Listen to Episode 114 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or pick your favorite place for podcasts!
Far to the north and far to the south, conditions on Earth get weird. Cold climates and periods of perpetual night or day create some of the most unique habitats on the planet, and yet life has thrived there throughout Earth history and continues to do so today. This episode, we discuss the diversity, history, and adaptations of Polar Life.
Listen to Episode 113 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or pick your favorite place for podcasts!
Life on Earth is directly impacted by the climate, and the climate changes over time in response to the activities of tectonic plates, ocean currents, biological communities, and of course, even humans. The geologic record of our planet is an archive of data on the causes and effects of changing climates. This episode, we discuss Paleoclimate.
Listen to Episode 112 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you can dig it up!
Subterranean passages and chambers within the crust of the Earth form unique environments, often carved out over thousands of years, which create homes for rare and bizarre groups of organisms and provide valuable fossil resources. This episode, we discuss the geology, biology, and paleontology of Caves.
Listen to Episode 111 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or borrow it from a friend!
There isn’t much on Earth like an ant colony or a beehive. It’s a bizarre lifestyle, creating multi-generational groups where most members don’t reproduce but protect the offspring of others. This episode, we discuss the questions surrounding the details and evolution of Eusociality.
Listen to Episode 110 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or your favorite podcast place!
Go digging in the right place in Illinois and you’re liable to find some of the best Carboniferous fossils in the world. This episode, we discuss the history, the geology, and the incredible – and sometimes bizarre – plants and animals of the Mazon Creek Fossil Beds.
Listen to Episode 109 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or anywhere you can find it!
These carnivores might have a reputation as uncouth scavengers, but their modern and fossil history is full of a diverse array of specialized hunters. In this episode, we discuss the surprising modern diversity and the rich fossil record of Hyenas.
Listen to Episode 108 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or your favorite podcasting app!
You might think that the ocean is no place for a bird, yet one group of birds has done remarkably well as marine divers. Their success is evident in their surprising diversity and wide geographic range both in modern times and over the past 60 million years. This episode, we talk about Penguins.
Listen to Episode 106 on PodBean, Spotify, Spotify, or borrow it from a friend!
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, a Hungarian Baron became a paleontologist, traveling around Europe, excavating fossils, going on adventures, and producing innovative research on fossils, geology, and more. This episode, we discussed the life and work of Franz Nopcsa.
Listen to Episode 105 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever podcasts are provided!
Most plants are content to sit still and take in sunlight and soil nutrients, but when conditions are tough, some plants get hungry! The habit of devouring animal prey has evolved in plants numerous times. In this episode, we discuss the varied strategies and evolutionary history of Carnivorous Plants.
Listen to Episode 104 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or your favorite alternative!
Seals, sea lions, and walruses (oh my!) are widespread, successful, and invariably charming. In this episode, we examine the adaptations, mysterious origins, and diverse but spotty fossil record of this fascinating group of aquatic mammals, the Pinnipeds.
Listen to Episode 103 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you can find it!
It’s been called the largest natural climate event of the Cenozoic Era, it set off a series of environmental changes that paved the way for our modern world, and it’s a critical case study in what happens when a huge rise in atmospheric Carbon triggers rapid warming of the global climate. This episode, we discuss the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.
The Common Descent Podcast 