Listen to Episode 130 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you can sniff it out!
With every breath you take, you collect information about your surroundings. This amazing ability is shared across the animal kingdom (and beyond). In this episode, we discuss the diversity and evolutionary history of our Sense of Smell.
Listen to Episode 129 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or anywhere you can find it!
Known today for their large size and impressive horns, these animals have taken many forms over many millions of years. From horse-like runners to hippo-like waders to gargantuan behemoths, this episode we discuss the incredible evolutionary history of Rhinos.
Listen to Episode 128 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or that other place you like!
We’re now taking questions for our End of the Year Q&A! Submit your question here! The form closes December 15th!
Far below the ocean surface, where light, heat, and food become scarce, there is a vast environment that supports strange organisms highly adapted for survival in this harsh underwater landscape. This episode, we discuss the mysteries, past and present, of the Deep Sea.
Listen to Episode 127 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever podcasts are sold!
We’re now taking questions for our End of the Year Q&A! Submit your question here!
In the Upper Great Plains of the United States is a series of ancient sediments that have for more than a century been a premier source of information on the very end of the Age of Dinosaurs. This episode, we discuss the history, science, and significance of the Hell Creek Formation.
Listen to Episode 126 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or anywhere you can find it!
We’re now taking questions for our End of the Year Q&A! Submit your question here!
Communication is key among organisms. Various signals – sights, sounds, smells – can serve to warn, attract, or manipulate others. So it’s no surprise that many organisms have evolved to copy the signals of others for their own deceitful purposes. In this episode, we discuss the diversity and evolution of Mimicry.
Listen to Episode 125 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or anywhere you can find it!
This one family of plants can be found in nearly every environment on Earth, and yet their deep history is nearly entirely unknown to us. This episode, we discuss the diversity, evolution, and strangeness of Orchids.
Listen to Episode 124 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or anywhere you can find it!
An Earth covered in ice might sound far-fetched, but there is enough evidence in the geologic record and climate modeling for Earth scientists to suspect this has actually happened in our planet’s past – more than once. This episode, we discuss the origins, evidence, and much-debated questions surrounding the hypothesis of Snowball Earth.
Listen to Episode 123 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or anywhere you can find it!
With eight legs, eight eyes, venomous fangs, and a knack for living just about everywhere, they’re the famous famous arachnids and among the most famous arthropods on Earth, and they’ve been successful for a good 300 million years. This episode, we discuss the diversity and evolution of Spiders.
Listen to Episode 122 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you feel like it!
The Earth is in motion beneath our feet, and this motion impacts nearly every feature and activity on the planet’s surface. And yet, we’ve only recently come to understand this central geological phenomenon. This episode, we discuss the scientific history and the deep history of Plate Tectonics.
Listen to Episode 121 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you feel like it!
Most animals have some form of nervous system, and in many cases that nervous system is monitored and regulated by a complex and fascinating organ-in-command. This episode, we discuss the diversity, fossil record, and evolution of Brains.
Listen to Episode 120 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or your favorite alternative!
The most famous dinosaur of all time didn’t come out of nowhere. T. rex has a long history of cousins and ancestors, whose evolution and lifestyles have been the subject of mountains of research, debate, and popular depictions. This episode, we discuss the whole family tree of Tyrannosaurs.
Listen to Episode 119 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or maybe somewhere else!
The Indian subcontinent has a dramatic and storied past, having traveled from one continent to another, hosting a diversity of ancient life along the way before coming to rest between a vast ocean and a monumental mountain range. This episode is all about India.
The Common Descent Podcast 