The Common Descent Podcast

None of us are alone. Like, in the literal, biological sense. Symbiotic relationships – close interactions between unrelated organisms – are a defining feature of life on Earth. Each of our bodies ha…

Episode 132 – Mary and Louis Leakey

Happy Darwin Day!

Mary and Louis Leakey are two of the biggest names in the history of paleoanthropology and human evolution, and they’re one of history’s most imp…

Volcanoes are fascinating, devastating, and fundamental to Earth systems. Volcanic eruptions can transform ecosystems, landscapes, and even the atmosphere, and at their most extreme, the effects of v…

With every breath you take, you’re collecting information about your surroundings. We humans are actually pretty skilled smellers, as these things go, but olfactory abilities vary widely across the a…

Happy New Year!

Thanks as always to everyone who submitted questions for the Q&A. Thanks to everyone for listening, sharing, and supporting the podcast this year and for our whole run of nearly five …

Today, rhinos are famous for their large size and impressive horns (and their distressing conservation status, sadly), but modern rhinos are only a small sample of what rhinos have been over time. Th…

Far below the ocean surface is a vast environment of cold, darkness, very scarce food, and surprisingly diverse life. Deep sea life is quite mysterious, in part because of their unusual adaptations f…

Surprise! A special short(ish) episode of Silver Screen Science to discuss the Prologue/Trailer for Jurassic World: Dominion!

Time markers:
Science Discussion: 00:00
More Thoughts: 25:00

We're now ta…

Located across a wide area of the Upper Great Plains of the United States, the Hell Creek Formation is one of the world’s premier locations for studying the Age of Dinosaurs, especially trends of evo…

Evolution loves to plagiarize. You might be surprised at just how useful it can be for an organism to copy the signals, sights, sounds, and smells of others. Mimicry is all about making use of miscom…

Orchids are among the most diverse and widespread group of plants on Earth today, not to mention one of the most popular among plant enthusiasts. This episode, we discuss what makes orchids so unique…

Welcome ... to Spookulative Evolution.

October is here, and that means it’s time for Spook-E! Each episode throughout this month, we’re choosing a famous monster and discussing how it – or something …

Welcome ... to Spookulative Evolution.

October is here, and that means it’s time for Spook-E! Each episode throughout this month, we’re choosing a famous monster and discussing how it – or something …

An Earth covered in ice might sound far-fetched, but there’s reason to think it has actually happened in the past – more than once. In this episode, we examine the Snowball Earth hypothesis and the g…

Welcome ... to Spookulative Evolution.

October is here, and that means it’s time for Spook-E! Each episode throughout this month, we’re choosing a famous monster and discussing how it – or something …

Welcome ... to Spookulative Evolution.

October is here, and that means it’s time for Spook-E! Each episode throughout this month, we’re choosing a famous monster and discussing how it – or something …

Spiders are among the most diverse, successful, and famous living groups of invertebrates. Today, they’re a worldwide assortment of fascinating predators, and their scarce fossil record provides hint…

The Earth is in motion beneath our feet. The shifting and grinding of the tectonic plates is responsible for the shape of our planet’s surface and – directly or indirectly – nearly all the activity t…

Nearly all animals have some form of nervous system, and this system is often monitored and regulated by a brain. We humans are particularly proud of our enormous brains, but these organs come in all…

Ever since T. rex was first identified in 1905, tyrannosaurs have been among the most famous and well-studied dinosaurs of all time. Research, especially in the last few decades, has revealed incredi…