The Dinosaurs Rediscovered Michael Benton

Event details

Learn how dinosaur remains are found and excavated, and how palaeontologists read the details of dinosaurs’ lives from their fossils - their colours, growth, and even whether we will ever be able to bring them back to life.

Leading palaeontologist Michael Benton explains how the study of dinosaurs has transformed into a true scientific discipline. New technologies have revealed secrets locked in prehistoric bones that no one could have previously predicted. We can now work out the force of dinosaurs’ bite, their top speeds, and even how they cared for their young.

Remarkable new fossil discoveries - giant sauropod dinosaur skeletons in Patagonia, dinosaurs with feathers in China, and a tiny dinosaur tail in Burmese amber - remain the lifeblood of modern palaeobiology. Thanks to advances in technologies and methods, however, there has been a recent revolution in the scope of new information gleaned from such fossil finds.

Michael will trace the development of the study of dinosaurs from its roots in antiquated natural history to an indisputably scientific field, and explain why, though extinct, dinosaurs are still very much a part of our world.