The Common Descent Podcast

In this series, we invite scientists to live Q&As on YouTube, where we discuss topics we’ve covered before on the podcast.

This episode, we discussed Conservation Paleontology (Episode 8) with Dr. Ra…

In this series, we invite scientists to live Q&As on YouTube, where we discuss topics we’ve covered before on the podcast.

This episode, we discussed Paleopathology (Episode 84) with Laura Emmert of …

Start exploring vertebrate evolution and paleontology, and it won’t be long before you end up on the subject of teeth. These handy structures are enormously significant not only for the history of li…

In this series, we invite scientists to live Q&As on YouTube, where we discuss topics we’ve covered before on the podcast.

This episode, we discussed Turtles with Dr. Steven Jasinski of the State Mus…

From massive Triceratops to tiny Psittacosaurus, few dinosaurs are as famous, charismatic, or commonly preserved as ceratopsians. In this episode, we’ll follow this group’s evolutionary journey from …

In this series, we invite scientists to live Q&As on YouTube, where we discuss topics we’ve covered before on the podcast.

This episode, we discussed Ancient DNA with Dr. Leigha Lynch of Washington U…

In the South Pacific Ocean, there is a family of islands that have been isolated since the Cretaceous Period. New Zealand – past and present – has been home to some of the most unique and fascinating…

We’ve discussed mass extinctions quite a bit on this podcast, and indeed we’ve devoted episode to four out of the famous “Big Five” that shaped life on Earth. This episode, we’re completing the set w…

There’s a pandemic on, and we and many of our listeners are spending lots of time at home. On the bright side, it’s a good opportunity to watch movies and record Silver Screen Science! So, we’re putt…

There’s a pandemic on, and we and many of our listeners are spending lots of time at home. On the bright side, it’s a good opportunity to watch movies and record Silver Screen Science! So, we’re putt…

Life ain’t always easy. Injury and disease are a persistent threat for life of all sorts, and that’s been true for as long as there has been life. Fortunately for us, these threats can leave evidence…

There’s a pandemic on, and we and many of our listeners are spending lots of time at home. On the bright side, it’s a good opportunity to watch movies and record Silver Screen Science! So, we’re putt…

One of the rewards we offer to our highest-level Patrons is a special mini-episode on an animal or group of their choosing. We’ve done five so far, and we’ve put them together into this compilation…

There’s a pandemic on, and we and many of our listeners are spending lots of time at home. On the bright side, it’s a good opportunity to watch movies and record Silver Screen Science! So, we’re putt…

In 1938, a fishing crew pulled up a fish that everyone thought had been extinct for 70 million years. Since then, coelacanths have become famous not just for their strangely incomplete fossil record,…

Few fossil animals are as popular with the public, as abundant in the fossil record, or as important to the study of past life on Earth as trilobites. These ocean-dwelling arthropods came in an amazi…

Metamorphosis is the process that turns a caterpillar to a butterfly, a fry to a fish, and a tadpole to a frog. Animals have been metamorphosing for over 500 million years, from early crustaceans to …

Happy Darwin Day!

This time around, we’re talking about Mary Anning! She was one of the earliest modern paleontologists, she helped lay the groundwork for our modern methods of uncovering and underst…

The first pterosaur to be scientifically identified was Pterodactylus, more than 200 years ago. Since then, scientists have grappled with understanding these bizarre and fantastic animals, aided by i…

At DragonCon 2019, Will and David were part of the Paleontology Hour Panel, where a room full of nerds asked all their paleo-related questions to a panel of experts - and we recorded it!

We were join…