Episode 241 - Digestion

The world is full of food, but in order to make the most of it, living organisms need to be able to break it down and extract the useful nutrients. This episode, we explore the fundamental process of digestion and the many, many ways that life has adapted this process to various diets. And we’ll take a look at what the fossil record has to tell us about ancient diets and the evolutionary history of digestive systems. In the news: predator bites, coelacanth lungs, Cambrian claws, and squid evolution. Time markers: Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00 News: 00:05:55 Main discussion, Part 1: 00:38:10 Main discussion, Part 2: 01:23:30 Patron question: 02:06:50 Check out our website for this episode’s blog post and more: Join us on Patreon to support the podcast and enjoy bonus content: Got a topic you want to hear about? Submit your episode request here: Lots more ways to connect with us: The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

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Episode 241 - Digestion is an episode from The Common Descent Podcast by Common Descent.

This episode is 139:30 long.

This episode was published on Apr 12, 2026.

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