Divulcat

I am a very active researcher in outreach: articles, talks, workshops, media interviews, innovative social projects, etc. During my career, I have published a total of 18 articles in recognized inter- and national outreaching magazines. In them, I disseminated findings and results of my publications, as well as biological and paleontological concepts to the non-specialized public, promoting knowledge flow between scientists and society.

Since 2019, I am scientific disseminator in the Divulcat platform. Divulcat is a scientific outreach project initiated by Enciclopedia Catalana. Its primary aim is to promote and disseminate scientific knowledge in the Catalan language. The platform features contributions from numerous experts across various fields such as astronomy, neurobiology, geology, biology, and chemistry. It operates as a collection of blogs where scientists can freely share their research findings and insights with the public​.

Figure 1. Screenshot of the B. Moncunill-Solé profile in Divulcat platform. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED B. Moncunill-Solé.

I am the only paleontologist among the 82 researchers, and my articles, written in Catalan, have >11.5k views. My blog is entitled BEAGLE: A Journey Through the Biology of the Present and the Past, and my last article was "Hell Creek, the Last Breath of the Mesozoic Paradise - Documentaries through time. Episode IV". Here, the first parragraphs in English:

The Hell Creek Formation, located on the North American continent (in the states of Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota), is a marvel for researchers and paleontology enthusiasts. Within its thickness (ranging from 90 to 600 meters depending on the region), an enormous amount of fossils of plants, dinosaurs, and other taxa, including small mammals and invertebrates, have been recovered. These organisms lived during the Late Cretaceous period (from 80 to 66 million years ago). At the very top of the stratigraphic succession, a darker layer is observed, containing high concentrations of iridium. This extraterrestrial metal is believed to have been deposited following the impact of the famous asteroid, which 66 million years ago likely contributed to ending the great diversity of Mesozoic flora and fauna. Thus, paleontologists view the Hell Creek Formation as a key piece for understanding the disappearance of dinosaurs (except for birds) and other taxa that dominated Cretaceous ecosystems.

During the Late Cretaceous, this region was a coastal plain with a subtropical climate, full of rivers, lagoons, and ponds. The forests were evergreen, primarily dominated by angiosperms (flowering plants) and ferns in the undergrowth. Gymnosperms, like conifers, were not as diverse, although they composed the forest canopy. The Sandy site in South Dakota was discovered in 1994 and has been one of the most prolific sites of the Hell Creek Formation. Excavations conducted there over the past three decades have recovered a large number of well-preserved vertebrate remains (approximately 3,200 disarticulated bones), fragments of wood, leaves, and other remnants of extinct life. The temperature in these forests ranged between 16-17 degrees Celsius. Various species of fish, rays, turtles, amphibians (frogs and salamanders), crocodiles, and choristoderes (similar in appearance to gharials) inhabited the marine and lacustrine environments. Small tetrapods (four-legged vertebrates), such as lizards, small mammals, and lizards roamed the land surfaces. The skies were patrolled by some pterosaurs and small birds, predecessors of those that live with us today.

You can enjoy this article and others in my Divulcat profile here!