The Life Scientific: Steve Brusatte on the fall of dinosaurs and the rise of mammals

Discovery

BBC

Science

4.3 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2022

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Steve Brusatte analyses the pace of evolutionary change and tries to answer big questions. Why did the dinosaurs die out and the mammals survive? How did dinosaurs evolve into birds? If you met a Velociraptor today you’d probably mistake it for a large flightless bird, says Steve. His intense interest in T. rex, Triceratops and all the other dinosaur species developed when he was a teenager and continues to this day. More recently, however, he’s focussed on the long history of mammals.

For hundreds of millions of years, our mammalian ancestors remained small. Most were mouse-sized. None were bigger than a badger. Steve studies how, when an asteroid collided with earth 66 million years ago, the mammals got lucky. All the big dinosaurs were wiped out and only the small ones with wings survived. (Birds are dinosaurs, by the way). Within half a million years, mammals of all shapes and sizes had taken over on planet earth. Sabre-toothed flesh eaters, cow-sized plant guzzlers and a host of other warm blooded placental animals evolved alongside the badger sized burrowers.

Steve talks to Jim Al-Khalili about his life and work, including the recent discovery of an incredibly well-preserved Pterosaur on the Isle of Skye, a place he likes to call Scotland’s Jurassic Park. Producer: Anna Buckley

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to tell you why I love podcasting.
0:04.3	I'm Sasha Johansson, I'm an Assistant Commissioner for the BBC and I work on making podcasts.
0:11.1	My real passion is discovering unbelievable unheard stories and working with the biggest
0:16.8	stars who can really bring those stories to life.
0:20.0	I love the whole process of making podcasts from the spark of an idea to hearing the final
0:25.9	edit.
0:26.9	There's nothing like it.
0:27.9	What makes BBC podcast special is that we're working for you, so whatever we commission
0:32.6	has to reflect the things that you care about and love, wherever you are in the UK.
0:37.0	So if you like this BBC podcast, there's so much more to discover.
0:40.6	Have a listen on BBC Sounds.
0:42.6	This is Discovery from the BBC World Service.
0:45.4	I'm Jumal Khalili and in my series The Life Scientific, I get to talk to some of the
0:50.2	extraordinary men and women who are trying to understand our world and make it a better
0:55.2	place.
0:56.2	And on The Life Scientific, we're talking ancient reptiles, dinosaurs, crocodiles and
1:01.0	terraces, like the magnificent specimen found recently on the Isle of Sky.
1:05.9	And I'll be finding out how a group of animals that are a bit more warm and cuddly came
1:10.6	to dominate our planet.
1:12.7	Steve Brissarty studies the pace of evolution, finding out how certain groups of species take
1:18.2	off on a role of evolutionary experimentation, while others grind to a halt and become extinct,
1:24.9	or are suddenly wiped out.
	...

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