# Science Is Fun: From the Decline of the Dinosaurs to the End of the Season
Welcome to La Science s’aMuse, the science show co-produced by UM and Divergence-FM, which has taken you on a journey through the Muse laboratory archipelago all year long. For this final episode of the season, Fabien Condamine, a biologist atthe Institute of Evolutionary Sciences in Montpellier, talks to us about his latest study published in Nature Communications, on the decline of the dinosaurs.
And for this final stop of the season, we’re heading to a lost world! Today we’re offering you adventure, science, and danger. Our story takes place 66 million years ago. As we sail across the Tethys Sea, between Laurasia and Gondwana, the Earth belongs to triceratops, diplodocus, and velociraptors. Not for much longer! An asteroid about 12 kilometers in diameter crashes into the Yucatan Peninsula, triggering a global cataclysm that will hasten the demise of these giants and two-thirds of the species inhabiting the planet. We are in the Cretaceous Period, witnessing the end of the Mesozoic Era.
A tragic scenario that has consistently inspired Hollywood—from *Jurassic Park* to *Ice Age*—to the delight of audiences endlessly captivated by the fate of these massive creatures. Except that… While dinosaurs remain very much alive in our imaginations, perhaps they weren’t quite so vigorous by the time the tragedy struck? Indeed, a study published on June 30 in Nature Communications reveals that ten million years before their extinction, the decline of these fascinating creatures seemed well underway. The cause of this slow disappearance? A reorganization of ocean circulation, which led to a drop of 7 to 10 degrees in global temperatures. To trace the sequence of these “cascading extinctions, ” Fabien Condamine and his colleagues atISEM turned to the fossil record and a brand-new statistical modeling method: the PyRate program. He tells us more in this fascinating, in-depth interview.
Starting next week, Divergence-FM’s summer lineup on 93.9 invites you to tune in to *La Science s’aMuse* at the beach, by the pool, at the foot of a mountain, or in a canoe—anywhere the summer breeze takes you. Thank you all for tuning in throughout this season. See you in September for a new adventure.
Learn more:
- "Dinosaur biodiversity declined well before the asteroid impact, influenced by ecological and environmental pressures," by Fabien L. Condamine, Guillaume Guinot, Michael J. Benton, and Philip J. Currie. *Nature Communications*, June 29, 2021. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23754-0.
- CNRS Press Release: The decline of the dinosaurs had already begun long before the asteroid struck.
- Before the asteroid strike that caused their extinction, dinosaur species were already in decline, The Conversation, June 29, 2021.
- “We didn’t think the dinosaurs were in decline before the meteorite struck,” Futura Science, June 29, 2021.
Science is Fun—you’ve got the ticket, let’s go!
Production: University of Montpellier / Divergence FM
Host: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: Aline Périault and Lucie Lecherbonnier
Director: Adeline Floc’h
Tune in to the show “A LUM LA SCIENCE” on Divergence FM 93.9
