Palaeo After Dark

The gang discusses two papers about the effects of the Permian Mass Extinction on the evolutionary and ecological patterns of brachiopods and bivalves. Also, Amanda finds her true calling, James indiscriminately throws shade, and Curt feels the pain of being the only person to vaguely remember what the papers were about.  'Up goer five' summary: The group talks about two types of animals with hard parts to hide in, one which is food and one which is not food. It used to be thought that the food animals were better than the not food animals, and that they had beaten them over a long time so that there were more of them today than the not food animal. The first paper shows that this is not true, and that both animals did as well as each other until they both had a very bad day, and that the food animal just got over this very bad day faster. The second paper is making sure that we have not got anything wrong by only looking at one way we can find both the food and not food animals.   References: Gould, Stephen

That gang discusses convergent evolution and potential sexual selection in the horns and frills of ceratopsian dinosaurs, which Amanda refers to as the "most American dinosaur". Also, Amanda defends a cause, James practices being a "tiger mom", and Curt drinks for two with disastrous but expected consequences. Up-Goer Five podcast summary (using only the ten hundred most commonly used English words): The group talks about big angry animals with no hair that have things coming out of their faces. There are two groups of big angry animals with no hair that have things coming out of their faces, one with tall things coming off of the neck with smaller things coming out of their faces and another with a short thing coming off of the neck and longer things coming out of their faces. Some studies have looked at what all these things on faces and necks are for, and hurt marks on the hard bits of bodies show that the things were used to fight so that a Mr big angry animal with no hair could find a Mrs big angry anima

In this episode, the gang discuss the diverse and ecologically abundant mammals of the Mesozoic. Meanwhile, Amanda gives dedicated fans an exclusive cat report, James learns something, and Curtis does his best Skeletor impression. However, the greatest question goes unanswered: what are Wombles? Up-Goer Five podcast summary (using only the ten hundred most commonly used English words):The group talks about two papers that look at warm blooded animals with hair from a very long time ago, during the time of the big angry animals that did not have hair. While it used to be thought that there were not many different kinds of warm blooded animals with hair a very long time ago, new studies show that there were lots of different kinds of warm blooded animals with hair a long time ago and that they did lots of different things even when there were still big angry animals that did not have hair. It is shown that they changed to do these many different things several different times, and that changes to do these diffe

Amanda thinks about a writing style. James takes on a big responsibility. Curt deflects. The nature of change is considered, but the conversation remains locked in stasis.   References Gould, Steven J.. "Is a New and General Theory of Evolution Emerging?" Paleobiology, 6.1 (1980): 119-130. Hunt, Gene, Melanie J. Hopkins, and Scott Lidgard. "Simple versus complex models of trait evolution and stasis as a response to environmental change."Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112.16 (2015): 4885-4890.

In this episode, the gang discusses changes in biomass through time. They also spend a fair chunk of the podcast passing blame. Meanwhile, James is denied eating a bagel, Curt describes complex biodiversity patterns as “getting swole”, and Amanda apologizes repeatedly. They also try to answer the toughest question of all, would a eurypterid be tasty?   References: Bambach, Richard K. "Seafood through time: changes in biomass, energetics, and productivity in the marine ecosystem." Paleobiology (1993): 372-397. Cardinale, Bradley J., et al. "Impacts of plant diversity on biomass production increase through time because of species complementarity." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104.46 (2007): 18123-18128.

In this episode, the gang tries desperately to talk about a really interesting plant paper and fails miserably. Meanwhile, James stops caring, Amanda relishes in being right, and Curt really tries to keep this one together (he fails). Also, despite the podcast not being about it at all, James has to talk about the new gliding dinosaur.   References: Stevenson, Robert A., Dennis Evangelista, and Cindy V. Looy. "When conifers took flight: a biomechanical evaluation of an imperfect evolutionary takeoff."Paleobiology 41.02 (2015): 205-225. Hughes, Martin, Sylvain Gerber, and Matthew Albion Wills. "Clades reach highest morphological disparity early in their evolution." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110.34 (2013): 13875-13879.

 The gang attempts to discuss the Ringo Starr of mass extinctions, the End Triassic. And much like the actual extinction event, the discussion is long, broad, and not focused on any one thing in particular. Meanwhile, Amanda learns the joys of screen sharing, Curt makes some dubious shopping decisions, and James “wins” (play along at home and count how many times James “wins” the podcast).   References Benton, Michael J. "More than one event in the late Triassic mass extinction."Nature 321.6073 (1986): 857-861. Tanner, L. H., S. G. Lucas, and M. G. Chapman. "Assessing the record and causes of Late Triassic extinctions." Earth-Science Reviews 65.1 (2004): 103-139.  Kasprak, Alex H., et al. "Episodic photic zone euxinia in the northeastern Panthalassic Ocean during the end-Triassic extinction." Geology 43.4 (2015): 307-310.

In this episode the gang discusses mimicry in the fossil record, which James uses as an excuse to introduce everyone to one of his “favorite” papers.  And as they stare into the gaping maw of mimicry in slack-jawed disbelief, grim smiling lips float back to them flashing pearly teeth in the dark and whispering one word.... mouths.   References http://www.edinburghgeolsoc.org/edingeologist/z_42_08.html Lamont, A. "Prolegomena to aggressive mimicry and protective resemblance in early fishes, chelicerates, trilobites and brachiopods." Scottish Journal of Science 1.2 (1969): 75-103. Topper, Timothy P., et al. "Competition and mimicry: the curious case of chaetae in brachiopods from the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale." BMC evolutionary biology 15.1 (2015): 42

The gang attempts to talk about the coral gap, but instead Amanda spends nearly 40 minutes trying to explain why Petoskey Stones are cool, and James tries to sidetrack her at every turn. Meanwhile, Curt is too drunk to care. Our sincerest apologies to all of the coral workers out there.   References: Robinson, George W., and Donald Reed. "Pink Petoskey Stones from Northern Michigan." Rocks & Minerals 88.3 (2013): 244-249. Stanley, George D. "The evolution of modern corals and their early history."Earth-Science Reviews 60.3 (2003): 195-225. Stolarski, JarosÅ‚aw, et al. "The ancient evolutionary origins of Scleractinia revealed by azooxanthellate corals." BMC evolutionary biology 11.1 (2011): 316.

The gang celebrates their second birthday podcast by discussing two papers that deal with large evolutionary trends through time in the marine realm. Also, Amanda describes her ideal skull throne, and James and Curt detail their recent pear related experiments.   References Heim, Noel A., et al. "Cope’s rule in the evolution of marine animals." Science347.6224 (2015): 867-870. Kelley, Neil P., and Ryosuke Motani. "Trophic convergence drives morphological convergence in marine tetrapods." Biology letters 11.1 (2015): 20140709.

In this episode we revisit the topic of taphonomy by discussing two papers that deal with actualistic taphonomy studies. Also, Amanda butchers potatoes, Curt becomes morbid, and James’s humor gets progressively bluer as the night goes on to the surprise of no one.   References Briggs, Derek EG. "The role of decay and mineralization in the preservation of soft-bodied fossils." Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 31.1 (2003): 275-301. Bartley, Julie K. "Actualistic taphonomy of cyanobacteria: implications for the Precambrian fossil record." Palaios (1996): 571-586.

The gang returns to the subject of molecular clocks by discussing several papers that compare the results of molecular clock studies to the fossil evidence. Meanwhile, James tells stories of internet “fame”, Curt loses his composure, and Amanda will be right back.   References: Jarvis, Erich D., et al. "Whole-genome analyses resolve early branches in the tree of life of modern birds." Science 346.6215 (2014): 1320-1331. Mayr, Gerald. "The age of the crown group of passerine birds and its evolutionary significance–molecular calibrations versus the fossil record."Systematics and Biodiversity 11.1 (2013): 7-13. Jeyaprakash, Ayyamperumal, and Marjorie A. Hoy. "First divergence time estimate of spiders, scorpions, mites and ticks (subphylum: Chelicerata) inferred from mitochondrial phylogeny." Experimental and Applied Acarology47.1 (2009): 1-18. Dunlop, Jason A., and Paul A. Selden. "Calibrating the chelicerate clock: a paleontological reply to Jeyaprakash and Hoy." Experimental and Applied Acarology 48.3 (2009):

The gang decides to revisit the past by returning to a few previous podcast topics and updating them with current research; starting with a survey of recent research into early vertebrate jaws. And like a snake eating its own tail, the conversation rambles about in circles and accomplishes very little. At the very least they manage to deliver an empathetic discussion of the impostor syndrome, seemingly for no reason. Meanwhile, Curt details teddy bear vivisection, James mixes pseudoephedrine and alcohol, and Amanda learns about the importance of eating before drinking.   References Pradel, Alan, et al. "A Palaeozoic shark with osteichthyan-like branchial arches." Nature (2014). Giles, Sam, Matt Friedman, and Martin D. Brazeau. "Osteichthyan-like cranial conditions in an Early Devonian stem gnathostome." Nature (2015).

After days of indecision about podcast topics, Curt snaps and decides to enact terrible revenge on the others. He holds the gang hostage and slowly tortures them by incessantly prattling on about species concepts and philosophy of science. Trapped in a room with only their snark (and some fresh cooked brisket) to defend themselves, Amanda and James struggle to survive the onslaught of boring. Can they hold out long enough, or will they succumb to the clawing insanity? Apologies to Iceland, who we woefully misrepresent.   Carefree by Kevin Macleod (incompetetch.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/   References Ghiselin, Michael T. "Species Concepts." eLS (1987). Wiley, Edward O. "The evolutionary species concept reconsidered."Systematic Biology 27.1 (1978): 17-26.

The gang gins up a flimsy excuse to talk about short-faced bears and megalodon. Also, Amanda researches topics for future podcasts on air, Curt becomes transfixed by Google image searches, and James's mind is broken by the thought of Mr. T.  References: Soibelzon, Leopoldo H., et al. "South American giant short-faced bear (Arctotherium angustidens) diet: evidence from pathology, morphology, stable isotopes, and biomechanics." Journal of Paleontology 88.6 (2014): 1240-1250. Pimiento, Catalina, and Christopher F. Clements. "When Did Carcharocles megalodon Become Extinct? A New Analysis of the Fossil Record." PloS one9.10 (2014): e111086.

In this episode, the gang looks at a few cases of fossil pathologies in arthropods, birds, and amphibians and discusses the interesting broader evolutionary ramifications of these studies. Meanwhile, Amanda wrangles cats, and Curt confuses everyone by consistently assigning taxa to the wrong groups (for example: loriciferans are not priapulids, even though they are closely related). Oh... and  James leads a legitimate discussion on science ethics.   References: Mayr, Gerald. "Bizarre tubercles on the vertebrae of Eocene fossil birds indicate an avian disease without modern counterpart." Naturwissenschaften94.8 (2007): 681-685. García-Bellido, Diego C., and Desmond H. Collins. "Moulting arthropod caught in the act." Nature 429.6987 (2004): 40-40. Peel, John S., Martin Stein, and Reinhardt Møbjerg Kristensen. "Life Cycle and Morphology of a Cambrian Stem-Lineage Loriciferan." PloS one 8.8 (2013): e73583. Fröbisch, Nadia B., Constanze Bickelmann, and Florian Witzmann. "Early evolution of limb regeneration in tet

After spending 2 hours fighting the internet (drinking the whole time), the gang finally starts recording a bit tipsy and ends the evening fairly wasted. And like an e-mail sent after a long night out at the bars, they record a podcast on properties of higher taxa that they immediately regret in the sobering light of day.   References Humphreys, Aelys M., and Timothy G. Barraclough. "The evolutionary reality of higher taxa in mammals." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 281.1783 (2014): 20132750. Paul G. Harnik, Paul C. Fitzgerald, Jonathan L. Payne, and Sandra J. Carlson. “Phylogenetic signal in extinction selectivity in Devonian terebratulide brachiopods.” Paleobiology, 40(4):675-692. (2014)

The gang stumbles their way through several papers about kangaroos, particularly focusing on a meat eating rat kangaroo. Also, stressed and annoyed at the current internet climate, James and Curt spend most of the podcast relentlessly mocking GamerGate while Amanda decides to ignore them and play with the cat. Also.... texting.    Scientific References Wroe, Stephen. "Killer kangaroos and other murderous marsupials." Scientific American 280.5 (1999): 68-74. Wroe, Stephen, Jenni Brammall, and Bernard N. Cooke. "The skull of Ekaltadeta ima (Marsupialia, Hypsiprymnodontidae?): an analysis of some marsupial cranial features and a re-investigation of propleopine phylogeny, with notes on the inference of carnivory in mammals." Journal of Paleontology(1998): 738-751. Janis, Christine M., Karalyn Buttrill, and Borja Figueirido. "Locomotion in extinct giant kangaroos: were sthenurines hop-less monsters?." PloS one 9.10 (2014): e109888.   Summary of the current internet toxicity (Trigger warning, rape and death threats

James, Curt, Liam, Brendan, and Aly discuss talks from the final paleo sessions at GSA 2014, and Brendan makes an impassioned plea to conserve a vital resource.

Amanda and the cat skype in to see what’s been going on at the Vancouver GSA 2014 meeting. Also, James’s brain is so broken that it makes a pun that doesn’t exist.