Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Join host Chris Smith for our monthly Science Café. Gather with other curious minds at this after-hours event for an informal presentation and conversation about current science topics with guest experts.
Tonight's Topic
Like an impressionist painting, Earth’s history comes into focus when individual brushstrokes—sedimentology, geochronology, chemistry, and taphonomy—are linked together. By combining these fragments, Dr. Ryan Tucker reconstructs lost worlds, revealing how ancient landscapes, climates, and ecosystems evolved through deep time.
Tonight's Expert
Dr. Ryan Tucker is a geologist from Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and a research associate with the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. Dr. Tucker studies how ancient landscapes and ecosystems responded to extreme climate change during the age of dinosaurs. His work focuses on the Mid-Cretaceous, a time when Earth experienced one of its hottest greenhouse climates. By combining traditional fieldwork with cutting-edge techniques, including dating fossil dinosaur eggshells, he builds precise timelines of how climate shaped environments and biodiversity. Ryan has co-led field expeditions across Mongolia, Africa, and North America, uncovering clues about ancient life and climate. He is also passionate about teaching and sharing science, connecting past climate lessons to today’s global challenges.
Join host Chris Smith for our monthly Science Café. Gather with other curious minds at this after-hours event for an informal presentation and conversation about current science topics with guest experts.
Tonight's Topic
Like an impressionist painting, Earth’s history comes into focus when individual brushstrokes—sedimentology, geochronology, chemistry, and taphonomy—are linked together. By combining these fragments, Dr. Ryan Tucker reconstructs lost worlds, revealing how ancient landscapes, climates, and ecosystems evolved through deep time.
Tonight's Expert
Dr. Ryan Tucker is a geologist from Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and a research associate with the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. Dr. Tucker studies how ancient landscapes and ecosystems responded to extreme climate change during the age of dinosaurs. His work focuses on the Mid-Cretaceous, a time when Earth experienced one of its hottest greenhouse climates. By combining traditional fieldwork with cutting-edge techniques, including dating fossil dinosaur eggshells, he builds precise timelines of how climate shaped environments and biodiversity. Ryan has co-led field expeditions across Mongolia, Africa, and North America, uncovering clues about ancient life and climate. He is also passionate about teaching and sharing science, connecting past climate lessons to today’s global challenges.
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Im Matthew, shes Audrey and the two of us are makers, museum curators and adequate gamers!
Watch as we build a 1:1 scale replica of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences within Minecraft! Along the way we chat about science and technology and answer any questions youve been burning to ask!
Recorded live from the Visual World Investigate Lab, a free technology/science/education lab in the Nature Research Center, part of NCMNS in downtown Raleigh.")
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Im Matthew, shes Audrey and the two of us are makers, museum curators and adequate gamers!
Watch as we build a 1:1 scale replica of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences within Minecraft! Along the way we chat about science and technology and answer any questions youve been burning to ask!
Recorded live from the Visual World Investigate Lab, a free technology/science/education lab in the Nature Research Center, part of NCMNS in downtown Raleigh.
#minecraft #minecraftmuseum #minecraftsurvival #minecraftbuilding #science #sciencefacts #museum #scicomm")
