Talk- Listening to the past: The extraordinary evolution of the mammalian middle ear

Dorset Geologists’ Association Group (DGAG) will host a talk on Tuesday 20 October 2026.
Title: Listening to the past: The extraordinary evolution of the mammalian middle ear
Speaker: Dr James Rawson finished his PhD in Bristol last year and has just started a new job as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at King’s College London.
Time: Talk will start at 7pm; finish approximately 8pm
Venue:  Activity Meeting Room: Dorford Centre, Bridport Road, Dorchester, DT1 1RR
Lecture Entry Cost: All welcome: £6 non-members (£5 DGAG members), cash please.
Booking a seat: contact Chris Webb at email: events@dorsetgeologistsassociation.org
Talk Description: A synopsis kindly provided by the speaker is as follows:
Mammals are among the most widespread and ecologically significant animals on Earth, spanning a huge range of sizes, habitats and ecologies. Modern mammals, from bats to whales to humans, share several anatomical features but the most diagnostic is a unique middle ear containing three bones (hammer, anvil, stirrup). Remarkably, two of these bones once performed a very different function; in all other vertebrates they form the joint between the lower jaw and the skull! The evolution of these elements from load-bearing jaw joint to delicate ear bones has long been upheld as a textbook example of function driving morphological adaptation, with renowned naturalist Sir Richard Owen first describing fossil evidence for this transition in 1845. Questions surrounding this unique evolutionary story have persisted since Owen’s day, including how, and most importantly why, mammals evolved one of their most unique features. This talk will follow the story of the mammalian middle ear from its origin in mammals’ Permian ancestors to the modern day and show how remarkable fossil discoveries from across the world have reshaped our understanding of mammal evolution over these last two mammal evolution over these last two decades. This talk will also cover some of the innovative methods palaeontologists are using to tackle big questions in mammal evolution, borrowing methods from developmental biology, engineering and biomedical science.
“DGAG editors view —-> This talk is not to be missed as it gives an entertaining start to our 2026 Autumn talk season
Photo:  Early mammals- Courtesy of the speaker: Credit for the image should be given to Zhao Chuang, and it was created for this study: Integrated hearing and chewing modules decoupled in a Cretaceous stem therian mammal Science. 5 Dec 2019. Vol 367, Issue 6475. pp. 305-308
Additional Links:
1. Link to paper that image was created for: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aay9220