Jurassic Heart by Anna Martin Page B

said, nodding. “So it’s harder.”
    “Not just that,” I said. “We will never be able to put all the pieces back together because some of them are lost forever. I can determine that an animal was a carnivore because of its teeth and sometimes its claws, but that doesn’t mean I can figure out its hunting behavior. We need to dig up its prey for that. Then when we have the prey, we have to figure out where that animal fits into the ecosystem.”
    He nodded again and took another sip of his drink, gesturing for me to carry on.
    “We’re getting better at guessing,” I said, “because of the number of fossils we now have. And things like finding teeth marks on bones can tell us who ate whom in the prehistoric world. But we’ll never know for sure. We’re always making educated guesses.”
    “And sometimes you get it wrong,” Joseph said with a smirk.
    “Yeah,” I said. “We do. There have been some absolute howlers in the past. But we’re getting better.”
    “So the difference between archaeology and paleontology is whether you study humans or animals?”
    I winced. “That’s probably too general a statement. There is some crossover.”
    “I know,” he said, smirking again. “I was just wondering how much you’d make up to get me to shut up.”
    “I’d do anything to get you to shut up,” I said sincerely. There was no way in hell I’d admit I was actually enjoying talking to him. “So,” I said. “There you have it.”
    “You didn’t tell me why , though.”
    “Why what?”
    “Why you do it. Why it’s important.”
    “I’m going to need more coffee for that,” I said and waved a hand at Cherry until I caught her attention, then signaled for another round of drinks. “You could argue we don’t need to know a lot of things that science has told us. Why do we care so much about astronomy and studying the planets? NASA has spent billions of dollars on space exploration. And has it enriched the life of the average American? Or particle physics. Is that helping us solve the food crisis in Africa? Does high school chemistry tell us how to fix the economy? Many fields of scientific exploration and discovery are for the pursuit of knowledge rather than reward.”
    “You’re very passionate about what you do.”
    “I have to be,” I said. “Because with the way things are going, who knows if anyone else will be in twenty years’ time.”
    “People will always be interested in dinosaurs,” he said dismissively.
    “But there is a finite number of skeletons we can dig up,” I argued. “Not every dinosaur that existed was preserved as a fossil. We will reach a point one day when every viable skeleton that can be excavated has been. Then what?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Neither do I.”
    “Is that likely to happen?” he asked. “Running out of skeletons to excavate?”
    “Not in the immediate future, no. But some scientists are already saying the age of discovery is nearly over. We have to reflect, to figure out what we do with all this information we’ve amassed.”
    “I want to know a lot of the same things as you,” Joseph said, accepting our coffees from Cherry and passing me one. I smiled my thanks at him, and Cherry waggled her eyebrows suggestively. I pointedly ignored her. “And I know you think I’ve got a really narrow focus, but I honestly don’t spend all of my time running from one side of the country to the other, annoying scientists.”
    “You annoy other people too?”
    “Yes,” he said. “Mostly politicians.”
    I groaned.
    “What?” he demanded.
    “Most of our funding comes from the government,” I said. “It’s people like you who lose us the funds we need to do our research.”
    I could see the word “good” practically hanging from his lips, but he didn’t say it. Part of me was disappointed. I would have loved the chance to punch him again.
    “Be thankful your work is funded in the first place,” he said instead. “We’re working