Dr. Denise Su featured on Science Friday
Dr. Denise Su, director of partnerships & programs and curator and head of paleobotany & paleoecology, discussed her research with Ira Flatow, host of the popular National Public Radio program, Science Friday. The broadcast will air locally on Friday, April 27 from 2 to 4pm on the affiliate 90.3 WCPN ideastream.
Dr. Denise Su in her lab at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Credit: CMNH/Laura Dempsey
Dr. Su shares how paleobotany and paleoecology and her research in both focuses on building a more cohesive history of how our ancient human ancestors lived and which environmental factors shaped the evolution of mankind.
“I always say, ‘it’s like putting together a puzzle, but you have to find the piece(s) yourself,’” Su tells Flatow during a live audience recording at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Dr. Denise Su with a 3D reconstructed model of an ancient otter species. |
She also provides an account as co-author of
research that described a species of otter new to science and that is among the largest otter species known.
The new species,
Siamogale melilutra lived 6.24 million years ago in the Yunnan Province in China. It weighed approximately 110 lbs and was roughly the size of a modern wolf.
During the Q&A segment, an audience member asks Su about the diet of hominins, or ancestral humans. While Su said that we don’t know exactly what humans ate, it’s safe to assume a lot of our nutrition was found by gathering various vegetation, according to a newspaper report.
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