The challenge to be curious!

Following the world premiere of “A Curious Thing- The story of Mary Anning” at the 2023 Adelaide Fringe, Palaeo Jam host, and writer/director of the Mary Anning Fringe show Michael Mills sat down with three brilliant women in science to explore their thoughts on the show, its themes, Mary’s legacy, and their own experiences as women in science.

In a wide ranging discussion, Flinders University space archeologist, Dr Alice Gorman, University of Adelaide Palaeontologist Dr Liz Reed, and University of Adelaide PhD Candidate Tiah Bampton speak about key moments in their lives, role models that have inspired them, and give some important insights into some of the challenges still faced by women in science, 176 years after Mary Anning’s death.

The podcast ends with each guest being asked the one thing they might say to Mary Anning, had they the opportunity to do so.

You can find Dr Alice Gorman on Twitter at @drspacejunk https://twitter.com/drspacejunk

Amongst many things, Alice has written extensively for The Conversation, including a recent article, “Prejudice, poor pay and the ‘urinary leash’: naming and claiming Australia’s forgotten women scientists”.

Read the article here... https://theconversation.com/prejudice-poor-pay-and-the-urinary-leash-naming-and-claiming-australias-forgotten-women-scientists-198407

And if you don’t already have a copy, find yourself a copy of Alice’s book, “Dr Space Junk vs The Universe: Archaeology and the Future.”

You can find Dr Liz Reed on Twitter at... @LizReed_palaeo https://twitter.com/LizReed_palaeo

Liz’s extensive profile, with links to research papers and articles can be found at... https://researchers.adelaide.edu.au/profile/liz.reed

Liz appeared on a previous episode of Palaeo Jam in which she and host Michael Mills chatted about the importance of caves not just as repositories of fossils, but as living ecosystems, while sitting in Blanch Caves in the Naracoorte Caves of South Australia. Check out the episode here... https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-rnthh-1379952

To learn about Tiah Bampton’s journey, and the delightful connection to PhD supervisor Dr Liz Reed, tune in to the podcast! And also check out this story with the ABC... https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-03/tiah-bampton-living-dream-at-naracoorte-caves-palaeontology-dig/12209876

You can check out Tiah’s research profile here... https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tiah-Bampton And read the paper referred to in the Research gate link, here... https://helictite.caves.org.au/pdf1/46.Bampton.pdf

Palaeo Jam host Michael Mills can be found on Twitter as @heapsgood https://twitter.com/Heapsgood

For more on the work Michael and HeapsGood Productions have been involved with in exploring the story of Mary Anning, check out the link... https://linktr.ee/TheseCuriousThings