1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,840 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:07,560 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff you should know 3 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:16,400 Speaker 1: from house Stuff Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to 4 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:19,440 Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with me as always as 5 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:27,120 Speaker 1: the intrepid paleontologist Charles W. Chuck Bryant. It's terrible, Wasn't 6 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:30,600 Speaker 1: I like it? Okay? I wish I was a Paleontologist's 7 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 1: your new nickname? Or intrepid? At least? Let's just go 8 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: with paleontologists. That'd be great. Okay, we're talking fossils today. Dude, 9 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:41,600 Speaker 1: this isn't really interesting stuff? It really is. And um, 10 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:45,960 Speaker 1: you can tell that Tracy Wilson are esteemed head of 11 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:51,520 Speaker 1: the writing editor. I think she's site director director right. Um, 12 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:53,880 Speaker 1: you can tell that she was very, very excited. She 13 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:59,400 Speaker 1: took her time and really dolled this one out. I think, um, 14 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:02,200 Speaker 1: save her is the right word. You can feel it 15 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 1: her smiling through the keyboard. Yeah, she's very happy to 16 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:09,200 Speaker 1: write how fossils work, and um, we're happy to do 17 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:12,800 Speaker 1: it because it's one of those very comprehensive articles on 18 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:15,480 Speaker 1: the site that you just has. It has everything you need. 19 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 1: Sedimentary rock flat bones versus round bones leaf impressions has 20 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: it all unless you're an intrepid paleontologist, and we'll get 21 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:29,360 Speaker 1: an email saying it actually wasn't very comprehensive. You guys 22 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 1: royally screwed this up. We just wait until we get 23 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:38,160 Speaker 1: into punctuated versus gradual evolution. Chuck, Um, you've heard of 24 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:42,640 Speaker 1: Lucy right, the austral epithecuss Yeah, okay, Well, Um, she 25 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:45,440 Speaker 1: was I think three point two million years old. That's 26 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: one old lady. It really is the earliest hominid we've 27 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:53,600 Speaker 1: found as far as I know. Um, But there's a 28 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:56,160 Speaker 1: part of her foot missing. It's always been missing that 29 00:01:56,200 --> 00:02:00,240 Speaker 1: we've never found before. So this thing, this bone, was 30 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: so essential that we couldn't tell how she walked until recently. 31 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:07,920 Speaker 1: Why because the missing bone, we couldn't tell how she 32 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: walked exactly. We we we can tell so much from 33 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:13,520 Speaker 1: bones that when we don't have the right bones, we 34 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:16,359 Speaker 1: can't tell anything. So she may have been in a 35 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:22,119 Speaker 1: knuckle dragger, she may have hopped, we didn't know. Well. Recently, Um, 36 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:25,880 Speaker 1: some people from the University of Missouri or Missouri, depending 37 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:28,119 Speaker 1: on whether or not you live in the state, UM 38 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:33,400 Speaker 1: found the Uh, the group of foot bones needed to 39 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 1: show what kind of walker Lucy was. And she walked 40 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:40,960 Speaker 1: up right? How was her gate? Upright? Upright? Just like 41 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:43,640 Speaker 1: a human. She had a hitching her get along, she 42 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:48,679 Speaker 1: had a pepper and her step. Possibly she knew she'd 43 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:53,680 Speaker 1: be famous one day with duck. But but consider this, right, 44 00:02:54,720 --> 00:03:00,400 Speaker 1: three point two million year old footbones were found and 45 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: we could tell from them how she walked. This is 46 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 1: the state of the field that you remember paleontology. Pretty cool. 47 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: This is how advanced it is, and yet it's really 48 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:14,120 Speaker 1: just kind of using common sense to figure out what 49 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:21,519 Speaker 1: old bones mean. Common sense and science. Fossils go, let's 50 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:23,080 Speaker 1: talk about it, Chuck. What are some of the different 51 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:27,280 Speaker 1: kinds of fossils. Uh, well, one of my favorite kinds 52 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:30,799 Speaker 1: is trace fossil. Yeah, that's actually one of my favorites too. 53 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:39,200 Speaker 1: It's like, um, that Jesus footprint thing, footprints in the sand. Yeah, 54 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:42,320 Speaker 1: it's sort of this josh um that is when it's 55 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:44,960 Speaker 1: actually not part of the organism at all, but it's 56 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: um like tooth marks in a chunk of wood from 57 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 1: a saborite tooth tiger, or footprints or footprints or track ways, 58 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: as Tracy calls them. Yes, footprints, it's just unnecessary, but 59 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:01,119 Speaker 1: it has a pleasant tone, you know science. Yeah, they're 60 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: not footprints, the track ways I'm bored in Ethiopia, let's 61 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:10,000 Speaker 1: call so trace fossils is one. Of course, there's bone fossils, right, 62 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:13,640 Speaker 1: the most famous fossils. Yeah, those are great too. They 63 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:16,800 Speaker 1: got nothing on trace fossils. So actually, bone fossils, that's 64 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:20,200 Speaker 1: that's what you really want. If you're going to reconstruct 65 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 1: a dinosaur for your museum. You can't deal it with footprints, No, 66 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:27,640 Speaker 1: you can't. You need the bones. And the bones are 67 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:29,719 Speaker 1: of course the most famous ones in the dinosaur bones 68 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:31,720 Speaker 1: are the most famous of all the bone types. Right. 69 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:36,960 Speaker 1: So there's something that I think um is often missed 70 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:41,440 Speaker 1: by lay people such as myself um in in that 71 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:44,599 Speaker 1: when you find a bone, right, so, you find like 72 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:49,920 Speaker 1: a big old dinosaur bone, it's really geologically speaking, it's 73 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:52,080 Speaker 1: not a bone any longer. It's not like you find 74 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: a bone buried in your yard that was an animal 75 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 1: from like, you know, thirty five years ago, but that's 76 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:01,480 Speaker 1: not a fossil. That's still bone. A fossil is a 77 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:05,920 Speaker 1: bone or a piece of um, once living organic material 78 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: that's undergone a transition from uh, an organic state to 79 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:13,720 Speaker 1: an inorganic state. That's what a fossil is. It's gone 80 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:17,839 Speaker 1: through the process of fossilization. And most of these fossils, 81 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:21,800 Speaker 1: the vast majority of fossils, are found in sedimentary rock. 82 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:24,240 Speaker 1: Before we go any further, we should probably do a 83 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 1: little brief primer on sedimentary rock, right, which is awesome. Yeah, 84 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:31,480 Speaker 1: it's pretty easy to Uh, we've talked about the Earth's core, 85 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:35,560 Speaker 1: um and layers. When I think we talked about earthquakes 86 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:38,080 Speaker 1: and maybe some other stuff. We all know that there's 87 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:42,239 Speaker 1: the inn core, outer core. We got the crust. Crust 88 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:44,680 Speaker 1: is the thinnest layer, and that's where the fossils are. 89 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:49,200 Speaker 1: That's where the goods are. And uh, most of the 90 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:51,840 Speaker 1: rocks in the crust are sedimentary rocks. You've been talking 91 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:54,720 Speaker 1: about off and on for the past eight minutes, right, 92 00:05:55,560 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 1: And that's like silty sandy stuff that hardened over the right, 93 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:04,840 Speaker 1: I mean, but the the Earth, Remember we talked about oh, 94 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:09,560 Speaker 1: what was it clouds I can't remember what podcast it was, 95 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:12,560 Speaker 1: but we talked about how much sand is transferred from 96 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:17,520 Speaker 1: Africa to South America annually. But if you remember the 97 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:21,880 Speaker 1: one I'm talking about. Okay, so the Earth's geo biogeochemical 98 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:27,000 Speaker 1: processes equal a lot of movement of particulate matter. Right. 99 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:30,040 Speaker 1: The Earth is dynamic, baby, it is. It's also very fluid. 100 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:33,880 Speaker 1: To write, A lot of that matter is at at 101 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:38,640 Speaker 1: one point as suspended particles in water that's moving around, right. 102 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:44,280 Speaker 1: So um as this as the water leaves and the 103 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:47,400 Speaker 1: sediment is deposited, it builds up and up and up. 104 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: Over time, it hardens into rock and eventually we have 105 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:54,159 Speaker 1: sedimentary rock which is below our feet. We don't normally 106 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: see it unless say, the Colorado River um winds over 107 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:02,680 Speaker 1: it for you know, millions and millions and millions of years, 108 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:08,240 Speaker 1: revealing the sedimentary rocket that's in the Earth's cross Grand Canyon, 109 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:10,520 Speaker 1: exactly what you're talking about. Yeah, I forgot the Grand 110 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:12,720 Speaker 1: Canyon park. So you know how I said the Earth 111 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 1: was dynamic, baby? Yeah? Uh, that's important. I didn't just 112 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:18,840 Speaker 1: throw that in there as a factoid. It's important because 113 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:23,000 Speaker 1: when these plates shift around, that's how fossils are on Earth. 114 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: Things can be moved great distances and pushed to the 115 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:29,880 Speaker 1: surface eventually or close enough to where a dig can 116 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:33,160 Speaker 1: unearth it. And it's like just because it's fossilized, doesn't 117 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:35,600 Speaker 1: mean it's stuck in that one spot forever, because Earth 118 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:38,000 Speaker 1: is always moving. So the point of all this is 119 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:42,480 Speaker 1: is sedimentary rock um is like you said, dynamic. It 120 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,880 Speaker 1: moves around. Sometimes fossils pop up, or it becomes exposed 121 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:49,360 Speaker 1: all of the Colorado River um, and that is where 122 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:53,240 Speaker 1: fossils are, right Chuck. Yes, So let's say that at 123 00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:55,640 Speaker 1: some point in time there was a dinosaur or a 124 00:07:55,640 --> 00:08:01,640 Speaker 1: saber tooth tiger or a cyanobacteria wily mammoth, woly mammoth, 125 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:05,560 Speaker 1: sure um, and it's um hanging out around the riverbed 126 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:09,240 Speaker 1: and it has a massive heart attack and falls over 127 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:14,480 Speaker 1: in the river bed and very quickly it becomes covered 128 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 1: with sediment and silt, right yeah, And that's important because 129 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:21,480 Speaker 1: once it starts getting covered up with stuff, it's sort 130 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:24,880 Speaker 1: of being protected from like all of us. Let's just 131 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:27,640 Speaker 1: break the news. All of fossil means is that something 132 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:33,000 Speaker 1: has been protected from the natural decomposition process. Otherwise we 133 00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:35,920 Speaker 1: just decompose like everything else and you wouldn't see anymore. 134 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:40,160 Speaker 1: You just totally betrayed Tracy in the tone she went 135 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:44,120 Speaker 1: to this, that the whole drama drawing out suspense. But 136 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:46,200 Speaker 1: that's true. So what you said was right. So you'd 137 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 1: fall over in a riverbed, you start getting covered up 138 00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:51,680 Speaker 1: with the sediment and silt, and it's it's immediately starting 139 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:55,240 Speaker 1: to protect you in a way. Um, not you, but whatever, 140 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:58,000 Speaker 1: the wily mammoth, the wooly mammoth. Um. The thing is 141 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:00,800 Speaker 1: the in this sediment, in this still, you can't really 142 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:07,440 Speaker 1: hide from macrobacteria, uh and other forms of life that 143 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:16,000 Speaker 1: are basically dedicated to breaking down organic matter, soft tissue, hair, eyeballs, um, genitalia, 144 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:19,160 Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff. It eventually becomes broken down 145 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:22,400 Speaker 1: and what's left is the hard stuff, the bone, right, 146 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:27,240 Speaker 1: But the bone also has organic material within it as well. Yeah, 147 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:30,880 Speaker 1: and that'll break down. We're talking blood, cells, collagen, fat, 148 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:34,280 Speaker 1: that's gonna break down. To the key here is the 149 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:37,840 Speaker 1: inorganic parts of the bone remain intact. And it's the 150 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:41,679 Speaker 1: other keyword here's porous. Yes. Well, you take calcium, I 151 00:09:41,679 --> 00:09:46,440 Speaker 1: imagine for your hips. Yeah, sure, glucosim and calcium. Sure. 152 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:50,600 Speaker 1: So what you're doing is, um, you're fortifying the calcium 153 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:54,640 Speaker 1: that's already in your hips supposedly, um, because the bone 154 00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:56,920 Speaker 1: is made in large part of calcium, which is a mineral, 155 00:09:57,000 --> 00:09:59,840 Speaker 1: which is inorganic, So it's all the organic stuff dies 156 00:09:59,840 --> 00:10:03,439 Speaker 1: that out. What's left is, like you said, the inorganic 157 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:07,480 Speaker 1: like calcium, whatever, minerals, and that holds the shape, right. Yeah, 158 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 1: the initial structure is kept intact, right, But like you said, 159 00:10:11,559 --> 00:10:14,040 Speaker 1: this bone is also porous. Yeah, that's the key, and 160 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:19,560 Speaker 1: over time, um other mineral sediment kind of um it 161 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:25,760 Speaker 1: enters into these these microscopic pores iron right, carbonate and 162 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:30,360 Speaker 1: fortifies this, ultimately turning this but what was once an 163 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:34,320 Speaker 1: organic bone into an inorganic rock in the shape of 164 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:36,839 Speaker 1: the bone. Yeah, but for all intensive prefaces, it's still 165 00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:40,160 Speaker 1: the bone. It still has that original calcium. It's still 166 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:42,839 Speaker 1: the same thing. It's not like a replica of it. 167 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:46,760 Speaker 1: It's just become fossilized. Yeah. And Tracy in the article 168 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:49,000 Speaker 1: uses a pretty good example. I thought, it's like filling 169 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:52,840 Speaker 1: a sponge with glue. The sponge is gonna keep the shape, 170 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:55,160 Speaker 1: but the glue is gonna ouze through all these spots 171 00:10:55,160 --> 00:10:58,240 Speaker 1: that it can ouze harden, and there you go. You've 172 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:01,480 Speaker 1: got a hard sponge, a hard sponge, which is basically 173 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:04,040 Speaker 1: what a fossil is. And this takes place Josh over 174 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:07,400 Speaker 1: the course of millions of years, the sediment reinforcing the 175 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 1: bones eventually becoming rock. It's not the kind of thing 176 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:13,720 Speaker 1: that happens willy nilly over thousands of years a long time, 177 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:17,079 Speaker 1: and it's just this isn't just UM happening by itself. 178 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:21,520 Speaker 1: All of the surrounding area UM is being deposited with 179 00:11:21,559 --> 00:11:24,640 Speaker 1: sediment as well. It's also turning into rock UM. And 180 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:26,920 Speaker 1: then the ultimate test of time for a fossil is 181 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:29,880 Speaker 1: that it can withstand the pressure of the that's mounted 182 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:34,120 Speaker 1: by the hardening rock sedimentary rock that's growing around it, 183 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:37,559 Speaker 1: so it can be crushed. Is that how? A lot 184 00:11:37,559 --> 00:11:42,040 Speaker 1: of fossils are definitely crushed crushed the death um. But 185 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:46,920 Speaker 1: if it survives and you can find this, you will 186 00:11:46,920 --> 00:11:49,920 Speaker 1: eventually be able to get to it. And then you 187 00:11:50,080 --> 00:11:52,520 Speaker 1: remove the rock from around the fossil, and there's your 188 00:11:52,559 --> 00:11:55,080 Speaker 1: bone that you can take to the Natural History Museum 189 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:58,360 Speaker 1: and get at least five dollars for When you were 190 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:01,000 Speaker 1: a kid, Josh, let me ask this, did you ever 191 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:05,199 Speaker 1: go into the woods on a little nature course from 192 00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:07,960 Speaker 1: like a science center, let's say, and do a cast 193 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:14,400 Speaker 1: plaster cast of a animal footprint? Do you ever do that? No? Really, 194 00:12:14,679 --> 00:12:16,880 Speaker 1: really I did that. We went and found like deer 195 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 1: hoof prints, you fill it with plaster, and there was 196 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:22,000 Speaker 1: some way of doing it where you got an inverse 197 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:25,280 Speaker 1: plaster cast of a deer hoof print. That can happen 198 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:28,320 Speaker 1: actually in a way that with trace fossils, So you can, 199 00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:31,080 Speaker 1: you know, sediment connect the same way in one of these. 200 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:34,840 Speaker 1: Let's say the wooly mammoth makes a footprint in some 201 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:38,240 Speaker 1: loose but sturdy soil that fills up with sediment and 202 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:40,880 Speaker 1: creates basically a mold, just like I did as a 203 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:43,400 Speaker 1: kid with the plaster cast. Yeah, as long as the 204 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:46,920 Speaker 1: sediment that fills it in is lighter or thinner, yeah 205 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:50,360 Speaker 1: than the soil that the impression is made in, then yeah, 206 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:53,240 Speaker 1: it would it would, It would preserve that track. Yeah, 207 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:54,880 Speaker 1: And plants can do the same thing. It's not just 208 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:58,520 Speaker 1: bones we're talking about. Um. It can also fill in 209 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:00,600 Speaker 1: in a different way. I guess the was it way 210 00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:03,920 Speaker 1: to where it makes a basically a cast of the 211 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:08,120 Speaker 1: foot that made the track. And then so it's like 212 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:12,240 Speaker 1: a kind of like a fossil of a ghost foot 213 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:15,839 Speaker 1: that's not really there, but it makes the foot. It's 214 00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:19,160 Speaker 1: like an inverse cast, okay, of not the track, but 215 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:22,280 Speaker 1: the foot that made the track cool. You know what. 216 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:27,599 Speaker 1: Other another my favorite trace fossil is it's not a 217 00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:30,160 Speaker 1: track way, it's copper light. I changed my mind. That 218 00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:33,520 Speaker 1: is a good one. That's done it poop, fossilized poop, 219 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:36,200 Speaker 1: that's right. I can tell you a lot about an animal. 220 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: It can tell you about its fiber intake. It can 221 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:44,600 Speaker 1: tell you about what size it's poop was. Um chuck. 222 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:48,520 Speaker 1: You know, in the eighties the CIA found out much 223 00:13:48,679 --> 00:13:51,920 Speaker 1: about Gorbichoff and his health. They found out he had 224 00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:56,560 Speaker 1: like cancer or some sort of chronic illness um by 225 00:13:56,640 --> 00:14:00,079 Speaker 1: stealing his poop when he was when he came the 226 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:03,160 Speaker 1: state visit to the US, they took his poop and 227 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:07,080 Speaker 1: analyzed it, and when he was in the US they 228 00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:10,120 Speaker 1: described it from the toilet. Did he not flush? I 229 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:12,319 Speaker 1: just want more specifics that you probably don't have. As 230 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:15,880 Speaker 1: far as I understand, they probably his hotel room or 231 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:19,040 Speaker 1: wherever he was staying. They were prepared to do this. 232 00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:23,160 Speaker 1: This was like toilet rigged. Probably yes, But wherever Reagan 233 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:26,080 Speaker 1: went they had a portable toilet that he used. It 234 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:27,800 Speaker 1: was the only one he was allowed to use. I'm 235 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:31,200 Speaker 1: not kidding. So no one can steal his poop. Talk 236 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:36,160 Speaker 1: about paranoid. Yeah, seriously, when you point one finger, there's 237 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:40,280 Speaker 1: three pointing back at you, you know what I mean. Yeah? Yeah, 238 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:43,080 Speaker 1: Uh so, Josh, that is sedimentary rock and that's to 239 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:46,120 Speaker 1: me one of the cooler ways you can get a fossil. 240 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:49,680 Speaker 1: Petrified wood too. Don't leave that one out. It's basically 241 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:52,640 Speaker 1: the same thing that we just described for bone, but 242 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,200 Speaker 1: for wood hard as a rock because it is a rock. 243 00:14:56,400 --> 00:14:58,960 Speaker 1: Here you go, alright, So like I just said, um, 244 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:01,560 Speaker 1: that was dementary rock and that's kind of fun. But 245 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:06,120 Speaker 1: you can also uh get a fossil. Has that funny 246 00:15:06,200 --> 00:15:09,640 Speaker 1: because one dies in a cave that's really dry. Yeah. 247 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:14,120 Speaker 1: Desiccation Yeah, desiccation is basically, uh, sort of a mummification, 248 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:16,920 Speaker 1: but it's not like we think of with mummification with 249 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:20,120 Speaker 1: the Egyptian tombs or anything like that. Well, that's because 250 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:25,200 Speaker 1: there's no preservation techniques that have been undertaken. Basically, it 251 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:27,920 Speaker 1: dries out. It's like throwing an orange in a dehydrator. 252 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:30,320 Speaker 1: So when it's really dry, there's not gonna be any 253 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:33,200 Speaker 1: place for bacteria to thrive. That's the reason beef jerky 254 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:36,920 Speaker 1: is not um refrigerated. If you refrigerate your beef jerkey, 255 00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:40,360 Speaker 1: you're you're doing something wrong. Yeah, that's true. Well, if 256 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:43,400 Speaker 1: you have beef jerky long enough to need refrigeration, then 257 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:48,440 Speaker 1: you're doing something wrong or something really really right. Uh 258 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:52,480 Speaker 1: So desiccation actually works so well sometimes that it can 259 00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:55,400 Speaker 1: preserve the skin and soft tissues as well, which is 260 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:57,720 Speaker 1: something that sedimentary rock cannot do. Have you been to 261 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:01,480 Speaker 1: the Smithsonian? I have they have um a very cool 262 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:04,760 Speaker 1: I guess a prehistoric cow or a musk ox I 263 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:08,480 Speaker 1: can't remember, but it's the thing's head, um, much of 264 00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:11,680 Speaker 1: its back, I guess, the cape, two of its legs, 265 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:14,000 Speaker 1: and the skin is still there. It's just right there. 266 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:18,320 Speaker 1: Probably it's tens of thousands of years old and it's 267 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:21,080 Speaker 1: just sitting right there. Did they rebuild could they rebuild 268 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:23,280 Speaker 1: it or just put the parts up? It's just the parts, 269 00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 1: but it's laid out so that like it gives you 270 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:28,040 Speaker 1: the impression of what you're looking at, but its face 271 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:31,280 Speaker 1: is still there. It's very cool. Uh. My favorite kind 272 00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:34,560 Speaker 1: of fossil, though, Josh, is I'm gonna say that, like 273 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:39,040 Speaker 1: every five minutes is a frozen fossil. Because if you 274 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:41,360 Speaker 1: get trapped let's see your wily mammoth trapped in ice. 275 00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:44,600 Speaker 1: Not only is that going to keep other like vultures 276 00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:47,320 Speaker 1: and things from picking up your bones and skin, but 277 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:50,280 Speaker 1: it's also going to keep it from breaking down. And 278 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:55,280 Speaker 1: you can get hair fully preserved sometimes if you're in 279 00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:57,400 Speaker 1: skin and like a big mammoth. Have you seen pictures 280 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:01,200 Speaker 1: of Leuba No? Liuba is a baby wooly mammoth that 281 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:05,840 Speaker 1: was found um by a reindeer herder in Siberia and 282 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:08,760 Speaker 1: um it was pounds or something like that, but it 283 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:11,200 Speaker 1: would have gotten up to several times. It is adorable 284 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:16,440 Speaker 1: because it is a fully preserved wooly mammoth baby with 285 00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:19,200 Speaker 1: the wrinkles in the skin and everything, yet spent forty 286 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:23,440 Speaker 1: years in the perma frost. But it's like completely intact. 287 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:26,000 Speaker 1: It's very cute. That's why it's my favorite. It's one 288 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:30,639 Speaker 1: of the cutest dead things you'll ever see. Another couple 289 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:33,119 Speaker 1: of ways you can get a fossil josh, which are 290 00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:37,840 Speaker 1: not my favorite, are a tar librea tar pits, although 291 00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:40,160 Speaker 1: that is one of my favorites, which librea tar pit 292 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:43,040 Speaker 1: is actually redundant because Librea means the tar, so it's 293 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:46,080 Speaker 1: calling it the tar tart pit, and not the tartar. 294 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:48,359 Speaker 1: Did I ever tell you about when I shot a 295 00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:51,040 Speaker 1: commercial there? Have you? Did you go by there in 296 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:53,480 Speaker 1: l A? No? I want to. I forgot about it 297 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:55,320 Speaker 1: when we were there last Well, for those of you 298 00:17:55,400 --> 00:17:58,399 Speaker 1: haven't been, it's right in the middle of Los Angeles, 299 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:01,200 Speaker 1: like south of Hollywood on Wilson Bull Levard, and it's um. 300 00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:06,920 Speaker 1: The main tar pit is uh. Tar pits are fenced off, obviously, 301 00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:09,800 Speaker 1: and they have little recreations. It's it's actually the saddest 302 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:11,880 Speaker 1: thing you'll ever see. The recreation they have in there 303 00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:14,520 Speaker 1: is of a like I guess it's a mother wooly 304 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:17,119 Speaker 1: mammoth trapped in the tar trying to get out, and 305 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:21,920 Speaker 1: the father and the baby on shore like howling. It's awful. 306 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:24,760 Speaker 1: But it's still active, like all this tars bubbling up 307 00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:27,439 Speaker 1: and everything. And shot a commercial there once and I 308 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:30,320 Speaker 1: was on the other side of the property, far away 309 00:18:30,359 --> 00:18:34,120 Speaker 1: from the main pit, and I looked down and there 310 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:37,280 Speaker 1: was a little mini tar pit, a little tar puddle 311 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:41,560 Speaker 1: about a foot wide, bubbling right beneath my feet. I 312 00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:43,680 Speaker 1: could have scooped it up with my finger if I 313 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:47,680 Speaker 1: had been so inclined. Yeah, Instead, you're like that stinks. Well, 314 00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:51,399 Speaker 1: it's just crazy to think that that's still like it's happening. Apparently, 315 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:54,520 Speaker 1: um I looked it up. There's um there's like you said, 316 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:57,320 Speaker 1: main pits that are chained off and that are still 317 00:18:57,359 --> 00:19:00,200 Speaker 1: being excavated. But they have them like in neighborhood. It's 318 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:03,520 Speaker 1: all around the area and parks. They're just kind of 319 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:05,800 Speaker 1: all over the place around there. That's like parts of 320 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:08,600 Speaker 1: Stone Mountain popping up all over the place. We used 321 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:11,520 Speaker 1: We had a big chunk of stone Mountain in our 322 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:14,879 Speaker 1: backyard growing up. All right. For those of you don't know, 323 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:17,720 Speaker 1: Stone Mountain is the world's largest exposed piece of granite 324 00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:20,200 Speaker 1: and it is right here in our home state. And 325 00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:22,480 Speaker 1: it takes like thirty minutes to hike, but you still 326 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:23,800 Speaker 1: get to get to the top and be like I 327 00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:27,280 Speaker 1: just hiked a mountain, which I have, Josh. You can 328 00:19:27,320 --> 00:19:31,600 Speaker 1: also get a pete. Mossy pete can preserve life forms, 329 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:35,119 Speaker 1: including human beings like tolon Man? Was it? Who was 330 00:19:35,119 --> 00:19:37,399 Speaker 1: that Toland Man? I don't know about him? How do 331 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:40,239 Speaker 1: you know? All these people? To people? The first the 332 00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:45,560 Speaker 1: first um multi syllable word I could spell with archaeology. Really, 333 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:48,680 Speaker 1: I've always been interested in that I could see that. Yeah, 334 00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:52,280 Speaker 1: Tolan Man. Also it doesn't. You can hate archaeology like 335 00:19:52,359 --> 00:19:54,960 Speaker 1: some people hate art, and you'll still be interested in 336 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:58,560 Speaker 1: Toland Man. Um, he was He's found in Denmark. He 337 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:03,879 Speaker 1: lived years go and he was murdered. Uh, sacrificially they think, 338 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:06,720 Speaker 1: and cast into the peat bog which pete is just 339 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:10,520 Speaker 1: decomposing moss and lots of it, but it has a tendency. 340 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:14,000 Speaker 1: I think it's anaerobic. So um tissue is preserved really well. 341 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:16,480 Speaker 1: But it's this guy that they dug up and he's 342 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:18,159 Speaker 1: so well preserved that when they found him in the 343 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:20,640 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties they called the cops because they thought they'd 344 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:23,840 Speaker 1: found a murder victim, like a recent one. It looks 345 00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:26,280 Speaker 1: kind of funny, but he's got his whiskers are preserved, 346 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:29,080 Speaker 1: he's wearing a cap, he still has this the garrett 347 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:34,440 Speaker 1: around his neck. Um, it's really awesome. So like three 348 00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:37,160 Speaker 1: hundred to four hundred BC is one who was killed 349 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:42,400 Speaker 1: and he's wearing a hat. Yeah, sheepskin leather cap. Yeah. 350 00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:45,879 Speaker 1: No last chance garage for him. No. Well uh. And 351 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:47,600 Speaker 1: then my favorite way, Josh, that you can get a 352 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:53,400 Speaker 1: fossil h you're joking. Did you say it again? Is amber? 353 00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:55,800 Speaker 1: They just keep getting better and better, like the movie 354 00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:58,520 Speaker 1: Jurassic Park. Yeah, that's how we get dinosaurs again. Yeah, 355 00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:02,440 Speaker 1: dino d NA. So you found something on on whether 356 00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:05,679 Speaker 1: or not that's feasible, right, Yeah, because I always wondered. 357 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:07,520 Speaker 1: You know, when you see Jurassic Park, you see the 358 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:10,359 Speaker 1: little video They made it clearly to explain to the 359 00:21:10,359 --> 00:21:12,800 Speaker 1: movie going audience how this was done. It's better than 360 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:19,000 Speaker 1: Ellen Page running around. What was that movie inception? Um So, 361 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:22,800 Speaker 1: the mosquito flies and tree resident tree resident eventually becomes 362 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:26,640 Speaker 1: hard as copal than it eventually becomes inert as amber. 363 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:29,080 Speaker 1: You get the little mosquito in there. They extracted the 364 00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:32,320 Speaker 1: dino DNA from the blood of the mosquito, filled in 365 00:21:32,359 --> 00:21:35,960 Speaker 1: the gaps with I think frog DNA, and that was 366 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:40,000 Speaker 1: all there was to it. And at the time I thought, yeah, 367 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:42,639 Speaker 1: at the time, I thought that seems plausible, and it 368 00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:44,760 Speaker 1: sort of is. But I did look up today and 369 00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:47,919 Speaker 1: there was a researcher that was interviewed at the or 370 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:50,600 Speaker 1: closer to that time. I think that basically debunked it 371 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:54,440 Speaker 1: and said we could potentially maybe get some DNA even 372 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:58,080 Speaker 1: though it's really fragile and loses his signature really quickly. 373 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:01,240 Speaker 1: Even if you could get the in a he said 374 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:05,240 Speaker 1: that you couldn't construct a dinosaurs just you can't fill 375 00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:07,320 Speaker 1: in the blanks like that. There's way too many blanks. 376 00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:11,320 Speaker 1: You have a giant frog, yeah, with little tiny arms 377 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:14,720 Speaker 1: forearms that Steven Spielberg made us believe when you saw 378 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:17,159 Speaker 1: those dinosaurs walk across that field. That guy can make 379 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:21,640 Speaker 1: me believe in anything, that aliens came to the American Southwest, 380 00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:26,960 Speaker 1: that there was a World War two. That um home, 381 00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:32,679 Speaker 1: yea good stuff. Uh, where are we here? Chuck it. 382 00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:34,679 Speaker 1: We're kind of painting this picture where if like you 383 00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:36,800 Speaker 1: just stick a shovel anywhere on the Earth, you're gonna 384 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:40,280 Speaker 1: yield like all sorts of bones and fossils. No, it's 385 00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:45,440 Speaker 1: not um. First of all, a mere fraction that I 386 00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:48,320 Speaker 1: don't think could possibly be calculated because we rely on 387 00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:52,240 Speaker 1: the fossil record to show us what existed back when, 388 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:55,840 Speaker 1: and it's incomplete. Therefore we've entered to catch twenty two. 389 00:22:56,320 --> 00:22:59,240 Speaker 1: But there's just a mere fraction of all of the 390 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:05,600 Speaker 1: species organisms that's ever lived that become fossilized UM Like. Basically, 391 00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:08,959 Speaker 1: a perfect storm of chance has to occur for a 392 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:11,919 Speaker 1: fossil to be created. As we've seen, even when it 393 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,800 Speaker 1: is created, it can still be crushed into oblivion. Um. 394 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:20,359 Speaker 1: And so there are few and far between to begin with. 395 00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:24,320 Speaker 1: What we have to figure out where to find them? Well, 396 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:26,080 Speaker 1: then you got to find that. That's the other problem, 397 00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:28,800 Speaker 1: and the way we find it is by identifying rock 398 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:32,640 Speaker 1: that will likely have the type of fossil that we're 399 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:35,280 Speaker 1: looking for. Yeah, so if you want something that from 400 00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:39,360 Speaker 1: that year. So if you know that this animal, yeah, 401 00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:41,399 Speaker 1: if you if you know this this animal lived, you know, 402 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:43,639 Speaker 1: thirty million years ago, you're gonna go find rock that 403 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:46,399 Speaker 1: you know is thirty million years old and start poking 404 00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:50,320 Speaker 1: around and you know, looking this sort of a very 405 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:54,280 Speaker 1: chance thing. And we know that, um, we know, like 406 00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:57,639 Speaker 1: say a layer of rock or strata of rock is 407 00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:01,000 Speaker 1: thirty million years old because of the technique we have 408 00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:06,680 Speaker 1: called radiocarbon dating. Right, Yeah, you want to do this one? Well, sure, 409 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:09,480 Speaker 1: Carbon fourteen dating is what a lot of people toss 410 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:12,080 Speaker 1: around because that's probably the most well known, but that 411 00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:15,800 Speaker 1: can only take you back sixty thousand years and we're 412 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:18,159 Speaker 1: talking millions and billions of years, so they need to 413 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:24,400 Speaker 1: uh study isotopes like potassium forty and uranian two thirty eight, 414 00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:26,760 Speaker 1: because that goes back millions of years evidently. The half 415 00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:30,280 Speaker 1: life yeah, and the half life is where an atom 416 00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:35,000 Speaker 1: loses half of its life isotopes to decay. Yeah, okay, 417 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:38,959 Speaker 1: and these the this um radioactive decay takes place at 418 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:43,240 Speaker 1: a predictable rate depending on the atom, the type of atom. Right, Yeah, 419 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:46,840 Speaker 1: that's how I understand it. So if we find the 420 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:51,359 Speaker 1: type of atom missing x number of isotopes, we can say, well, 421 00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:54,280 Speaker 1: this is roughly thirty million to thirty one million years 422 00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:57,840 Speaker 1: old or thirty million to thirty million and three hundred 423 00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:00,600 Speaker 1: years old. I'm not sure what window we can date 424 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:03,480 Speaker 1: it to, right, but I think it's enough so that, 425 00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:06,360 Speaker 1: you know, we have a rough estimate of of you know, 426 00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:10,800 Speaker 1: when this fossil lived in the sediment was buried around it. So, Josh, 427 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:15,440 Speaker 1: let's say that you're lucky enough and skilled enough as 428 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:19,960 Speaker 1: an intrepid paleontologist to come across your fossil. What do 429 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:24,600 Speaker 1: you do? Well, as I said, you dig it up 430 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:26,879 Speaker 1: and take it to the museum and sell it for 431 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:30,439 Speaker 1: five d SIMOLEA. Well, I don't know about that, but 432 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:33,040 Speaker 1: you should call a museum. Even if you think you 433 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:36,120 Speaker 1: know what you're doing, you're probably gonna need some help. 434 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:38,520 Speaker 1: If it's something major. I think you should probably go 435 00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:41,080 Speaker 1: on the assumption that you don't know what you're doing 436 00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:45,959 Speaker 1: unless you're a trained paleontologist. Um. Part of the problem 437 00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:49,720 Speaker 1: is is we assume that these fossils, being rocks, are sturdy. 438 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:52,159 Speaker 1: That's not always the case, and so there's a lot 439 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:57,280 Speaker 1: of danger of damage um in a just an average 440 00:25:57,359 --> 00:26:00,720 Speaker 1: joe trying to excavate him. Also, if you just pull 441 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:03,240 Speaker 1: a bone up and walk away with it, uh, it 442 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:06,639 Speaker 1: immediately loses context. Yeah, it's like removing a piece of 443 00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:10,080 Speaker 1: evidence from a crimesy almost exactly. Can't do that, well, 444 00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:13,520 Speaker 1: you're not supposed to. Uh. So you know, they have 445 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:17,479 Speaker 1: these huge cranes and uh, digging tools where they can 446 00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:20,800 Speaker 1: remove huge slabs of earth, which is a really good 447 00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:22,879 Speaker 1: way to do it. And sometimes if they're you know, 448 00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:25,560 Speaker 1: if it's something that could be fragile, they will remove 449 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:28,800 Speaker 1: the entire slab, cast it in plaster and just go 450 00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:31,560 Speaker 1: ahead and ship that thing off to a facility to 451 00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:34,159 Speaker 1: handle it from there. And the cool thing is is 452 00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:38,479 Speaker 1: even though rock has formed around this bone, Yeah, that's right, 453 00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:41,119 Speaker 1: up right, all up on it, all up in it. 454 00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:45,160 Speaker 1: If you um flake it away properly, if you flake 455 00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:48,480 Speaker 1: the surrounding sedimentary rock away, um, you're going to find 456 00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:51,600 Speaker 1: that there's what's called the plane of weakness, which is 457 00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:54,880 Speaker 1: where the bone and the rock are still on this 458 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:58,919 Speaker 1: very microscopic level, they're not fused together. You're gonna hit 459 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:02,440 Speaker 1: that and the box should chip right away and and 460 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:04,800 Speaker 1: leave the bone. Yeah, And I think sometimes they missed 461 00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:07,200 Speaker 1: it with water too, to soften it up and help 462 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:09,680 Speaker 1: the whole process. Another thing too, if they find that 463 00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:13,399 Speaker 1: is really brittle, they can actually reinforce the bone with 464 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:16,560 Speaker 1: resin and thin glue. But you need to be careful 465 00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:22,120 Speaker 1: there too, which is pretty much helping along the fossilization process. Yeah, 466 00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:23,840 Speaker 1: I would think so. I mean it's the same thing. 467 00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:27,560 Speaker 1: It's like artifice, forcing it with something sturdy. Well, and 468 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:29,760 Speaker 1: then you can date it using your little mass spectrometer 469 00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:33,439 Speaker 1: that's in your pocket and or a cat scan. Sometimes 470 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:37,480 Speaker 1: the use cat scans computer imaging stuff like that. Yeah. 471 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:39,199 Speaker 1: I didn't I didn't get how they were dating it 472 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:43,080 Speaker 1: from cat scan. I don't know if they're dating it 473 00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:46,760 Speaker 1: with a cat scan or just sussen. The whole thing out. Gotcha. 474 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:49,080 Speaker 1: I don't think it's a dating situation. Tracy was just 475 00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:52,800 Speaker 1: throwing out some extra tools of the trade. Huh yeah, exactly, 476 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:57,520 Speaker 1: gotch So um, chuck, what is all this worth? I mean, 477 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:01,680 Speaker 1: we we have a thirst for knowledge. Obviously people think 478 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:04,960 Speaker 1: bones are very cool, but ultimately, what's the pursuit of 479 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:09,040 Speaker 1: paleontology to to put together the piece of the puzzle 480 00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:12,840 Speaker 1: of how we got here? Right? I mean that's what 481 00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:15,280 Speaker 1: I think. Yeah, that's my understanding as well. Yeah, you 482 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:18,360 Speaker 1: can learn a lot by not only finding the fossil, 483 00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:23,919 Speaker 1: but finding what was with the fossil in that same strata. Ah. 484 00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:26,399 Speaker 1: I can tell you like, hey, this is a t 485 00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:30,480 Speaker 1: rex bone, and there's also a bit of pine tree, 486 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:33,119 Speaker 1: so we know pine trees were around, and they may 487 00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:35,040 Speaker 1: have eaten pine trees. Well not t rex because they 488 00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:39,400 Speaker 1: were carnivores, right, um, yeah, they were herbivore. Let's say, 489 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:44,480 Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Abronosaurus sure. Um. And ultimately 490 00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:47,240 Speaker 1: all of these fossils come together, plant and well everything 491 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:49,880 Speaker 1: that we can get our hands on to form what 492 00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:53,280 Speaker 1: is called the fossil record, right, and this is basically 493 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:56,880 Speaker 1: the record of life on Earth. Uh. It's also used 494 00:28:56,920 --> 00:29:00,880 Speaker 1: to support evolution big time. And uh, it's here that 495 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:07,280 Speaker 1: paleontology gets most contentious, right, yeah, sure, because there's um 496 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:12,400 Speaker 1: the the idea that beings evolve if you go far 497 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:16,720 Speaker 1: enough back from a single common ancestor, right, And so 498 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:20,479 Speaker 1: if we can put together a complete fossil record, we 499 00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:23,840 Speaker 1: would be able to see how everything alive today evolved 500 00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:28,520 Speaker 1: from this common ancestor or common ancestors. Right. Yeah. The 501 00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:32,000 Speaker 1: problem is fossil records incomplete, and one of the really 502 00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:36,120 Speaker 1: key parts that it's often missing are called transitional fossils. Right, 503 00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:39,440 Speaker 1: My favorite kind of fossil, Josh, is a transitional fossil. 504 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:44,440 Speaker 1: And one example Tracy used was the baleen whale. Uh. There, 505 00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:46,400 Speaker 1: there's a picture of one actually in the article twenty 506 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:49,000 Speaker 1: five million year old fossil of a baleen whale with 507 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:53,480 Speaker 1: sharp teeth. Um, today's bailing whales don't have sharp teeth, 508 00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:56,520 Speaker 1: but we know that once before this had sharp teeth 509 00:29:56,720 --> 00:30:00,440 Speaker 1: and legs. So this is a transitional fossil that shows, well, 510 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:02,719 Speaker 1: they used to have legs and sharp teeth, then they 511 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:04,840 Speaker 1: just had sharp teeth, and now they don't have legs 512 00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:08,800 Speaker 1: or sharp teeth. They're defenseless, which is why they're bailing whales, 513 00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:13,239 Speaker 1: right and not sharks or Megalodon's right. Um, and so 514 00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:16,400 Speaker 1: a transitional fossil is one that that pops up between 515 00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:20,400 Speaker 1: old and new, and it makes sense. Our understanding of 516 00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:24,440 Speaker 1: evolution is that it takes a little while, and UM, 517 00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:27,640 Speaker 1: something like teeth aren't just gonna go away in one generation. 518 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:30,360 Speaker 1: It's gonna take more and more and more, and then UM, 519 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:32,440 Speaker 1: we should be able to find them along the way 520 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:35,480 Speaker 1: where maybe the teeth gets smaller. There's fewer and fewer 521 00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:39,920 Speaker 1: UM baling whale teeth in the average baling whale mouth, 522 00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:44,560 Speaker 1: and you're putting together the puzzle exactly. Um. Again, the 523 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:47,720 Speaker 1: fossil records a little incomplete, and there aren't as many 524 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:51,440 Speaker 1: transitional fossils as I think people would like to UM 525 00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:54,720 Speaker 1: have tied all together, right, UM, and then some of 526 00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:57,320 Speaker 1: the uh, some of the explanations are probably the most 527 00:30:57,360 --> 00:31:01,600 Speaker 1: famous explanation for this is that UM evolution isn't gradual. 528 00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:04,320 Speaker 1: I think it's Stephen J. Gould came up with the 529 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:09,200 Speaker 1: idea of punctuated equilibrium, and that is basically that UM 530 00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:15,440 Speaker 1: evolution takes place suddenly in these huge quick fits and starts, 531 00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:18,760 Speaker 1: which would explain why there's not like teeth don't go 532 00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:21,600 Speaker 1: away in a generation, but they go away a lot 533 00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:26,000 Speaker 1: faster than we used to suspect. And that's why these 534 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:30,600 Speaker 1: um fossils um accompanied with the idea that not every 535 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:33,600 Speaker 1: animal that's ever died has become fossilized, explained why there's 536 00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:36,560 Speaker 1: huge gaps in the fossil record, which will inevitably always 537 00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:41,120 Speaker 1: be incomplete. Is that a hypothesis at this point? I 538 00:31:41,120 --> 00:31:45,240 Speaker 1: guess it is not a theory yet I don't. I 539 00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:47,840 Speaker 1: don't think so. I think it is a hypothesis. I 540 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:49,960 Speaker 1: got one more thing, Okay, I'd like to finish with 541 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:52,880 Speaker 1: my favorite kind of fossil, and that is a living fossil. 542 00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:57,600 Speaker 1: And that, Josh, is when you've got a plant or 543 00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:02,239 Speaker 1: animal that looks so much like ancient fossils that they 544 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:07,080 Speaker 1: consider a living fossil. Allah, the horseshoe crab, right, apparently 545 00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:10,240 Speaker 1: the horseshoe crab has not changed. Didn't need too, It's perfect. 546 00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:15,160 Speaker 1: Look at it, it's gorgeous. What else? Oh, genk baloba plants? 547 00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:18,680 Speaker 1: And then a word that I don't know of, the 548 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:21,959 Speaker 1: ceila cant. What is that? Uh? It's this horrid looking 549 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:25,840 Speaker 1: fish that they remember that VW commercial where he's like, 550 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:27,920 Speaker 1: it's like the Cela camp and the guys like what 551 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:30,240 Speaker 1: they're looking in the trunk and he's like a full 552 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:33,000 Speaker 1: size spare tire and he's like, it's like a Cela. 553 00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:35,240 Speaker 1: Can't They used to think it was extinct. There was 554 00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:37,080 Speaker 1: a fish, and then they found it, like in the 555 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:41,080 Speaker 1: nineteen thirties again, but it's this dinosaur looking fish. Oh, 556 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:43,280 Speaker 1: I think I've seen him that they thought was extinct 557 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:45,400 Speaker 1: for millions of years and they called him I think 558 00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:47,960 Speaker 1: in South America, off the coast of South America, and 559 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:52,560 Speaker 1: they're still around living Saul and the Horseshoe Crab and 560 00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:56,120 Speaker 1: Stephen j. Could in the gek Baloba. Well, it's it 561 00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:58,479 Speaker 1: for fossils, right, That's all I have. I think we've 562 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:00,920 Speaker 1: got the point across. That's an overview. A fossil is 563 00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:04,400 Speaker 1: a rock. Just remember that, Okay if you want to 564 00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:07,600 Speaker 1: learn more about fossils um Seriously, this is one of 565 00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:10,120 Speaker 1: the better articles on the site. Tracy did a great 566 00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:14,160 Speaker 1: job with it. Type fossils into the search bar a 567 00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:17,200 Speaker 1: handy search bar, and how stuff works dot com, which 568 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:22,560 Speaker 1: means it's time for listener mail. Josh. We made a 569 00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:26,400 Speaker 1: young girl cry. That's what I'm gonna call this one. Okay, 570 00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:29,880 Speaker 1: It's probably happened more than once. Hi, guys and Jerry. 571 00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:32,520 Speaker 1: My name is Ali. I'm from Indiana. I was in 572 00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:35,600 Speaker 1: the I S s M, a band contest, playing a 573 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:39,680 Speaker 1: difficult marimba solo today. I was pretty nervous, but being 574 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:42,440 Speaker 1: first chair and the only female percussionist in my school 575 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:45,400 Speaker 1: really brought up my confidence. I went in, I choked 576 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:48,920 Speaker 1: and I stumbled through my piece. You get a gold, 577 00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:53,680 Speaker 1: silver bronze or a participation medal. Got the bronze, which 578 00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:57,240 Speaker 1: is equivalent to a score of an F. I was 579 00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:01,400 Speaker 1: really upset. Wait, what is participating that sub f? I 580 00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:03,200 Speaker 1: didn't even know they made metals. I thought was is 581 00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:06,640 Speaker 1: the ribbon? It's probably a ribbon. I was really upset. 582 00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:08,400 Speaker 1: I got home. I was trying to cheer myself up 583 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:11,320 Speaker 1: by listening to your podcast on What's the Deal with Sinkholes. 584 00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:13,880 Speaker 1: I really love the show and I've listened almost everyone. 585 00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:16,000 Speaker 1: But in the beginning, you guys talked about how much 586 00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:19,960 Speaker 1: the bronze medals suck. Remember that. Oh yeah, so we 587 00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:22,400 Speaker 1: didn't liftro spirits very much, Josh and Chuck. I just 588 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:23,600 Speaker 1: want to let you know that the two of you 589 00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:26,799 Speaker 1: made me cry then from Ali and I has since 590 00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:29,720 Speaker 1: written Alie back and apologized, and she said that she's 591 00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:32,520 Speaker 1: feeling much better now and uh, it wasn't our fault. 592 00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:35,359 Speaker 1: And I told her that I've choked under pressure many 593 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:39,680 Speaker 1: times in my life and it happens, and it will 594 00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:42,239 Speaker 1: happen again, and it doesn't mean you don't have the 595 00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:46,839 Speaker 1: goods every single time, but you know you pick yourself up. 596 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:48,839 Speaker 1: It sounds like you gave her some good advice choke. 597 00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:51,040 Speaker 1: I think so. She seemed receptive to it. It's like 598 00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:54,160 Speaker 1: a sweet girl. I think that's an excellent lead in. 599 00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:58,320 Speaker 1: If you have a story about choking, not physically choking, 600 00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:01,440 Speaker 1: but you there's something you good at and you didn't 601 00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:04,640 Speaker 1: do it. Well, say you're a television reporter in Los 602 00:35:04,719 --> 00:35:08,440 Speaker 1: Angeles and you're supposed to report on the Grammys like 603 00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:10,120 Speaker 1: that to your podcast, and you have to do a 604 00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:13,200 Speaker 1: show about the sun to give one too, but we 605 00:35:13,239 --> 00:35:14,920 Speaker 1: want to hear about it. You can send it to 606 00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:18,040 Speaker 1: us via email. Just type in where it says to 607 00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:26,920 Speaker 1: stuff podcast at how stuff works dot com for more 608 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:29,160 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics. Is it how 609 00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:31,840 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com To learn more about the podcast, 610 00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:34,600 Speaker 1: click on the podcast icon in the upper right corner 611 00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:37,680 Speaker 1: of our homepage. The How Stuff Works iPhone app has 612 00:35:37,719 --> 00:35:43,600 Speaker 1: a ride. Download it today on iTunes. Brought to you 613 00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:47,000 Speaker 1: by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are 614 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:47,279 Speaker 1: you