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Science & Medicine

The Common Descent Podcast

Common Descent

Two paleontologists-turned-science-communicators chatting about the diversity of life: past and present!

Episodes

20 of 392 episodes

Cute-E - Tribbles

Welcome … to Cute-E! During our Spook-E series, we speculate on the evolution of monsters from myth and popular media, but we leave out fict...

58:10Oct 31, 2026

Episode 255 - Plant Origins

Here on our blue-and-green planet, the green is plants. This episode, Aly joins us again to explore the beginnings of this all-important gro...

138:33Oct 24, 2026

Spook-E - Andalites

Welcome ... to Spookulative Evolution. It’s Spook-E Season! All throughout October, we pick monsters from myth and media and speculate how t...

53:30Oct 24, 2026

Spook-E - Headcrabs

Welcome ... to Spookulative Evolution. It’s Spook-E Season! All throughout October, we pick monsters from myth and media and speculate how t...

70:30Oct 17, 2026

Episode 254 - Abelisaurs

During the Cretaceous Period, while tyrannosaurs stomped around the northern continents, the less famous abelisaurs were the top predatory d...

133:03Oct 10, 2026

Spook-E - Greys

Welcome ... to Spookulative Evolution. It’s Spook-E Season! All throughout October, we pick monsters from myth and media and speculate how t...

62:06Oct 10, 2026

Spook-E - Xenomorphs

Welcome ... to Spookulative Evolution. Spook-E Season is back! All throughout October, we pick monsters from myth and media and speculate ho...

102:01Oct 3, 2026

Episode 253 - Kangaroos

Kangaroos – and their wallaroo and wallaby cousins – are some of the most recognizable, charismatic, and impressively strange mammals on the...

163:10Sep 26, 2026

Episode 252 - The Ice Age

About 10% of the Earth’s land surface is currently covered in persistent glacial ice, but for most of Earth history, that number was much cl...

130:56Sep 12, 2026

Episode 251 - The Sun

The Sun is kind of a big deal. It is the center of our solar system, around which all other objects revolve, and its heat and light are resp...

164:28Aug 29, 2026

Episode 250 - Camels

Large, herbivorous mammals come in many shapes and sizes, but few are as famously unusual as camels. This episode, we explore the surprising...

141:47Aug 15, 2026

Episode 249 - Sexual Dimorphism

In most animal species, there are differences in the anatomy, behavior, and lifestyle of male and female individuals. In this episode, we ex...

177:24Aug 1, 2026

Episode 248 - Big Cats

Felines come in all shapes and sizes, but only a handful of them are large enough and in charge enough to have earned the title of “Big Cats...

176:22Jul 18, 2026

Snake Stuff with Ali Ashraf

Happy Snake Month! In this bonus episode, we're joined by friend of the podcast Ali Ashraf to talk about his research on the distribution an...

57:22Jul 16, 2026

Episode 247 – Vipers

Happy Snake Month! Some of the most fascinating, famous, and dangerous snakes on the planet belong to the family Viperidae. Vipers include s...

196:19Jul 4, 2026

Episode 246 - Gharials

Happy Croc Month! Most living crocodilian species look pretty similar overall – that’s why there are so many tips for telling alligators fro...

144:23Jun 20, 2026

Croc Chat with Maddie Turala

Happy Croc Month! In this bonus episode, we're joined by friend of the podcast Maddie Turala to talk about her research on estimating body s...

57:14Jun 17, 2026

Episode 245 - Cycads

Cycads are cousins of conifers, and although they can be found throughout the modern tropics, they are often considered a visual indicator o...

134:56Jun 6, 2026

Episode 244 - Sea Turtles

Most modern turtles are pretty good in the water, but only some are truly ocean-dwellers. This episode, we explore the unique and diverse li...

147:46May 23, 2026

Episode 243 - Burrowers

A lot of life on Earth happens underground. This episode, we sample the species that have taken to a life of digging in the dirt – and elsew...

142:54May 9, 2026