Science Sunday: Making Mummies Talk

MAKING MUMMIES TALK: Using fossils to understand how seals will respond to environmental change

Paul Koch, Ph.D.
Dean, Physical and Biological Sciences
Professor, Earth and Planetary Sciences
UC Santa Cruz

Koch will discuss his work on mummies to understand the ecology of the seals that lived in the Ross Sea of Antarctica over the past 8,000 years, and how insights gained from study of mummies might be important for conversation of the species in the future.

The frigid, dry climates of Antarctica are especially conducive to natural mummification of animals. Large numbers of seals have wandered into the Dry Valleys of Antarctica where they perished and now dot the landscape as mummies that can be sampled for studies of past ecology.

Lecture is free with admission. Recommended for ages 10 and older.

Doors open to the lecture hall at 12:30 PM. Lecture passes are available at the admissions counter at noon. Seating is limited and first-come, first-served. No late seating.