Do you ever just get emotional about prehistoric life? These were real animals which lived millions of years ago. They drank the water that we drink, breathed the air that we breathe, walked the land that we walk and saw the clouds that we see. But they're gone now and it's honestly so sad.

Absolutely. I don’t think there’s much that hits me harder than some fossils.

Like raindrop impressions. We can see in some sedimentary rocks the individual craters formed by raindrops falling onto the ground. These were actual raindrops; this was actual weather. An Arthropleura silently continued on its slow undulating way as the rain began to fall; a Hylonomus skittered for cover below the towering shadow of a lycopod tree beneath the cloudy Carboniferous skies.

Or these footprints of our own ancestor, Australopithecus. Preserved in volcanic ash, they show a set of footprints - and next to them, another, smaller pair, walking perfectly parallel and perfectly in step. A tear never fails to come to my eye as I imagine them walking, parent hand-in-hand with child, across the alien, familiar landscape, wondering what the eruption would mean for their fate but carried on by their love for each other, just as we are millions of years later.