The Common Descent Podcast

What did dinosaurs sound like? How did extinct animals make and use sound? Like most behaviors, noises don’t fossilize, but there is some tantalizing evidence that paleontologists have pulled together about fossil bioacoustics. In this episode, we discuss how pop-culture may have misled us, and how scientists have gathered actual clues from living animals and the fossil record – and have even made...

Happy New Year!   Big thanks to everyone who's supported us throughout the year, and big thanks to everyone who submitted questions to our Q&A! Here's roughly two hours of Will and David answering YOUR questions - the silly and the science-y.   See you in 2019!   Follow and Support us on: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/commondescentpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/CommonDescentPC Facebook: h...

Many times in the history of life on Earth, reptiles have returned to the oceans. There were three famous groups of marine reptiles during the Mesozoic, and in this episode, we’re discussing the last to evolve, the shortest-lived, and the greatest (in David’s opinion, anyway) of them. We’ll tell the tale of how one group of lizards evolved to dominate waters around the world during the reign of th...

This episode, we take a tour of the land that takes home the prizes for oldest geologic materials, most marsupials, and (arguably) biggest island! Our trip through the history of this island-continent starts nearly at the very origin of our planet, and follows a fascinating history of shifting super-continents and shuffling ecosystems. Join us on a journey Down Under, to Australia. In the news: Gr...

It’s no secret we love paleontology; it’s a fascinating field of study. But sometimes our favorite subject is polluted and perverted by fraud. In this episode, we’re talking about fake fossils: why they happen, how they happen, and what effect they have on the paleontological community as a whole. And then it’s story time, where we review some of history’s most famous fossil fakes. In the news: an...

This episode, it’s back into the ocean, this time to discuss one of the most successful groups of predators on the planet. Sharks are famously “ancient,” but their evolutionary story is complex and fascinating, stretching back more than 400 million years, from their assorted bizarre ancestors to the incredible diversity we see today. In the news: nocturnal elephant birds, hadrosaur sounds, prehist...

Synapsids are a vast group of animals that includes only one living lineage: us mammals. But for about 100 million years before true mammals evolved, ancient synapsids were not only incredibly diverse, but dominant in ecosystems around the world. In this episode, we’ll explore some of this incredible variety of “proto-mammals” and track the long evolutionary transition that produced all the famili...

Welcome ... to Spookulative Evolution. It's October, so we're exploring some more speculative evolution with a spooky twist! Each week this month, we'll be choosing a creepy creature and discussing how it - or something like it - might evolve biologically, pulling inspiration from the critters of the real world. In this particularly disturbing episode, we consider mindless decomposing humans and p...

Human culture is full of stories of marvelous creatures hiding in the wilds on the fringe of our understanding. Some are the stuff of local lore while others are world-famous, and some are even thought to be relicts of the distant past. The search for these “hidden animals” can be dramatic, sometimes controversial, and often less-than-scientific. It is the fascinating field of Cryptozoology. In th...

Welcome ... to Spookulative Evolution. It's October, so we're exploring some more speculative evolution with a spooky twist! Each week this month, we'll be choosing a creepy creature and discussing how it - or something like it - might evolve biologically, pulling inspiration from the critters of the real world. This episode, we think deeply about the Creature From the Black Lagoon and other myths...

Welcome ... to Spookulative Evolution. It's October, so we're exploring some more speculative evolution with a spooky twist! Each week this month, we'll be choosing a creepy creature and discussing how it - or something like it - might evolve biologically, pulling inspiration from the critters of the real world. This episode, we contemplate the evolution of aggressive predators that spread madness...

252 million years ago, the Earth experienced what might be the worst extinction event of all time, so dramatic that it brought an end to the entire Paleozoic Era, that it resulted in the rise of entirely new types of ecosystems, and that it has come to be known as “The Great Dying.” This episode, we discuss the tragedy, the chaos, and the aftermath of the Permian Extinction. In the news: the oldes...

Welcome ... to Spookulative Evolution. It's October, so we're exploring some more speculative evolution with a spooky twist! Each week this month, we'll be choosing a creepy creature and discussing how it - or something like it - might evolve biologically, pulling inspiration from the critters of the real world. This episode, how do you evolve large-bodied nocturnal sanguivores that can spread the...

Will and David recently attended SciFest: Rock, Fossil, Quake! This was an event held at the St. Louis Science Center in collaboration with the Washington University School of Medicine. The event brought scientists and science enthusiasts face-to-face to talk about geology, earthquakes, and - most exciting for us - fossils (mostly dinosaurs)! In this episode, we recount some of our impressions and...

Welcome to our Spotlight Series! We’re talking paleo-science with some paleo-people! In this 5-part series, we’ve interviewed 5 different invertebrate paleontologists about their research and other work. We wrap up this series by chatting with Ranjeev Epa about his research on the best animals ever (according to him), bivalves - that is, clams, oysters, etc. - and what preyed upon them in the dist...

It's a movie about a giant prehistoric shark that eats a bunch of people. Let's talk science! In this "science review," we're discussing The Meg (2018) - the portrayal of megalodon, the tropes of the scientists, and the movie's general relationship with real-world science. Follow and Support us on: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/commondescentpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/CommonDescentPC F...

In this episode, we tackle the fascinating – and confusing – subject of hybridization. What are hybrids? Why are hybrids? And if organisms can breed across subspecies and species boundaries, what does that mean for our understanding of important topics like evolution, speciation, and conservation? In the news: saber-tooth footprints, a Cambrian filter-feeder, false extinctions, and an ancient pet...

Welcome to our Spotlight Series! We’re talking paleo-science with some paleo-people! In this 5-part series, we’ve interviewed 5 different invertebrate paleontologists about their research and other work. It's Episode 4, and this time we have Dr. Chris Mah with us to explain the science of studying sea stars - past and present - and what it takes (or at least, what it has taken him) to run a scienc...

Welcome to our Spotlight Series! We’re talking paleo-science with some paleo-people! In this 5-part series, we’ve interviewed 5 different invertebrate paleontologists about their research and other work. In Episode 3, our guest is Dr. Alycia Stigall, sharing with us her research on the best animals ever (according to her), brachiopods! And also discussing what it’s like to run a whole lab of paleo...

For tens of millions of years, North and South America were separate sisters across the sea, each with their own unique ecosystems. But around 3 million years ago, the Isthmus of Panama brought the landmasses together and kicked off an incredible mass migration of life between the continents. Some species thrived, others suffered, and in the end the very ecosystem structure of both continents was...

Welcome to our Spotlight Series! We’re talking paleo-science with some paleo-people! In this 5-part series, we’ve interviewed 5 different invertebrate paleontologists about their research and other work. It’s Episode 2, and we’re chatting with Adriane Lam to discuss her work exploring ancient oceans through tiny foraminifera (not technically invertebrates, we know…) as well as her efforts bringing...

Welcome to our Spotlight Series! We’re talking paleo-science with some paleo-people! Across this 5-part series, you’ll get to know some paleontologists as we interview them about their research and their lives as scientists. Our theme for this series is Invertebrate Paleontology. In this first episode, we sit down with Dave Marshall to chat about his research on eurypterids (sea scorpions!) and hi...

It's a dinosaur episode! With their croc-like faces, their weird ornamentation, and their curious fondness for water, the spinosaurs are among the most bizarre and fascinating of all dinosaurs. In this episode, we introduce Spinosaurus and the gang and discuss why these dinos are so cool - and so controversial. In the news: secrets of regeneration, a new pterosaur, a really old animal, and giant h...

There have been several times in evolutionary history where a land-dwelling group has transitioned to life in the water, but few have done it so successfully as the cetaceans. Not only are modern whales diverse and fascinating, but their ancestors have left behind an incredible fossil record of their transition into the sea. All that and more as we discuss the Evolution of Whales. In the news: the...

The island of Madagascar, isolated from all other landmasses on Earth, hosts one of the planet’s most unique ecosystems. But it’s not just an interesting place today – the geologic and fossil history of this land is equally fascinating! In this episode, we take a tour through time, stopping off at some of Madagascar’s most magical moments to marvel at some truly unique and incredible assortments o...