The Common Descent Podcast

It’s a new series of Silver Screen Science! As usual, we’re discussing how science is portrayed on the big screen, this time with a new theme: Sharks!

This episode, we’re examining the newest install…

Welcome to Spotlight 2024! In this series, we’re sitting down with our fellow paleo-podcasters to discuss Science Communication.

It’s episode two, and our guests are the hosts of Palaeo After Dark: J…

An animal eating another member of its own species might sound like a rare and abnormal occurrence – and it is often portrayed that way – but cannibalism is actually extremely widespread and common i…

Among the most spectacular of animal behaviors is migration, the habit of many species to undertake massive journeys, sometimes traveling thousands of kilometers to access food or breeding grounds. T…

Welcome to Spotlight 2024! In this series, we’re sitting down with our fellow paleo-podcasters to discuss Science Communication.

In this first episode, our guest is Adele Pentland, host of Pals in Pa…

Owls are among the world’s most iconic and charismatic birds, and they’re also among the most effective aerial predators. This episode, we’ll take a tour of the amazing adaptations that have allowed …

Cacti are famous for their spine-shaped leaves, their water-retaining tissues, their green stems, and especially for being among the most well-adapted organisms on Earth for dry environments. This ep…

A familiar name to modern biologists and paleontologists, Sir Richard Owen is famous for his pioneering work in the fields of paleontology and comparative anatomy, his contributions to public appreci…

Feathers are among the most diverse and complex forms of animal integument. Today, they’re exclusive to birds, where they can be found in a dizzying variety of forms and functions, and incredible fos…

Blending in with the surroundings is an incredibly useful habit. Even without evidence, this fact would be obvious from the sheer variety of organisms that do it and the vast diversity of strategies …

Happy New Year!

It’s time again for our annual answering-your-questions marathon episode! Thanks to all our askers for a great set of questions!

And as always, a huge thanks to all of you who have su…

Dragonflies and damselflies are incredible insects. They are arguably the world’s most skilled fliers, arguably the world’s most successful predators, and arguably the best insects (so says David). N…

Filter feeding is among the most widespread dietary strategies in the world. From tiny bivalves to massive basking sharks, animals have developed a vast array of convergent strategies for filtering t…

Mini-episodes are rewards for our high-level supporters on Patreon, each one focusing on a requested topic for a specific Patron. From time to time, we combine a bunch of these and release them as a …

If things get too hot or too cold, the crucial processes inside the cells and tissues of living organisms stop working properly, and that’s bad. So, organisms expend a lot of time and energy managing…

Listen up! The world around us is full of sound, and animals have evolved numerous strategies for receiving and interpreting those sounds. In this episode, we discuss the many varieties of sound-sens…

Welcome … to Cute-E!

Every October during Spook-E, we have fun speculatively evolving monsters from myths and stories, but we leave out the cuddlier side of fiction. In Cute-E, we’re choosing kinder …

These days, we Homo sapiens are the only humans around, but that wasn’t always the case. This episode, we are joined by special guest Dr. Bridget Alex to discuss our most famous extinct cousins, Nean…

Welcome ... to Spookulative Evolution.

It’s October, and that means it’s Spook-E Season once again! Each episode in the series, we pick a type of monster and explore how it – or something like it – m…

Welcome ... to Spookulative Evolution.

It’s October, and that means it’s Spook-E Season once again! Each episode in the series, we pick a type of monster and explore how it – or something like it – m…