PODCAST

Palaeocast

A free webseries exploring the fossil record and the evolution of life on Earth.

science natural sciences

All Episodes

01:04:00

Episode 138: Hispaniolan Sloths

Palaeocast ·

2022/04/20

Sloths (or do you pronounce it “sloths”?), are a group of tree-dwelling xenarthrans from South and Central America. They are well known for their sedentary lifestyles where they just hang around and seemingly do fairly little. But has this always been the case? When we look back at the fossil record of sloths, what kinds of ecologies do we see? How far back does their fossil record actually go? In this episode, we speak to Dr Robert McAfee (Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine) about his

01:00:32

Episode 137: Tanis

Palaeocast ·

2022/02/25

The end-Cretaceous mass extinction was a cataclysmic asteroid impact that ushered in the end of the non-avian dinosaurs and forever changed the course of evolution on Earth. But what can we say about the timing of the event, other than it happened 66 million years ago? Well, it turns out that Tanis, a relatively-recently discovered fossil site in North Dakota, is full of lines of evidence that are allowing earth scientists to piece together when the impact occurred. In this episode, we’re joined by

41:31

Episode 136: Burmese Amber Pt2b

Palaeocast ·

2022/02/15

Continuing our mini series on Burmese Amber, we now turn our focus to the ethics of working on this fossil material. Can possessing or working on amber from Myanmar ever be considered ethical? In the first part of this episode, we examined the political context, work around Myanmar’s fossil exportation laws and follow the money back through the trade routes. Now, in the second part, we discuss why it’s currently unethical to study Burmese amber, what palaeontologists can do about that, and whether

48:09

Episode 135: Burmese Amber Pt2

Palaeocast ·

2022/02/03

Continuing our mini series on Burmese Amber, we now turn our focus to the ethics of working on this fossil material. Can possessing or working on amber from Myanmar ever be considered ethical? In the first part of this episode, we examine the political context, work around Myanmar’s fossil exportation laws and follow the money back through the trade routes. In the second part (released in two weeks), we’ll be discussing why it’s currently unethical to study Burmese amber, what palaeontologists can

52:30

Episode 134: Mammal Locomotion and Ecology

Palaeocast ·

2022/01/16

In this episode we talk to Professor Christine Janis about mammal palaeontology, and her career. Christine is one of the world’s foremost experts in mammal palaeontology and mammalogy. She has authored dozens of scientific papers, and has been co-author of the major textbook Vertebrate Life for the last 20 years. Christine has had a long and distinguished career, and is currently a researcher at the University of Bristol in the UK. Her work is particularly focused on mammal locomotion and

01:09:35

Episode 133: Drawing and Painting Dinosaurs

Palaeocast ·

2022/01/02

It can be argued that palaeoart is the single biggest hook for getting people interested in prehistoric life. It takes the complex scientific terminology and data found within the academic literature and translates it into a reconstruction of an extinct organism. It is only through palaeoart that we can visualise some extinct organisms (particularly the vertebrates, and dinosaurs in this instance, whose external tissues are rarely preserved as fossils) and show some of the behaviours they might have

42:20

Episode 132: Burmese Amber Pt1b

Palaeocast ·

2021/12/15

Burmese amber is well known for preserving fossils in exquisite details. This amber is dated to around 100 million years old, representing the Albian - Cenomanian ages of the Cretaceous period, so would have been deposited whilst non-avian dinosaurs still walked the land. Fossils preserved in this amber include representatives from numerous different groups including arachnids, insects, vertebrates, and plants. Whilst the amber itself (as fossilised tree sap/resin) is produced in a terrestrial

45:12

Episode 131: Burmese Amber Pt1

Palaeocast ·

2021/12/02

57:20

Episode 130: Bats

Palaeocast ·

2021/10/30

After rodents, bats are the second largest group of mammals, representing a staggering 20% of all mammal species. They can be found all over the world, with the exception of cold climates, where they often play incredibly important ecological roles. Their ecologies (ways in which they live) go well beyond the cave-hanging, moth-eating stereotypes and diets can also be based on fruits, nectar or even blood. In fact, some tropical plants rely solely upon bats for pollination! But when did bats evolve

01:13:34

Episode 129: Penguins

Palaeocast ·

2021/10/01

Whether it be because of their unique shape, comical walking or extreme ecology, there can be no denying that penguins are incredibly popular and charismatic animals. But what actually makes a penguin a penguin and how are they different from other birds? Have penguins always been, well, 'penguiny'? Joining us for this interview are Simone Giovanardi and Daniel Thomas who have just described a new species of giant penguin from New Zealand. Together, we explore penguin evolution and how their new

50:16

Episode 128: Coprolite Inclusions Pt2

Palaeocast ·

2021/07/31

One of the factors that makes palaeontology such a popular science is its constant ability to surprise us. It seems almost every week that a new study is released that significantly adds to our understanding of ancient life. This could be in relation to a new species, a new analysis or new fossil locality. In this episode, we discuss a new discovery that not only yields a new species, but also provides direct dietary evidence and has us re-evaluating the potential for food to be preserved in

37:00

Episode 127: Coprolite Inclusions

Palaeocast ·

2021/07/19

01:01:08

Episode 126: Beasts Before Us

Palaeocast ·

2021/06/16

In this episode, we talk to our very own Dr Elsa Panciroli about her new book Beasts Before Us. In it, she tells the untold story of mammalian evolution, tracing the origin of synapsids back to the Carboniferous. You’ll be taken to fossil sites around the world to meet some of these pioneering animals and some of the palaeontologists that discovered them. For this interview, we’ll give you an overview of the early evolution of synapsids and dispel many of the misconceptions about what our ancestors

52:34

Episode 125: Crocodylomorph disparity Pt2

Palaeocast ·

2021/04/30

Crocodiles are often referred to as “living fossils”, but if we compare modern and ancient species, does that label hold up? What different kind of morphologies (shapes) did past crocs have and how did they live? How quickly did this past diversity arise and why are we left with so few species today? What’s to stop them from diversifying again? In this episode, we speak to Dr Tom Stubbs, University of Bristol, about his recent work analysing changes in crocodylomorph disparity through time. We look

35:55

Episode 124: Crocodylomorph disparity

Palaeocast ·

2021/04/15

50:40

Episode 123: Soil

Palaeocast ·

2021/03/16

Terrestrial life as we know it couldn’t exist without soil. Soil, as we know it today, is a layer of minerals, organic matter, liquids, gasses and organisms that not only provides a medium for plant growth, but also modifies the atmosphere, provides a habitat for animals and retains and purifies water. This kind of soil hasn’t always existed, so in order to understand early conditions on land, we first need to understand what can be constituted as a soil and when these first appeared. Is there soil

37:32

Episode 122: Dietary Ecology of Smilodon fatalis pt2

Palaeocast ·

2021/03/01

Part two of our interview with Dr Larisa DeSantis of Vanderbilt University on the 'dietary ecology' of Smilodon. Smilodon is probably one of the most iconic mammalian apex predators with its extended upper canines and robustly-built forearms. In fact, when we compare Smilodon to modern cats (felids), we don't see these same characteristics. So what were they used for? Was Smilodon specialised for any particular behaviour? Owing to the unique preservation of the tar seeps at Rancho La Brea, Los

36:14

Episode 121: Dietary Ecology of Smilodon fatalis Pt1

Palaeocast ·

2021/02/15

Smilodon is probably one of the most iconic mammalian apex predators with its extended upper canines and robustly-built forearms. In fact, when we compare Smilodon to modern cats (felids), we don’t see these same characteristics. So what were they used for? Was Smilodon specialised for any particular behaviour? Owing to the unique preservation of the tar seeps at Rancho La Brea, Los Angeles, USA, we can find an overabundance of predators, including Smilodon fatalis, Canis dirus, Panthera

50:27

Episode 120: Naked Ammonite

Palaeocast ·

2021/02/01

It wouldn’t be outlandish to state that many a fossil collection has started with the acquisition of an ammonite. Their planispiral shells (termed a conch) are instantly recognisable and since that conch was originally composed of the relatively hard mineral aragonite, they better lend themselves to the fossilisation process. But how much do we actually know about the animal that produces the conch? We might be able to make superficial inferences based on comparisons with the modern Nautilus, but

59:22

Episode 119: The Soom Shale

Palaeocast ·

2020/12/18

The Soom Shale is an Ordovician lagerstätte in the Western Cape of South Africa. Whilst it lacks the diversity of organisms seen in other lagerstätten, such as the Burgess Shale or Chengjiang, it more than makes up for it in the fidelity of preservation. The taphonomic pathway to the fantastic preservation in the Soom Shale is long and complex, reliant not only on local conditions, but also ties into global climatic events. It’s vitally important when interpreting fossils to understand the taphonomy

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