Ep 32: The Cambrian Explosion
Synopsis
Brennan Martens from the University of Alberta, and amateur paleontologist & medical student Trevor Rempert join the podcast to discuss the Cambrian Explosion. This is an event that is so complex and significant, but it only represents a blip on the Geologic Time Scale. Throughout the podcast, we discuss the current understandings of this period; what it's like to be at a dig site for this period, and the hotly contested debate in the scientific community between contingency and determinism as the main driver of Evolution.
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Meet the Guest Stars
Trevor Rempert
Trevor is a Master’s student at Case Western Reserve University studying Medical Physiology. Prior to his current education, he received his undergraduate degree at Northwestern University in Biomedical Engineering.
In addition to studying medicine, Trevor is an avid avocational paleontologist whose hobby has taken him across the United States in search of fossils. Trevor’s most recent project involves studying the biodiversity of mosasaurs in the Late Cretaceous of Morocco… just prior to the K-T extinction.
Trevor made a previous appearance on the podcast; Episode 13 - Earth’s Mass Extinctions. Be sure to check that out to learn more about dating rock/fossils, the geologic time scale, mass extinction events, and how life changed after each event.
Brennan Martens
Brennan is a 3rd year Paleontology student at the University of Alberta and Director of the Vancouver Paleontological Society.
He studies lower to middle Cambrian fossils of British Columbia and has been an avid fossil collector since the age of 5.
Brennan is currently working with The Cranbrook History Center on excavating and studying a lower Cambrian fossil site with rare soft body preservation.
