Dave Horne, Professor of Micropalaeontology, who is currently on fieldwork in Orkney, talked to BBC Radio Orkney’s Huw Williams this morning about ostracods – the tiny shrimp-like creatures that are used to reconstruct past climates and environments. He said: “Ostracods have a fantastic fossil record because they’ve got these little shells that they make which are easily preserved as fossils. These shells are found in sedimentary rocks going back 500 million years.”