The School of BEES are thrilled to reveal the newest addition to the UCC Geological Garden, a 3 metre-long block of extremely fossiliferous Carboniferous limestone. The 300 million-year-old slab has an extraordinary fossil content, including many ancient marine creatures such as colonial and solitary corals, clam-like brachiopods and web-like bryozoans.

An international team of researchers including UCC palaeontologists have discovered a new species of fossil reptile from the Triassic period that had a large crest made of complex plume-like structures, long before modern-type feathers evolved. This dramatic breakthrough shakes our view of the evolution of skin and feathers in reptiles.

BEES researchers Dr Mark Jessopp, Dr Tom Doyle, Luke Harman and Prof John Quinn were part of an international team of almost 400 scientists from 50 countries whose research has just been published in the leading scientific Journal ‘Science’.

The Cork Carnival of Science takes place on the 7th and 8th of June and the School of BEES will be there.

The Lough Hyne Research Team, School of BEES, University College Cork and the Skibbereen Heritage Centre has been selected as County Winner in the National Heritage Week Awards for the Touch Tanks event at Lough Hyne for the Cork County Council local authority area.

An international team of scientists from Ireland and Germany has applied for the first time a novel mobile X-ray imaging instrumentation on fossil animals from the Messel Pit, a UNESCO World Heritage Site near Frankfurt, Germany. The pioneering study opens up a new avenue for studying in detail the elemental chemistry of fossils conserved in both solid and liquid media in research and museum collections worldwide.

The Irish Tree Explorers Network (ITEN) hosted its capstone symposium, From Root to Branch: Rethinking Our Relationship with Trees, on Wednesday, 19 March 2025. Held at the Fota Education, Conservation and Research Centre in Cork, this free, one-day event attracted approximately 100 attendees and featured an impressive line-up of speakers from diverse disciplines. The symposium aimed to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of trees by exploring their significance through both STEM and cultural lenses.