Jan Zalasiewicz is Emeritus Professor of Paleobiology at the University of Leicester.  A geologist and paleontologist, he has taught geology and Earth history, and studied fossil ecosystems and environments across half a billion years of geological time. He is the author of such books as The Earth After Us, The Planet in a Pebble, and (with Mark Williams) The Goldilocks Planet, Ocean Worlds, Skeletons, and The Cosmic Oasis.  His interests include graptolites (extinct plankton), mudrocks, ancient climate, and the concept of the Anthropocene.