In this episode of Utah Unearthed, as we talk about Moab’s fossil record, Randy—our usual cohost—gets put in the hot seat alongside fellow NHMU paleontologist Carrie Levitt-Bussian. Moab today is a rusty, red-rock desert, but for millions of years the region was home to drastically different environments and animals, including dinosaurs. Hundreds of millions of years later, the sedimentary rock of the Colorado Plateau, on which Moab sits, has been uplifted but not drastically contorted. Therefore, it's the perfect setting for revealing well-preserved fossils from the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods when dinosaurs roamed. This is great news for paleontologists in Utah, like Carrie and Randy, who can find a smorgasbord of dinosaur discoveries on each expedition to Moab.

The hosts of Utah Unearthed include Aidan Bailey, an NHMU school outreach coordinator, Dr. Randy Irmis, NHMU’s curator of paleontology, and Andy Connolly, a former NHMU science communications specialist who now works with the Kansas Geological Survey. The show is produced and edited by Mark Johnston. Series logo by Will Shepherd.

In each episode of Utah Unearthed, the team interviews a different scientist from a different discipline, who will help both hosts and listeners unearth Utah’s incredible natural history. This podcast supports NHMU's mission to illuminate the natural world and the place of humans within it. Learn more at ⁠nhmu.utah.edu/podcast⁠.

In this episode we learn geologists’ dirty secret: they lick rocks. More importantly, we learn about Moab’s iconic arches, of which there are thousands in the surrounding desert. In our conversation with Jeff Moore, a professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Utah, and Riley Finnigan, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Geology and Geophysics, we learn how Utah’s rock arches are formed, why they’re examples of perfect engineering through geology, why Delicate Arch is such an improbable thing, and how rock arches sing! It’s geology like you’ve never heard it before! :)

The hosts of Utah Unearthed include Aidan Bailey, an NHMU school outreach coordinator, Dr. Randy Irmis, NHMU’s curator of paleontology, and Andy Connolly, a former NHMU science communications specialist who now works with the Kansas Geological Survey. The show is produced and edited by Mark Johnston. Series logo by Will Shepherd.

In each episode of Utah Unearthed, the team interviews a different scientist from a different discipline, who will help both hosts and listeners unearth Utah’s incredible natural history. This podcast supports NHMU's mission to illuminate the natural world and the place of humans within it. Learn more at ⁠nhmu.utah.edu/podcast⁠.

Moab is booming—with off-roaders, mountain bikers, and tourists flooding its iconic red-rock landscapes. But what does this mean for animals, like the elusive desert bighorn sheep, that also call it home? In this episode of Utah Unearthed, our team talks to Joel Berger, a wildlife biologist and professor at Colorado State University, who has spent the latest years of his storied career in Moab studying how desert bighorn sheep habituate to change.

The hosts of Utah Unearthed include Aidan Bailey, an NHMU school outreach coordinator, Dr. Randy Irmis, NHMU’s curator of paleontology, and Andy Connolly, a former NHMU science communications specialist who now works with the Kansas Geological Survey. The show is produced and edited by Mark Johnston. Series logo by Will Shepherd.

In each episode of Utah Unearthed, the team interviews a different scientist from a different discipline, who will help both hosts and listeners unearth Utah’s incredible natural history. This podcast supports NHMU's mission to illuminate the natural world and the place of humans within it. Learn more at ⁠nhmu.utah.edu/podcast⁠.