The field of evolutionary biology has been greatly influenced by the development of modern genetic methodology. The understanding of genes, genomes and the molecular mechanisms key to life on Earth are all goals of evolutionary biology in the 21st century, yet its potential applications seem to be near limitless. Palaeontology and evolutionary biology continue to...

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Sauropods are a group of magnificent, long-necked dinosaurs that are well known for their gigantism. Existing from the end of the Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (201 to 66 million years ago), they hold special places in the hearts and imaginations of dinosaur lovers around the world thanks to their unique body shapes...

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In 12 years of podcasting, we have never actually taken the time to address the fundamentals of our field. Such questions could include: what is palaeontology, what is a fossil, how does one become a palaeontologist, and why is palaeontology important? For what should have been our very first episode, we’ve invited Prof. Roy Plotnick,...

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It’s been two centuries since the first dinosaur, Megalosaurus, was named by William Buckland and to commemorate the date, the Natural History Museum hosted ‘200 Years of Dinosaurs: Their Rise, Fall, and Rebirth’. This international conference provides a snapshot of dinosaur research in 2024, demonstrating just how far our understanding of this group has come...

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The Middle Jurassic is incredibly important to our understanding of pterosaur evolution; however, the remarkable rarity and incompleteness of Middle Jurassic pterosaurs has long hampered scientific understanding of the lineage. Joining us this episode on the other side of the microphone is one of Palaeocast’s own team members, Dr Liz Martin Silverstone, a Technical Specialist...

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For over 150 million years, mammals scurried beneath the feet of dinosaurs. Despite being confined to small sizes, they diversified into numerous forms alongside their dinosaurian contemporaries. Although some Cretaceous mammals were about the size of modern badgers, most were not much larger than mice. This all changed 66 million years ago, when a giant...

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Originally mounted in 1907, the Carnegie specimen is the best example of the sauropod dinosaur Diplodocus, and perhaps the most famous dinosaur skeleton in the world. Casts of the specimen, including the London example known as “Dippy”, were distributed around the world during the early 1900s, and a final concrete cast was even created in...

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Life On Our Planet (LOOP) is a new 8-part series created for Netflix by Silverback Films and Amblin Television. This Steven Spielberg produced series, narrated by Morgan Freeman, is hugely ambitious in its scope, telling the story of life throughout the whole Phanerozoic Eon. Ancient organisms and environments are painstakingly recreated by the supremely talented...

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Whilst the evolution of feathers and flight might be seen as the greatest evolutionary innovation of the birds, the development of their wings precluded their forearms from holding many functions outside of flight. It is widely recognised that beaks are utilised as a ‘surrogate hand’, but if so, then surely the avian neck must function...

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For the last 10 years, Palaeocast has been generating original palaeontological multimedia. As we look to the next 10 years, we are focussing on diversifying our outputs and ensuring the consistency of our content production. To that end, we have an open call for new Palaeocast team members to contribute to any of the following...

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