Episode #45
The sound of a Jurassic forest, recreated using fossils and AI
Sounds play such an important ecological role, but palaeontologists have always had to use their imagination when reconstructing the sound of extinct landscapes: Until now! For the first time a team of scientists have reconstructed the sound of a whole palaeo-community. Using fossil insect wings and some technological approaches to modern animals, the team were able to use physics and AI models to reconstruct the acoustic landscape of a Jurassic forest peppered with the calls of insects. Were the animals avoiding predators or just talking to each other? Listen in and find out. This week's paper is "Reconstruction of an extinct soundscape reveals ultrasonic communication in the Jurassic" by Jun-Jie Gu, Fernando Montealegre-Zapata and colleagues published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in August 2026 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2615107123 We also provide some updates from previous episodes: #5 "Were Neanderthals the first fossil collectors" updated with Roman findings https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X26100749 #30 "How can we reconstruct the smell of extinct organisms" smells different using new data from fishes https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.3277 #25 "A dinosaur covered in porcupine spines & the earliest fossil cloaca" gets a new friend with the discovery of an early mammal cloaca https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.116752 And the most controversial of all #4 "Is de-extinction a scam?", well it looks more likely given what got left out when the paper finally came out https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xgen.2026.101306 Widescreen art by Zuo Xiaoran
