at the La County Museum of National History, 58 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:12.800 and he's also an assistant professor of anatomy at USC's 59 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:14.919 Kex School of Medicine. So he has two jobs. One 60 00:03:14.919 --> 00:03:18.960 of them involves people who are no longer alive. And 61 00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:22.199 I know it's irrational and like not super death positive, 62 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:26.400 but I'm a little bit creeped out by cadavers. I'm 63 00:03:26.439 --> 00:03:29.680 just I'm too sad about people dying. I want to 64 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:32.360 hug them. I also want to run a far away 65 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:35.199 trying to get over it. But our guest is hella 66 00:03:35.319 --> 00:03:37.240 chill about it. He spends part of the day cutting 67 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:42.000 up cadavers, part of it being a paleontologist. Please enjoy, 68 00:03:42.520 --> 00:04:10.840 Michael habib Okay, So what is this deal? 69 00:04:11.479 --> 00:04:13.599 This is my deal? Well, you're right. Actually did cut 70 00:04:13.639 --> 00:04:14.639 up a cadaver this morning? 71 00:04:14.680 --> 00:04:15.199 Did you? Yes? 72 00:04:15.319 --> 00:04:18.160 Actually a few of them. So that's how my mornings 73 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:21.040 often start. We had one hundred and eighty eight medical 74 00:04:21.079 --> 00:04:23.759 students in a room with thirty five did people? 75 00:04:23.879 --> 00:04:24.519 Oh my god. 76 00:04:24.959 --> 00:04:27.040 So you get a good cup of coffee in the 77 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:28.560 morning and you sit down and you take a part 78 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:31.560 of human beings. So that's that's my deal for about 79 00:04:31.560 --> 00:04:32.959 half the time and another half of the time ago 80 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:33.879 and play of dinosaurs. 81 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:36.000 There is a wrong way to take a part of cadaver, 82 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:36.480 isn't there? 83 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:38.920 There are a lot of wrong ways. Actually, there are 84 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:41.759 more wrong ways than correct ways, as. 85 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:42.279 It turns out. 86 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:47.399 So now you study movement of animals, and that's kind 87 00:04:47.399 --> 00:04:50.879 of how you got into paleontology. What is is paleontology 88 00:04:50.959 --> 00:04:54.199 only about fossils or is it just about living things 89 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:54.720 of that era? 90 00:04:55.480 --> 00:04:59.639 So palaeontology it doesn't necessarily have to be about fossils, 91 00:04:59.639 --> 00:05:02.839 but it historically it kind of was. It was considered 92 00:05:02.839 --> 00:05:05.360 to be the study of fossils essentially, although it more 93 00:05:05.399 --> 00:05:07.920 literally is just the study of life in the past, 94 00:05:08.360 --> 00:05:11.439 and you mostly do that through fossils. I'm one of 95 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:13.040 those palontologists who does play a fossil. 96 00:05:13.160 --> 00:05:16.360 Before we go much further, let's define super quick what 97 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:19.800 a fossil actually is. I didn't know this until just now. 98 00:05:20.199 --> 00:05:23.959 Fossils are any trace or remains like a cast, or 99 00:05:23.959 --> 00:05:27.360 an impression or a substitution with rock, or even the 100 00:05:27.399 --> 00:05:30.759 thing itself of something that was once alive. They have 101 00:05:30.839 --> 00:05:32.759 to be at least ten thousand years old to be 102 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:34.959 considered a fossil. I don't know what they're called if 103 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:37.959 they're younger than that, to be honest, And the word 104 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:42.079 fossil comes from the Latin for obtained by digging, which 105 00:05:42.120 --> 00:05:45.720 is that kind of adorable. I just picture people digging around, 106 00:05:45.800 --> 00:05:47.399 being like I obtained this by digging. 107 00:05:48.439 --> 00:05:49.160 It's a fossil. 108 00:05:50.439 --> 00:05:53.920 Speaking of old things, Michael didn't decide he wanted to 109 00:05:53.959 --> 00:05:57.199 be a paleontologist until later in life. 110 00:05:57.480 --> 00:05:59.519 I declared at age four that I wanted to be 111 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:00.000 a palantogle. 112 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:03.560 Just yeah, okay, just kidding. That's an early proclamation. 113 00:06:04.040 --> 00:06:07.160 I you know, I like getting in early. That could 114 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:08.199 be time to procrastinate. 115 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:11.680 So you waited from the age of four until what 116 00:06:12.120 --> 00:06:14.600 eighteen to enroll in college. That's a long that's a 117 00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:15.399 lot of stalling. 118 00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:17.000 It really was, It really was. 119 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:19.240 There were all kinds of things that I that I 120 00:06:19.639 --> 00:06:22.199 waste the time doing in the interim, such as growth 121 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:22.759 and development. 122 00:06:23.079 --> 00:06:24.639 Very strange learning to use a fork. 123 00:06:24.759 --> 00:06:26.920 He'n't learning to use a fork, right, Yeah, Well what. 124 00:06:26.920 --> 00:06:30.120 Happened at four? Like when that declaration went down? When 125 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:31.680 you're like, mom and dad said down, I'm going to 126 00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:34.240 be a paleontologist. Like where were you in a museum? Oh? 127 00:06:34.279 --> 00:06:36.720 Yeah, absolutely, I we were in the Smithsonian Museum of 128 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:37.399 National History. 129 00:06:37.639 --> 00:06:39.000 You know what I told my parents I wanted to 130 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:41.319 be when I was three, And you what do. 131 00:06:41.240 --> 00:06:41.680 You want to be? 132 00:06:41.720 --> 00:06:45.879 When you get big a kirky bit a porky big 133 00:06:45.959 --> 00:06:49.279 Allison warm worky pig. Side note was a cartoon character 134 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:53.120 who wore an open blazer with no shirt. He lacked pants. 135 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:55.519 They're probably museums for that. You never know. 136 00:06:55.680 --> 00:07:00.800 Yeah, it's just called restaurants. So what what was your 137 00:07:00.839 --> 00:07:03.879 path like when you actually got into the study of it. 138 00:07:03.959 --> 00:07:07.319 How much education does it take to be a paleontologist? 139 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:11.160 Well, you know, the answer is it varies because it 140 00:07:11.160 --> 00:07:13.160 depends on really what you're doing in paleontology, what kind 141 00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:13.879 of paletologists you. 142 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:14.199 Want to be. 143 00:07:14.680 --> 00:07:17.399 In Michael's case, from the time he set out to 144 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:20.959 be a paleontologist, he finished kindergarten, grammar school, in the 145 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:24.160 middle school, in high school, got an undergrad and master's 146 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:27.399 degree in biology, then another five years to get a 147 00:07:27.439 --> 00:07:29.680 PhD in functional anatomy. 148 00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:33.279 And then off to join the quote unquote real world, which, 149 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:35.959 if you're a paleontologist who takes apart dead people for 150 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:40.759 living at a medical school, is not an accurate term. 151 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:42.079 I don't know what the real world is. 152 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:44.160 I've never played in it. I've seen it through windows. 153 00:07:44.199 --> 00:07:46.160 It looks scary. I've decided to avoid it. 154 00:07:46.199 --> 00:07:47.240 For the time being. 155 00:07:47.480 --> 00:07:49.680 So you've never walked into an office every day in 156 00:07:49.720 --> 00:07:50.319 a tie. 157 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:53.079 I don't think I've ever walked into an office in 158 00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:54.519 a tie. 159 00:07:54.519 --> 00:07:57.639 Right, Yeah, I'm still stuck on the fact that, like 160 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:00.240 you spent your morning taking of our dead people. I 161 00:08:00.279 --> 00:08:02.639 know that we're here to talk about paleontology, but from 162 00:08:02.639 --> 00:08:06.240 the anatomy perspective, like when did you go down the 163 00:08:06.279 --> 00:08:09.240 path of teaching anatomy? What is it like for you 164 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:12.800 in terms of like confronting mortality, Because I mean, paleo 165 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:15.480 you're dealing with ancient things. So do you do you 166 00:08:15.480 --> 00:08:18.439 ever have any weird existential crisis about like death and 167 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:19.560 impermanence or anything. 168 00:08:21.399 --> 00:08:22.720 I think I got most is out of the way. 169 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:25.480 When I was young, I was a precocious youngster, and 170 00:08:25.519 --> 00:08:28.920 by that I meant, you know, I questioned the uh. 171 00:08:29.480 --> 00:08:31.399 I had a lot of questions about mortality at an 172 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:34.360 uncomfortable age, and my uncomfortable it was uncomfortable for my parents. 173 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:36.639 You know, if you if you want to be really 174 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:40.559 good at vertebrate anatomy, the model system is basically humans. 175 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:43.200 It's like you know more about your car if it sucks, 176 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:44.559 because you have to fix it more do you know 177 00:08:44.600 --> 00:08:46.399 what I mean, Like, we tinker in the human body 178 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:48.759 so much to fix it that it's like, well, yeah, had. 179 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:51.519 Those implants redone? A few times? We see some really 180 00:08:51.559 --> 00:08:53.720 interesting prostces action in the lab. 181 00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:54.360 Oh do you? 182 00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:57.600 I bet in l A, I bet LA cadavers are 183 00:08:57.639 --> 00:09:00.480 like pretty tight. I bet they're I bet they still 184 00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:04.799 look pretty sharp. I'm so sorry the conversation accidentally went 185 00:09:04.840 --> 00:09:10.399 from automotive analogies back to the generous and probably very 186 00:09:10.440 --> 00:09:13.919 attractive people who have donated their bodies to science and 187 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:17.639 the curious things Michael sees with body donors. 188 00:09:17.960 --> 00:09:22.240 The type of sort of implant I saw most often, Yes, 189 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:23.200 penis implants. 190 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:27.240 No where more in LA. 191 00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:29.960 It's about even between Baltimore and LA. 192 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:34.799 You are kidding me. I honestly, I did not know 193 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:36.919 that that was a thing. We had. 194 00:09:36.919 --> 00:09:38.639 What we had what we had one donor with the 195 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:43.120 one the old models that was pumpable. WHOA, No, usually 196 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:46.879 there silicon implants, but any case, so, yeah, so we've 197 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:49.200 seen lots of We've seen a lot of penis implants 198 00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:50.200 in the in the lab. 199 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:54.320 But this, this deep knowledge of anatomy informs your work 200 00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:56.879 as a pelontologist. A lot you tend to study a 201 00:09:56.919 --> 00:09:59.240 lot of like wing movements of pterosaurs which are not 202 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:01.480 dinosaurs technically. 203 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:03.440 That's true. That's true. So yeah, it's weird. 204 00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:06.120 So the guy who who makes doctors in the morning 205 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:08.039 studies tears were wings in the afternoon. 206 00:10:08.039 --> 00:10:08.519 Go figure. 207 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:13.480 I've been called a physicist in denial by actually Caltech physicists, 208 00:10:13.519 --> 00:10:15.000 which I could sort of be a compliment. 209 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:16.960 Particularly in that crowd. That's some complimentary shade. 210 00:10:17.080 --> 00:10:19.519 Yeah, exactly, exactly. I'll take that, and. 211 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:22.679 Particularly interested in how that gets you motion, how animals 212 00:10:22.679 --> 00:10:26.440 move around by taking his wood is really a pretty 213 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:28.679 limited number of different kinds of materials to work with 214 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:32.799 and make them do amazing things. We have enough trouble 215 00:10:32.840 --> 00:10:36.240 making high performance aircraft, good sale planes and everything that 216 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:39.320 can go hundreds of miles, you know, with fiberglass and 217 00:10:39.960 --> 00:10:43.679 carbon fiber and all kinds of metals at our disposal, 218 00:10:44.279 --> 00:10:47.639 and animals only have a handful of materials really to 219 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:51.559 work with. That's flawful, I guess, yeah, I mean you got, 220 00:10:51.559 --> 00:10:53.799 I mean for hard tissues, you basically got your bone 221 00:10:54.360 --> 00:10:58.799 cartilage is reasonably can be reasonably stiff, enamel, you know, 222 00:10:59.080 --> 00:11:00.879 handful of other things and a bunch of soft stuff 223 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:02.679 that's based in sea of water, and it gives you 224 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:04.639 some really really high performed stuff. I mean some of 225 00:11:04.679 --> 00:11:06.120 the amals I work on this on these terrace wors 226 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:08.279 were you know, had wingspans ten and a half meters, 227 00:11:08.279 --> 00:11:10.679 it's about thirty five feet wing tip, the wing thirty 228 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:13.679 five feet. Yeah, these things could kick ass and take names. 229 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:18.360 These are powerful flying, ground launching badasses and they're just 230 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:21.159 doing it all with the basics of fertebraated anatomy. 231 00:11:21.399 --> 00:11:25.080 Do you have to study aeronautics as well as physiology 232 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:28.159 to try to determine how that would give a terrost 233 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:29.120 or the ability to fly? 234 00:11:29.559 --> 00:11:33.360 So I do have a joint background in fluid dynamics, which. 235 00:11:33.159 --> 00:11:36.080 Is the study of how fluids move. Just five minutes 236 00:11:36.120 --> 00:11:39.159 ago I learned that fluids are not just liquids. Fluids 237 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:42.200 are anything that has no fixed shape and yields to 238 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:46.320 external pressure, which totally changes the meaning of bodily fluids 239 00:11:46.360 --> 00:11:48.360 for me. They could be a liquid or gas. Let's 240 00:11:48.440 --> 00:11:51.879 change the subject. Do paleontologists love puzzles? As someone who 241 00:11:51.879 --> 00:11:54.080 has to put bone fragments back together? Do you like 242 00:11:54.120 --> 00:11:55.519 puzzles or do you hate them? 243 00:11:56.440 --> 00:11:59.519 I love puzzles a lot of palantoges love puzzles. Okay, 244 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:01.879 I'm not sure they all do. I think for some 245 00:12:01.960 --> 00:12:04.759 ties it probably feels like taking your work home with you, right, Yeah, 246 00:12:04.840 --> 00:12:07.200 you get home and I have many kids, but I 247 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:09.200 can imagine something that do you know, then they can 248 00:12:09.399 --> 00:12:10.639 come home their kids like, hey, you want. 249 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:12.120 To build this puzzle with me? Like, oh god? 250 00:12:12.600 --> 00:12:15.120 What amount of time do you spend in the field 251 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:17.519 as a paleontologist and how much of that is back 252 00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:21.039 in a lab or looking at spreadsheets or measuring fossil 253 00:12:21.080 --> 00:12:22.039 densities and stuff. 254 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:25.600 So in terms of the amount of time and like 255 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:27.519 how much of the year I'm in the field, it's 256 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:30.480 a good chunk of the summer, that's that's usually when 257 00:12:30.519 --> 00:12:32.639 I do all my field work. So basically July and 258 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:35.120 August a good bit of it I'll be in the field, 259 00:12:35.480 --> 00:12:36.480 mostly in New Mexico. 260 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:38.200 Was that a titanosaur? 261 00:12:38.360 --> 00:12:40.000 That's the Titanosaur project? Yeah? 262 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:42.960 Can you can you reveal what you're working on with that? 263 00:12:43.480 --> 00:12:43.759 Sure? 264 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:44.200 Sure? 265 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:46.799 Obviously you actually basically whatever you find, it's not like 266 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:49.120 you went out there and we're gonna find it. Actually 267 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:50.360 we kind of went out there going I really kind 268 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:52.759 of hope you don't find a titanosaur because really, well, 269 00:12:52.840 --> 00:12:54.879 I mean not not we were being BLib about it, 270 00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:56.759 which is what makes it funny, but like there was 271 00:12:56.799 --> 00:12:57.799 a part of us it was like, I really hope 272 00:12:57.840 --> 00:12:59.960 we won't find things super huge because we feel, you know, 273 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:02.159 compelled to excavate it and it's going to take forever. 274 00:13:02.559 --> 00:13:06.320 And of course what we found was two individuals of 275 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:08.200 the group that includes the largest. 276 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:08.879 Land animals of all time. 277 00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:09.480 Oh my god. 278 00:13:09.559 --> 00:13:12.480 In fact, one of our specimens may be the largest 279 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:14.399 dinosaur from North America. 280 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:16.519 That's huge. Literally, Yeah. 281 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:17.960 So it's just I mean, these, you know, these are 282 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:21.919 animals that a mid sized titanosaur is like thirty tons plush, 283 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:24.000 and a big one is like sixty tons plus how 284 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:28.000 many feet the big guys you're looking at one hundred feet? 285 00:13:28.200 --> 00:13:28.360 Ish? 286 00:13:28.679 --> 00:13:29.080 Wow? 287 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:32.639 How many times bigger than an elephant? Are these guys big? 288 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:37.279 A big bull African elephant, which would be the largest 289 00:13:37.320 --> 00:13:40.919 living land animal. I think the record is like six 290 00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:43.559 point two tons or something that really averages more like 291 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:48.559 five and change. Okay, so if a big titanosaur is 292 00:13:48.600 --> 00:13:52.080 regularly hitting sixty, that's twelve times. 293 00:13:52.440 --> 00:13:57.200 So these titanosaurs are like if twelve elephants stacked under 294 00:13:57.320 --> 00:14:01.000 one giant overcoat and pretended to be a person. That's 295 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:05.639 so huge. This is so exciting. I'm sweating. This is 296 00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:07.919 so Wait what happened when you were in the field 297 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:10.519 and someone's like, oh, we got a bone over here, 298 00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:11.720 Like what what is that? 299 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:15.360 Moment Like, well, it depends on what the bone is. 300 00:14:15.799 --> 00:14:17.919 In the case of the Titanosaur project, you know, you 301 00:14:17.960 --> 00:14:19.440 see some bones into the hill and at first of 302 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:21.039 all was oh, that looks really exciting. We see some 303 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:23.120 interesting morphology and we could tell it it's what we 304 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:25.519 called pneumatizes. We could tell it had was the animal 305 00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:28.080 had all these air sacks in it, and we're thinking, oh, wow, 306 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:29.879 it's cool. That could be like a big predatory dinosaur 307 00:14:29.879 --> 00:14:31.399 because they have are they had a lire sex in 308 00:14:31.399 --> 00:14:33.200 their bones too, And we started exiting around it and 309 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:33.559 were like. 310 00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:36.279 This doesn't really look like it would fit. What could 311 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:36.639 this be? 312 00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:39.200 You think it's because this is a pretty big element. 313 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:40.639 Is you're going to the hill and you're thinking that 314 00:14:40.679 --> 00:14:43.080 it's like a relatively big part of a small animal, 315 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:45.200 and then at some point your brain switches and you 316 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:48.159 realize you're doing the small part of an enormous animal. 317 00:14:48.200 --> 00:14:48.759 Oh my god. 318 00:14:48.919 --> 00:14:50.240 And there was that moment where. 319 00:14:50.039 --> 00:14:53.399 It actually was a particular rod of bone that we 320 00:14:53.440 --> 00:14:55.279 started to see as we started to work around it 321 00:14:55.279 --> 00:14:57.240 with our tools, that we realized that this was a 322 00:14:57.960 --> 00:14:59.480 vertebra from the neck, a neck bone. 323 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:02.080 I love this part so much. 324 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:05.039 I literally just kind of went ah shit. 325 00:15:06.919 --> 00:15:10.360 And of course the one of the poor volunteers there 326 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:12.480 was like, what, what did I break something? I'm like, no, no, 327 00:15:12.679 --> 00:15:14.799 this just went from this went from a one season 328 00:15:14.840 --> 00:15:18.879 project to an eight season project, and like why, I'm like, well, 329 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:20.960 if this is articulated. 330 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:24.840 In paleontology terms, articulated means found all in the same place, 331 00:15:24.919 --> 00:15:27.879 just a bunch of bones kicking it together in order 332 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:29.440 having a bone party under. 333 00:15:29.320 --> 00:15:31.360 Some dirt, if there's more of it, I mean, I 334 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:33.039 was at this point, I'm thinking, Okay, well, maybe it'll 335 00:15:33.080 --> 00:15:34.879 just be the one one element. It wasn't, of course, 336 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:37.879 Oh my god. Then you know we've got we've got 337 00:15:37.879 --> 00:15:40.360 a you know, forty ton plus animal on the hillside. 338 00:15:40.919 --> 00:15:42.399 And you start and then you start look at the hillside, 339 00:15:42.440 --> 00:15:43.679 you go, actually, I think it might kind of just 340 00:15:43.720 --> 00:15:47.080 be the hillside. Oh my god, that's just a mountain, 341 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:49.440 Like it's just kind of is this this kind of 342 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:51.639 sentiment loosely sitting on top of the time this one 343 00:15:52.039 --> 00:15:58.279 who gets to name it? Well that depends, so we 344 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:00.279 don't know whether or not we will be need mean 345 00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:03.360 it because we don't know if it's a new species 346 00:16:03.399 --> 00:16:06.879 yet or not. There is a type of titanosaur from 347 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:09.240 North America that is named just one, which is interesting 348 00:16:09.240 --> 00:16:10.399 because the rest of the world there's a ton of 349 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:13.399 these things, like one of the hot groups of dinosaurs 350 00:16:13.480 --> 00:16:15.120 to work on these days. Like we went from not 351 00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:17.399 knowing much about them twenty years ago. That's only this 352 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:18.480 has been this explosion. 353 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:22.799 So saur pods are those really long necked kind of 354 00:16:22.919 --> 00:16:27.159 round bellied plant munchioned cuties. Apparently twenty years ago we 355 00:16:27.159 --> 00:16:29.919 didn't know much about them because our equipment for scanning 356 00:16:30.519 --> 00:16:33.519 and for transport sucked. 357 00:16:34.200 --> 00:16:36.320 There's better equipment and tech these days to work with 358 00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:38.960 things this big, you know, half a century ago. So 359 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:40.799 one finds a titanis for coming out of the hillside, 360 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:43.759 it's like, well that's pretty yeah, moving on, you know, 361 00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:44.440 do we. 362 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:45.960 Just have better vehicles now? 363 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:47.960 We got to good vehicles. 364 00:16:47.720 --> 00:16:51.919 It's more commonplace to be able to use a helicopter. 365 00:16:52.039 --> 00:16:53.960 I mean, obviously, half a century ago people could use 366 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:56.279 the helicopter, but it was just they were not something 367 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:00.000 that was regularly available to the budge kind of budgets 368 00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:03.399 that we work at on the lift heavy jackets ps. 369 00:17:03.480 --> 00:17:06.039 When he says heavy jackets, he does not mean woolen coats. 370 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:09.920 A jacket is that big plaster lump they smooth around 371 00:17:10.039 --> 00:17:12.880 excavated fossils to protect it and support it when they're 372 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:15.119 storing it or delivering it. Frankly, it looks like a 373 00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:18.279 very fun rainy day craft project. And if you google 374 00:17:18.359 --> 00:17:22.000 dinosaur jackets, I dare you. I dare you not to 375 00:17:22.039 --> 00:17:24.440 go down a rabbit hole looking at children's hooties and 376 00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:26.720 wondering if you can fit into the largest size offered. 377 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:29.079 Even if you don't get to name the species, you 378 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:31.279 get to actually be like this one's Gary or whatever. 379 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:33.920 Oh sure, so yes, so you can get nicknames. So yeah, 380 00:17:33.960 --> 00:17:35.839 so they're naming process. So if this thing's up being 381 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:37.599 a new species, we will give a new technical name 382 00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:39.359 in a publication and I'll be myself and my colleagues 383 00:17:39.400 --> 00:17:41.559 will name it. But in terms of nicknames, there's are 384 00:17:41.640 --> 00:17:45.799 nicknames those kind of just happen organically, Okay, and Archie. 385 00:17:45.799 --> 00:17:49.359 Titanosaurs actually have nicknames. Oh whatever, they are Daisy and Duke. 386 00:17:49.680 --> 00:17:54.200 A look at that, and it's usually the students' naming 387 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:54.680 these things. 388 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:56.839 Where did they come up with Daisy and dukes? It 389 00:17:56.559 --> 00:17:58.720 not has nothing to do with gene shorts, does it? Like? 390 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:02.519 Daisy dukes? Daisy Duke's, for those unfamiliar, are a type 391 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:07.920 of micropant fashioned from truncated denim trousers. They are beneficial 392 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:09.279 in warm climates. 393 00:18:10.359 --> 00:18:13.440 I actually don't know. I am assuming that that was 394 00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:16.039 the joke, but I went back. I went out on 395 00:18:16.440 --> 00:18:19.440 a scouting trip to check some map info and came 396 00:18:19.480 --> 00:18:23.480 back to the quarry and discovered that my two undergraduate 397 00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:26.920 students had named them Daisy and Duke. And apparently there 398 00:18:26.920 --> 00:18:30.680 had been some multi hour conversation in which this had occurred. 399 00:18:31.000 --> 00:18:33.000 To this day, I don't know exactly what went down. 400 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:35.759 I don't know what they came up with. I decided 401 00:18:35.799 --> 00:18:38.880