The Scale of Life (or were dinosaurs just too big?)
Brian Cox and Robin Ince discover why size really matters if you want to avoid extinction.
The Infinite Monkey Cage · BBC Radio 4
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Show Notes
Brian and Robin are joined by palaeontologist Dr Susie Maidment, evolutionary biologist Dr Tori Herridge and comedian Dave Gorman to pitch giant creatures against tiny creatures in their bid to avoid extinction. They explore the scale of life and ask why some organisms are large and some small and what the optimum size for successful survival is. From the prokaryotic cell to the grandest dinosaur, how does the modern synthesis explain the huge variation in scale, form and function? What are the advantages and disadvantages to being huge like the dinosaurs, or was it their size that really did them in, in the end?
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Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem