Dr. Joti Rouillard: Fossil Imposters

Spot the differences! Panels A, C, F, and H on the left are non-living biomorph crystals. Everything else is a living or fossil bacteria. You can see how tough it is to ID an ancient fossil! From Rouillard et al., 2018

My guest today is Dr. Joti Rouillard, a research fellow at the University of Science and Technology in Hefei, China. Dr. Rouillard talks about his research on the earliest fossils on Earth, microscopic bacteria 3.5 billion years old. It turns out, identifying a fossil bacteria is extremely difficult since they resemble other tiny non-living objects. We also talk about working in the Australian Outback, kangaroo encounters, and what happens when you mix alcohol and rocks.

Dr. Rouillard's email: joti.rouillard@gmail.com