The Blindboy Podcast Speaking with a professor about the evolution of plants, terraforming planets and extinction events
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Nov 5, 2025 Professor Jennifer McElwain, a renowned botany expert from Trinity College, dives into the captivating world of paleobotany. She discusses how ancient plants shaped Earth's atmosphere through events like the Great Oxygenation. The conversation explores the significance of coal forests in carbon storage, the role of coprolites in finding ancient plants, and the potential of desiccation-tolerant plants for space travel. They also touch on biodiversity recovery efforts in farming and the importance of native species in restoring ecosystems.
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Paleobotany Spans Deep Time
- Paleobotany studies fossil plants and can cover deep time back ~450 million years.
- Jennifer McElwain focuses on long-term plant evolution and Earth history through fossils.
Coal Forests Locked Carbon For Millions Of Years
- The Devonian extinction led to Carboniferous coal swamp forests that sequestered vast carbon.
- Humans burned that stored carbon in ~100 years, causing today's climate imbalance.
Seek Rapid Burial To Find Plant Fossils
- Fossilization requires rapid burial by sediment or ash to prevent decomposition.
- Look for river floods, volcanic ash, or coprolites as contexts that preserve plant remains.
