Paleontology podcasts

This edition of The Science Show covers extinct big cats and early humans, the material properties behind durable Roman concrete, the history of technological disruption by space weather, and methane-consuming microorganisms living in tree bark.

Hosted by Robyn Williams, Belinda Smith

Nature editors discuss nearly 400 structures that reveal the scale of the Aquiry civilization and tiny fossils of an early squid ancestor.

Nature staff discuss evidence that young tyrannosaurs hunted from birth, the weapons used by ancient Egyptian princesses and London’s emerging role in artificial-intelligence safety.

Steve Brusatte discusses the dinosaurs that survived the end-Cretaceous asteroid impact: birds. The episode follows fossil evidence for feathered dinosaurs and the emergence of avian traits, then considers how surviving bird lineages diversified after the extinction. Publisher illustrations connect fossils, anatomy and evolutionary relationships.

Hosted by Oliver Strimpel

Sara Pruss discusses archaeocyath sponges, the first multicellular reef builders, and their relationship to diversification during the Cambrian. The episode traces successive reef-building groups through the geological record and asks why reefs repeatedly emerge despite environmental disruption and extinction.

Lene Liebe Delsett discusses fossils, extinct animals and the methods used to reconstruct life in the distant past. Conversation in Norwegian.