Palaeocast
A free webseries exploring the fossil record and the evolution of life on Earth.
- Update frequency
- every 16 days
- Average duration
- 44 minutes
- Episodes
- 235
- Years Active
- 2012 - 2025
Episode 27: Mare aux Songes
One of the most iconic animals to ever have gone extinct is the dodo, Raphus cucullatus. Endemic to Mauritius, this flightless bird was last seen around 1662 and is thought to have been driven to ext…
Episode 26: The Tree of Mammals
Mammals are an incredibly diverse and highly successful group of animals. They include some of the tallest, heaviest and fastest animals around today, as well as our own species. For over 100 years, …
Episode 25: Marsupials of Riversleigh
Continuing our look at Australia's marsupials, we speak to Dr. Karen Black, also of the University of New South Wales. Here, we discuss Riversleigh fossil site, what fossils it contains, how they pre…
Episode 24: Marsupial evolution
Marsupials are a group of mammals best known from Australia, but are also present in South America and up to the southern and eastern parts of the USA. Despite their current geographical distribution…
Episode 23: Mass extinctions
What are Mass extinctions, how are they quantified, what are the driving forces behind them, how bad were the ones in the past and will we have more in the future?
To answer these questions we are jo…
SVP Day 4
The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology are this year holding their annual conference in the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, Los Angeles. The SVP were formed in 1940 by thirty-four paleontologists, the soci…
SVP Day 3
The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology are this year holding their annual conference in the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, Los Angeles. The SVP were formed in 1940 by thirty-four paleontologists, the soci…
SVP Day 2
The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology are this year holding their annual conference in the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, Los Angeles. The SVP were formed in 1940 by thirty-four paleontologists, the soci…
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology: Day 1
The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology are this year holding their annual conference in the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, Los Angeles. The SVP were formed in 1940 by thirty-four paleontologists, the soci…
GSA day 3
This year sees the GSA celebrate its 125th anniversary, having formed in 1888. It's a massive event with thousands of attendees. There are literally hundreds of talks to hear and posters to see, so …
GSA Day 2
This year sees the GSA celebrate its 125th anniversary, having formed in 1888. It's a massive event with thousands of attendees. There are literally hundreds of talks to hear and posters to see, so …
Geological Society of America: Day 1
This year sees the GSA celebrate its 125th anniversary, having formed in 1888. It's a massive event with thousands of attendees. There are literally hundreds of talks to hear and posters to see, so …
Episode 22: Fire and Charcoal
Most people would consider fire to be an entirely destructive process, however given the right circumstances organic materials can be exquisitely preserved by charcoalification. We no doubt all know …
Episode 21: Marine reptiles of Svalbard
In this episode we talk to Jørn Hurum, Associate Professor of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Natural History Museum Oslo, Norway. Jørn has varied research interests including dinosaurs and mammals (…
Episode 20: Year Review
As Palaeocast celebrates it's 1st Birthday, we take the chance to look back over the past year and review our highlights. We also look towards the future and discuss our plans to attend some upcoming…
Episode 19: The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event
The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, or 'GOBE', describes one of the most important increases in biodiversity in the history of life on earth. During a relatively short time span of some 25…
Episode 18: Trilobites
Trilobites are one of the most instantly recognisable groups of fossils. They were present from the very start of the Paleozoic and went on the fill a great number of ecological roles before going ex…
Episode 17: Ammonoid evolution and ecology
Ammonoids are a diverse group of cephalopods, a group of molluscs that include squid, octopuses, cuttlefish and nautiloids. They lived for over 300 million years (from the Early Devonian – the end Cr…
Episode 16: Multicellularity in cyanobacteria
One of the most significant events in Earth’s history has been the oxygenation of its atmosphere 2.45–2.32 billion years ago. This accumulation of molecular oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere was so signif…
Episode 15: Micropalaeontology
Perhaps one of the most overlooked areas of palaeontology, within the public eye, is micropalaeontology. Micropalaeontology is an umbrella discipline, covering a diverse range of organisms, with repr…