As a child, Michela got lost in the mountains of Italy foraging for mushrooms. Adult Michela digs under deep Australian lakes searching for remnants of wildfire and ancient people, while raising her family in England. How does this feisty paleoecologist get it all done? Dr. <a href='https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/geography/people/michela.mariani'>Michela Mariani </a>is an associate professor at the University of Nottingham in the UK, and she recently published a paper in the journal <a href='https://www.science.org/journal/science'>Science</a> exploring how ancient people in Australia prevented devastating wildfires. It&apos;s called, &quot;<a href='https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adn8668'>Shrub cover declined as Indigenous populations expanded across southeast Australia</a>.&quot; In the first episode of <a href='https://socializingwithscientists.com/'>Socializing with Scientists</a>, hear how Michela finds peace in the lab, how she handles it when research proves her ideas wrong, and how her work could inform fire policy all over the world. Visit our <a href='https://socializingwithscientists.com/'>website</a>: https://socializingwithscientists.com/Contact us with questions or comments: socializingwithscientists@gmail.comFollow us on Bluesky and X: @socwithsciFollow us on Instagram: @socializingwithscientists