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Recording 29
錄音29
What I appreciate most about my work is the fact that I can turn the fossils I find into information we can actually use.
我對于自己的工作中最欣賞的一點是，我能把我找到的化石轉化成我們能真正利用的信息。
So, how do we extract that information? Well, first we need to run the fossil through a special machine. That gives me a date for the fossil.
那么，我們是怎么提取信息的呢？首先，我們要用一種特殊的機器掃描化石。這會讓我得到化石的日期。
From then on, I begin to work out what type of animal it was, what it ate and how it interacted with the landscape.
接著，我開始研究這是什么種類的動物，以什么為食，和大自然如何互動。
Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to be awarded a grant from a government-funding body. Palaeontology isn't only about the past. It can help with current issues too.
今年早些時候，我很幸運，獲得了一家政府資助機構的撥款。古生物學不僅僅是關于過去的，也能幫助（我們解決）當前的問題。
For example, I plan to use these funds to excavate new areas and try to find out how ancient creatures evolved during their own period of climate change, just as animals today have to.
舉個例子，我計劃利用這些資金去挖掘新的地區，試著找出古生物在它們各自的氣候變化時期是如何進化的，正如現在的動物要做的一樣。
In another project, I'm going to study fossil collections that are housed in museums around Australia.
在另一個項目中，我會研究澳大利亞各博物館的化石收藏。
I'm doing that to try to find out when Australia's mega-fauna became extinct-that is, all the giant mammals, lizards and birds.
我這么做是為了找出澳大利亞的巨型動物群是什么時候滅絕的—巨型動物就是各種體型巨大的哺乳動物、類蜥蜴爬行動物和鳥類。
That will help us to finally find out what caused these extinctions. Was it nature or was it humans?
這有助于我們最后找出滅絕的原因。是自然原因還是人為原因？
