Author: commondescentpc

  • Episode 148 – Gliding

    Episode 148 – Gliding

    Listen to Episode 148 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

    Powered flight has only evolved a few times, but it’s incredible how many times and how ways evolution has produced organisms that sail through the sky. This episode, we discuss the astonishing diversity – past and present – of Gliding.

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  • Episode 147 – Genetics

    Episode 147 – Genetics

    Listen to Episode 147 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

    Our understanding of evolution would be incomplete without knowledge of what, deep down, determines the traits of an organism and, crucially, how those traits are passed from parent to offspring. This episode, we discuss the foundational field of Genetics.

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  • Episode 146 – The Jurassic-Cretaceous Transition

    Episode 146 – The Jurassic-Cretaceous Transition

    Listen to Episode 146 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

    Some geologic boundaries are marked by mass extinction and radical planetary transformations. This episode, discuss one that’s marked mostly by mystery: the Jurassic-Cretaceous Transition.

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  • Episode 145 – Photosynthesis

    Episode 145 – Photosynthesis

    Listen to Episode 145 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

    We live in a solar-powered world. This episode, we discuss the process that provides the energy that every organism on the planet relies on, as well as the oxygen that characterizes the atmosphere that allows life as we know it to thrive: Photosynthesis.

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  • Episode 144 – Evolutionary Gigantism and Dwarfism

    Episode 144 – Evolutionary Gigantism and Dwarfism

    Listen to Episode 144 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

    In evolution, sometimes species get big, and sometimes they get small. The factors behind changing body sizes are extremely varied, and many trends in size evolution are poorly understood. This episode, we discuss Evolutionary Gigantism and Dwarfism.

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  • Episode 143 – Monitor Lizards

    Episode 143 – Monitor Lizards

    Listen to Episode 143 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

    These lizards are famous for their diverse lifestyles, their widely-ranging body sizes, and their somewhat mysterious evolutionary past. This episode, we discuss Monitor Lizards.

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  • Episode 142 – Phytosaurs

    Episode 142 – Phytosaurs

    Listen to Episode 142 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

    Travel back in time to the Late Triassic, and the waters were home to animals you’d easily mistake for crocs. This episode, we discuss the fossil record, lifestyles, and uncanny croc-ness of Phytosaurs.

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  • Episode 141 – Supercontinents

    Episode 141 – Supercontinents

    Listen to Episode 141 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

    The continents of Earth used to be united in one enormous landmass, not once, not twice, but over and over. This episode, we discuss the continuing assembly and breakup of Supercontinents.

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  • Episode 140 – Horns and Antlers

    Episode 140 – Horns and Antlers

    Listen to Episode 140 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

    Animals have a consistent habit of developing ornamentation on their heads for a variety of functions. In this episode, we discuss the diversity, terminology, and behavior associated with Horns and Antlers.

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  • Episode 139 – Vultures

    Episode 139 – Vultures

    Listen to Episode 139 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

    Lots of animals scavenge from time to time, but very few do it full-time. This episode, we explore the incredible adaptations and ancient history of some of nature’s most extraordinary carrion-eaters, Vultures.

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  • Episode 138 – The Moon

    Episode 138 – The Moon

    Listen to Episode 138 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

    Earth is not alone as it glides through space; we have a cosmic companion, ever present, whose impact on life on Earth is inescapable. This episode, we discuss the deep history and profound influence of The Moon.

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  • Episode 137 – Fossilization

    Episode 137 – Fossilization

    Listen to Episode 137 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

    When paleontologists examine ancient remains, they need to consider not only what they’re looking at, but how it got to be there. This episode, we discuss the various processes, incredible possibilities, and crucial limitations of Fossilization.

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