Vertebrate Paleontology podcasts

This science-news segment examines a team's report of blood-related molecular evidence and mineralised structures in a 115-million-year-old Brazilian dinosaur bone. Researchers Alexander Kellner and Kliti Grice discuss the finding and its potential to open further investigation of ancient dinosaur biology. The segment concerns an interpretation of fossil evidence rather than living blood or recoverable dinosaur DNA.

Hosted by Andy Park

Science writer Riley Black joins Kathleen Davis to explore the everyday biology and life history of Tyrannosaurus rex. Drawing on the evidence and reconstruction behind Tyrant Lizard Queen, they move beyond its familiar image as a movie predator to consider what life for an individual animal may have involved and what fossils can tell us about it.

Hosted by Kathleen Davis

Robyn Williams and Belinda Smith explore biological cooperation and symbiosis, how bees protect their colonies against disease, and the pressures that climate change places on African lions. The programme also examines evolutionary competition between reptiles and mammals and the scientific accuracy of dinosaur displays. This edition brings together five science reports connecting interactions among organisms, environmental change and the communication of biological research.

Hosted by Robyn Williams, Belinda Smith

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 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