Along The Backbone
Paleobiologist Dr. Matthew Bonnan explores the evolution of vertebrate anatomy, from bones to brains, through deep time.
- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Episodes
- 6
- Years Active
- 2011 - 2012
Episode 8: Face the Face
Podcast Teaser: Of all the vertebrate animals, only mammals have muscles of facial expression … why?
Transcript: You are more than just a pretty face. …
Episode 7: Hands Down, or, Why Velociraptor Could Not Open Doors
This podcast was chosen by popular demand by the followers of this blog. Thanks for your continued interest in Along the Backbone.
The ability to open doors depends on two things: 1) being able to g…
Episode 6: How the Dentist Came To Be So Important to Mammals
Why don’t mammals continuously replace their teeth? The answer may surprise you.
Podcast Teaser: I hate the dentist. Well, I like my dentist, but I hate going. I suspect many of you don’t put a vi…
Episode 5: Elephants, Cats, and Ticking Clocks
Unlike a lizard where the limbs are sprawled out to the sides, most mammals have drawn their limb bones vertically beneath the body. What are the functional advantages of such a posture? And what do…
Episode 4: A Brief History of Meat
Many of us enjoy eating meat, but few of us pause to think about how important its pre-meal form, skeletal muscle, is for vertebrate life. Or why you eat different parts of fish and tetrapods for th…
Episode 3: How Do You Make a Snake?
It seems only fitting that a podcast series called Along the Backbone should discuss the formation of the backbone in one of lengthiest vertebrates: snakes.
Podcast Teaser: Snakes are lizards. More …