The Common Descent Podcast

Hand a kitchen appliance to a child and they’re likely to find a whole new way to use it. This happens in evolution, too – traits adapted for one purpose turn out to be beneficial for a whole other r…

Happy New Year!

We got a ton of questions this year, so enjoy the end of the decade with this extra-long edition of David and Will saying the things you want to hear!

See you in the ‘20s!

Check out o…

Happy New Year!

As we transition into a new decade, this episode is about one of the most important and incredible transitions in the evolutionary history of life. In the Late Devonian, one particula…

The evolution of horses is a classic story, first because it is a beautiful example of evolution in the fossil record, and second because of how our scientific perspective of this story has shifted o…

Welcome to the world of Pokémon Paleontology! In this digression – by popular demand – we explore how the fictional world of Pokémon draws inspiration from real world science, particularly in regard …

Time for another extinction! This time, we’re discussing what might be the most ancient, most mysterious, and most catastrophic mass extinction event of all time. The Great Oxidation Event marks the …

South America today is home to some of the most incredible ecosystems on the planet, and its fossil record is even more varied and fantastic. In this episode, we explore the history of the continent …

Aly's back for more plants!

As our friend Aly is fond of pointing out, plants aren't just the colorful background of Earth history, they're dynamic and influential drivers of environmental change. An…

Welcome ... to Spookulative Evolution.

It’s October, and we’re back with more Spook-E! Each week this month, we’re choosing a creepy creature and discussing how it – or something like – might evolve …

The oceans of the Mesozoic were home to a lot of fascinating sea predators, but perhaps none weirder than the plesiosaurs. Four giant flippers, tiny tails, and heads that ranged from enormous death t…

Welcome ... to Spookulative Evolution.

It’s October, and we’re back with more Spook-E! Each week this month, we’re choosing a creepy creature and discussing how it – or something like – might evolve …

Welcome ... to Spookulative Evolution.

It’s October, and we’re back with more Spook-E! Each week this month, we’re choosing a creepy creature and discussing how it – or something like – might evolve …

During the Cretaceous Period, North America flooded. The entire middle section of the continent was submerged, creating an inland sea that stretched from the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico and hosted a…

Welcome ... to Spookulative Evolution.

It’s October, and we’re back with more Spook-E! Each week this month, we’re choosing a creepy creature and discussing how it – or something like – might evolve …

With all the incredible diversity of life, it’s fascinating how often evolution repeats itself. The fossil record and the modern world are full of signs of this pattern of convergent evolution – simi…

It’s dinosaur time again! This episode, the spotlight is on the “living tanks” of the Mesozoic, the armored ankylosaurs. These impressive creatures were covered head to tail in dazzling armor that pu…

If you’re reading this, there’s a very good chance you’re using one of the most incredible tools in the animal toolkit: the eye! In this episode, we discuss what’s known – and what’s suspected – abou…

We were in southern California for NAPC recently, so we sat down with a bunch of the crew from La Brea to get some insights into their work, their history, and their favorite things about the site.

I…

How odd that one of the world’s richest and most famous fossil sites isn’t on a mountain or in a desert, but in the heart of one of the world’s largest cities. In this episode, we’ll dive into the hi…

This episode, we take a deep dive into the evolutionary story of Earth’s largest land mammals. Extinction has left us with only three elephant species today, but for tens of millions of years their e…