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The way we look and the way we behave comes down to our genes and our environment. Tonight, we see how genetics make different lifeforms look similar at birth, and we delve into the lifestyle choices that helped large dinosaurs become better neighbours.
What was the life cycle of our ancestors?
Dr Laura Piovani
(Research Fellow in the Division of Biosciences)
Sometimes we can reconstruct the evolution of animals by looking at the fossil record, but not everything leaves a trace. One example is the small larval stage seen in many marine animals. Larval stages are important for dispersal, can last up to several weeks and are followed by a metamorphosis into a very different adult form. Oddly, larvae of animals as different as a sea urchin, an oyster and a worm appear very similar. My work shows how much they have in common from a genetic perspective.
When T.rex-sized dinosaurs ate fish and lived in rivers
Cassius Morrison
(PhD Student in Palaeontology)
Not all predatory dinosaurs the size of T.rex ate meat. Some ate fish and spent most of their time in the water, while others stalked the land for dominance. How did so many large carnivores co-exist, and did they get along or fight for dominance?
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