Common Descent

Feather-like crest on Triassic reptile challenges ideas about reptile evolution Body coverings such as hair and feathers have played a central role in evolution. They enabled warm-bloodedness by insulating the body, and were used for courtship, display, deterrence of enemies…

News from Episode 223:

Triassic reptiles sported strange integument - not quite fur, not quite feathers, but something unique,

T. rex relatives 'moonwalked' to attract mates, newfound dinosaur ‘mating arena' suggests Researchers have identified a "mating arena" at Dinosaur Ridge where male theropods gathered during the Cretaceous period to display in front of females.

News from Episode 223:

Unusual footprints indicate a Cretaceous dinosaur dance floor in Colorado.

Ancient caiman may have preyed on another apex predator—the giant 'terror bird' The La Venta fossil site in Colombia is home to a rich fossil record, yielding a particularly diverse set of vertebrate fossil assemblages. The giant terror bird (phorusrhacid) and caiman—a large…

News from Episode 223:

The leg bone of this South American terror bird shows evidence of having been chomped on by a caiman.

Neanderthals made a 'Swiss Army knife' from cave lion bone The prehistoric multi-tool is the oldest example of its kind.

News from Episode 223:

Neanderthals made and re-made tools from the bones of cave lions and other animals.

Episode 223 – Mutations Listen to Episode 223 on Podbean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts! Evolution is made possible by the variation that builds up in genomes due to generations of err…

They are the key to our evolution.

YouTube video by Common Descent Briks with Bask - Anaconda 1997

Briks with Bask Snake Month special! 🐍🐍🐍

Ripening, it's rotting, but tasty

Obscure rock formation in Canada may contain the world's oldest minerals The rocks could offer insight into Earth's primordial crust and the environment that gave birth to life.

News from Episode 222:

The Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt in Canada might be the oldest native rocks on Earth at over 4.1 billion years old.

News from Episode 222:

In harsher conditions, tomatoes in the Galápagos have "re-evolved" the ancestral form of their toxins.

Jurassic fish choked to death on squid-like cephalopods, fossil study reveals A study by Dr. Martin Ebert and Dr. Martina Kölbl-Ebert examined the remains of some 4,200 Tharsis fossil specimens. They found that some of these fish, all of which were subadults, would…

News from Episode 222:

Several Jurassic fish apparently sucked up some overlarge cephalopod shells and choked to death.

Invasive Adirondack smallmouth bass evolve to counter control efforts Decades of efforts to eradicate invasive smallmouth bass from a midsized Adirondack lake have led to a surprising result: The bass rapidly evolved to grow faster and invest more in early…

News from Episode 222:

Efforts to eradicate invasive smallmouth bass in the Adirondacks accidentally created selective pressures that spurred them to become even more numerous.

I had an absolute blast talking with David and Will about the wacky and wild world of shrews, have a listen!

Episode 222 – Shrews Listen to Episode 222 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts! They’re among the tiniest of mammals and they live some of the most extreme lifestyles. T…

This episode, @denoudenderek.bsky.social joins us to explain the extraordinary biology and evolution of shrews!

Our Snake Month Livestream is TODAY!

Join the conversation and share your questions and musings about this month's feature reptiles!

Fossilized skeleton of a small mammal, with the skull on the left and an arm toward the bottom. Text above the image says "Next week, on Episode 222..." Image from Storch and Qiu 2004

Next week, on Episode 222...

Close up of grass with cows grazing in the background. Text above the image says "Episode 7 How do Plants Scream Without a Mouth?" Image by Mtaufiqurrahman

Plants do not have mouths, but that doesn’t stop them from expressing themselves! This episode, Nora and Aly touch on the topic of plant communication and explore how plants signal distress.

Image by Mtaufiqurrahman

Snake Month Livestream Happy Snake Month!All throughout July, we're celebrating Snake Month! Themed podcast episodes, a special Discord channel, livestreams, and more!The Snakes an...

Join us on World Snake Day for a livestream dedicated to snakes!

We'll discuss snake news, snake science, and whatever snake subjects our audience (that's you!) asks about!

Tiny night lizards survived dinosaur-killing asteroid strike, despite being close enough to see it happen Researchers found that night lizards survived the dinosaur-killing asteroid strike at the end of the Cretaceous, despite living near the impact site in Mexico.

News from Episode 221:

Multiple lineages of night lizards apparently weathered the end-Cretaceous mass extinction not far from the impact site.

Humans hurled massive mammoth tusk boomerangs 40,000 years ago At almost 2.5 feet long, the ivory weapon wasn’t designed to return to the user.

News from Episode 221:

From Ice Age Poland: a boomerang carved from mammoth ivory.

This is the first ever confirmed skull of a Denisovan Finally, we can put a face on a Denisovan.

News from Episode 221:

The famous 'Harbin Skull' appears to be the first known skull of our mysterious Denisovan cousins.

These 545-million-year-old fossil trails just rewrote the story of evolution A groundbreaking study suggests that the famous Cambrian explosion—the dramatic burst of diverse animal life—might have actually started millions of years earlier than we thought. By analyzing…

News from Episode 221:

Trackways from the Ediacaran provide glimpses of diverse locomotion in the lead-up to the Cambrian Explosion.

Giant salamander fossil unearthed at Gray Fossil Site JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Researchers at the Gray Fossil Site have discovered the remains of a giant salamander that once called prehistoric Appalachia home. According to a news release from Eas…

News from Episode 221:

A giant dusky salamander from the Gray Fossil Site.

Episode 221 – Legless Lizards Listen to Episode 221 on PodBean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts! Reptiles are the absolute champions of evolving snake-shaped bodies. This episode, we explore t…

Look Ma, no legs!

Thanks @pocketcasts.com for sharing our paleo podcasts list! Celebrate #JurassicWorldRebirth & embrace your inner science nerd w @commondescentpod.bsky.social @pbseons.bsky.social @weirdanddead.bsky.social @jurassicparkpod.bsky.social & more (& I Know Dino ;) )

blog.pocketcasts.com/2025/06/30/s...

Close-up image of a strange and creepy animal skull. Text says "Next week, on Episode 221..." Image by NickLongrich

Next week, on Episode 221...

A cartoon snake (Coil) wearing a party hat and with a party favor in their mouth. Text says "Happy Snake Month!"

July is SNAKE MONTH here at Common Descent!

Join us for snake-themed content, our Snake Stuff channel on Discord, and our Snake Month Livestream on July 16th!

AND join the Snakes & Crocs Tier on our Patreon to support us and our scaly friends at the same time!

YouTube video by Common Descent Briks with Bask Marine Crocs

In the newest episode of Briks with Bask, Will constructs some LEGO Marine Crocs in honor of Croc Months past and present!

A painting of a Jurassic scene with plenty of plants and some ancient animals. Text above the image says "Episode 6 Jurassic Salad"

What if you traveled back in time to the Jurassic Period … and got hungry? Could you make a meal with the plants available at the time? This episode, Nora and Aly do some speculative cooking to see what they might include in a Jurassic Salad.

Cook-E, if you will

Study: Triassic Reptiles Were Able to Migrate across Tropical Areas Deemed Inhospitable to Life | Sci.News Using a novel method of geographical analysis, paleontologists inferred how archosauromorphs dispersed following one of the most impactful climate events the Earth has ever seen, the end-Permian mass…

News from Episode 220:

Mapping out the fossils of Triassic archosaurs reveals that they were able to inhabit and traverse the harsh tropics of Pangaea.