In this episode of the podcast’s “Meet the Hosts” mini-series, Andy, Bret, and Bryce put the spotlight on Bret and the winding path that pulled him into paleontology through geology. Bret traces it back to childhood: building a “rock museum” in his room (with plenty of help and inspiration from a mom who worked in museums), growing a collection fueled by family and friends bringing rocks home from their travels, and eventually landing on a favorite piece from Antarctica.

From there, the conversation broadens into what Bret actually does today, with a geology-first lens on fossils: sedimentology, reading the rocks around bones, and reconstructing ancient environments. Along the way, the hosts riff on citizen science, why outreach matters, and how surprisingly small the paleontology world can be. Expect plenty of friendly chaos, bad jokes about dodging rocks, and a deep dive into geologic history, including continental drift, Alfred Wegener’s early evidence, and how later ocean mapping helped validate the idea. The episode wraps by teasing next week’s turn in the hot seat: Bryce and the biology side of the paleo equation.

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