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PODCAST

Weird & Dead

Amy Atwater and Meaghan Wetherell

A podcast about evolution"s most embarrassing and bizarre stories as told by two very gossipy paleontologists. Amy and Meaghan happily dish the details on everything from fossilized dinosaur butts to the secret drama behind naming new species. Time for the hottest tea from prehistory!

science earth sciences

All Episodes

00:43:58

Megatherium the Stabber

Weird & Dead ·

2025/11/06

From carnivorous armadillos to the serial stabbing experiments of a self-described 70 kg male with no special training in any sporting discipline but who seems to have a very vicious cat, this episode is a wild, wild ride. But would you truly expect any different from xenarthrans?CW: Cursing, drug testing, the vegan police, a man stabbing meat and facing off against cats, sloth baby murder

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00:51:48

Ep 308: Freaky Fingers Pt 1

Weird & Dead ·

2025/10/02

Sometimes evolution isn’t just weird, it’s weirdly indecisive. Let’s talk about the multipurpose mishaps that led to Iguanodon’s hoof-knife-tentacle combo and the extending butterknife palms of Pandas. Now with fixed audio featuring also Amy!CW: jokes about dildos, sex acts, and rude hand gestures. Cursing. Discussion and mockery of Meaghan’s current ganglion cyst. We do call extra fingers weird or freaky, but this is specific to animals and does not cover polydactyly or humans.

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00:42:49

Bloat & Float

Weird & Dead ·

2025/06/26

Ankylosaurs, ichthyosaurs and nonexistent narcissistic krakens! Let's talk about why Ankylosaurs are found upside down, and what really happened at Berlin Ichthyosaur State Park. Time to bloat up & float along.CW: Cursing, Pseudoscience, Dead Animals & Decay

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00:48:58

Fossil Urine

Weird & Dead ·

2025/06/12

Time to discuss yet another body secretion that you probably didn't think could fossilize. Urine marks, urine that became rocks, and rocks that formed in urine - we've got it all, baby! CW: Body fluids, cursing, turtles doing horrible physiological things, animal death

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28:22

Bonus Episode: Chameleons

Weird & Dead ·

2024/12/31

Thanks for an excellent first year! Here’s a bonus episode where Amy demonstrates she’s learned more about Chameleons since we started (kinda). Images are on weirdanddead.com CW: Cursing

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26:58

Bonus Episode: Rugose Corals

Weird & Dead ·

2024/12/24

Meaghan loses her mind about how gross rugose corals are. Try evolving something that doesn’t involve genetically manipulating your babies, you lonely jellyfish-emulating losers. CW: cursing. Gagging noises.

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56:03

Dino Sex

Weird & Dead ·

2024/10/23

It may not have happened in lakes but it certainly did happen – so how? Let’s dive into fossilized cloacas, theoretical genitals, and the impracticalities of sexing a dinosaur. CW: sexual content, genitalia, brief discussions of nonconsensual sex between animals, Nanotyrannus, making fun of old white men

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54:46

Fossil Frenemies

Weird & Dead ·

2024/10/09

From friends to enemies to roommates (to lovers??), we discuss classic examples of animals found fossilized together, how that happens, and how some of the interpretations are… a stretch. CW: Animal death, dead babies, lubed holes, incest, cursing

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49:07

The Burgess Shale

Weird & Dead ·

2024/09/25

500 some million years ago the world was full of ‘abnormal shrimp’ and ‘blunt feet’ and other animals that defy comprehensible definitions. In this episode we talk all about the mind-boggling biology and bizarre geology of the Cambrian. CW: Drug references, cursing, dead animals, cavalier jokes at the expense of white men, dick jokes

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56:36

Fossil Forensics

Weird & Dead ·

2024/09/11

Bones are sick – and this time, we mean it literally. From infected bite marks to the ever-prevalent markings of tuberculosis, we’re talking about the signs of illnesses and injuries in fossils and what they tell us about the lives (and deaths) of these animals. CW: Cancer, infections and pus, injuries, animal suffering

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1:04:10

Trunks, Snoods, and Other Floppy Face Flesh

Weird & Dead ·

2024/08/28

Did Diplodocus have a trunk? Did T. rex have a wobbly turkey neck? This week’s episode is all about fleshy face flaps and their uses, and how to detect them in the fossil record. CW: Animal death, cursing, making fun of dinosaurs, urine

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53:54

The Baculum and the Baubellum

Weird & Dead ·

2024/07/31

Sometimes boners have actual bones! This episode is all about the evolution, use, and occasional loss of/damage to genital bones in both male and female animals. CW: Cursing, genitalia, brief mention of non-consensual sexual behavior in animals

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44:42

Fossil Brainz

Weird & Dead ·

2024/07/17

How much do we really know about the brains of ancient animals? In this episode we dive into the fantastic world of endocasts, aka, brain impressions! CW: soft tissue, cursing, Nanotyrannus, brief mention of the Nazis in regards to Tilly Edinger

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46:07

Things You Didn’t Think a Butthole Could Do

Weird & Dead ·

2024/06/19

From the anal chimneys of crinoids to the tushy lungs of turtles, this episode covers all the weird things that buttholes can do… but shouldn’t. CW: Buttholes, cursing, poop, tobacco use, alien abduction

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46:59

Becoming Paleontologists

Weird & Dead ·

2024/03/27

For our final episode of season 1 we go into detail on how the two of us met, how we got into paleontology, and the various twists and turns that have made up our two careers. CW: Cursing. Yep, that’s all this time – we were surprised too!

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48:45

Thick Thighs and Body Size

Weird & Dead ·

2024/03/20

From dinosaurs to rhinos to bugs, things used to get a whole lot bigger than they seem to today. In this episode we talk all about evolutionary constraints, the narrow set of bumper bars enforced on us by biology. CW: Body fluids. Using the term bug incorrectly (sorry entomologists). Cursing.

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48:42

The Science of Fossil Poop and Puke

Weird & Dead ·

2024/02/28

Trace fossils are an incredible resource to understand behavior… even behavior those animals wish maybe there wasn’t a record of. From the results of terrible food poisoning to the fossil equivalent of a xeroxed buttocks, trace fossils record some animals’ most humiliating moments. CW: Everything in the title, cursing, stomach stones (bezoars)

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17 results

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