Katrina Kenny January 27, 2021 Ancient marvels: the first shell-crushing predators ground up their prey between their legs Russell Dean Christopher Bicknell, University of New England; James D. Holmes, University of Adelaide, and John Paterson, University of New England Looking a bit like enlarged woodlice, ancient trilobites crawled along the seabed and had an exoskeleton made of calcite — nature’s version of a suit of armour.
Shutterstock July 9, 2020 ‘Living fossils’: we mapped half a billion years of horseshoe crabs to save them from blood harvests Russell Dean Christopher Bicknell, University of New England and Stephen Pates, Harvard University A chemical refined from the blue, copper-based blood of horseshoe crabs helps identify contaminants in medical equipment inserted into humans.
Viral sequences related to known human coronavirus outbreaks have been identified in horsehoe bats. Dr. Low de Vries February 19, 2020 Why it’s important to study coronaviruses in African bats Wanda Markotter, University of Pretoria Understanding the many factors that may play a role in spillover of pathogens from bats to humans requires systematic surveillance of bat populations.