Science at UM [S03-ep23]: Fossils Under a Rocket
This week on "Science at UM": Pierre-Olivier Antoine, a paleontologist at the Institute of Evolutionary Sciences in Montpellier, tells us how tens of thousands of fossils discovered beneath the Ariane rocket launch site shed new light on the history of French Guiana. A program co-produced with Divergence FM and broadcast every Wednesday at 6 p.m. on 93.9.
And today, we’re heading to French Guiana—more specifically, to Kourou. Sorry to all space exploration enthusiasts—we’re not inviting you on a space journey, but rather a journey through time. It was at the Ariane rocket launch site that an international consortium of paleontologists, geologists, and biologists had the idea to dig and excavate, and to say the least, they had a good nose for it. Between 2017 and 2021, scientists coordinated by the Institute of Evolutionary Sciences in Montpellier unearthed tens of thousands of fossils spanning a period of 130,000 years.
This discovery provides insight not only into the animal and plant biodiversity of Pleistocene andHolocene French Guiana, but also into much more. The journey through time I mentioned should be understood in both its aspects, as this fossil assemblage also tells us a great deal about the Earth’s past and future climate.
We’ll tell you more about this with our guest, Pierre-Olivier Antoine, a paleontologist at ISEM who coordinated this study. He is the author of the article we’re focusing on today, published in the journal *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA*.
For more information:
- Read the press release: A rich coastal ecosystem dating back 125,000 years discovered beneath Ariane 6 in French Guiana
- Read the article " A Late Pleistocene coastal ecosystem in French Guiana was hyperdiverse relative to today"
- Also listen to the episodes “Caribbean Rodent Fossils in the ISEM Sedimentation Hall” and “The Giant Sloth at the Sclerochronology Platform” with Pierre-Olivier Antoine
In the second half of the program, we invite you to listen to an episode of Lumlu, the podcast series from Lum magazine, titled “The Wild Boar of Discord.” Raphaël Mathevet, a researcher at the Center for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, discusses the delicate coexistence between humans and animals.
- Read the article "The Wild Boar of Discord"
At UM Science, you’ve got the program—let’s get started!
Co-production: Divergence FM / University of Montpellier
Host: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: Aline Périault / Lucie Lecherbonnier
Production: Alice Rollet
Tune in to the show “A l’UM la science” on Divergence FM 93.9
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