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 115 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or pick your favorite place for podcasts!
The Earth is covered in ecosystems, but what lives where is dependent on the local climate and landscape. This variation creates vast patterns in the distribution of life, patterns that scientists can use to understand ecology, and patterns that have changed over time as the Earth’s surface has transformed. This episode, we discuss the modern state and ancient history of Biomes.
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 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 