Palaeo After Dark

The best part is the variety of topics used in the discussions. It’s even funny from time to time. The deadpan style of the one with the Manchester accent is borderline an art form. Just bare in mind to fact check them from time to time. These are not professionals, they are only academics.

Great podcast, and has been my favorite podcast for months now (basically since when I first discovered it). It manages to be both highly educational and highly entertaining. You feel like you’re sitting with a group of friends, laughing about the absurdities of life and science while talking about really smart stuff. I work in healthcare, and during this difficult time, this podcast has been my go-to for a distraction and to get my mind on happier things. They never fail to have me literally laughing out loud, and I always learn something new. Their commentary on the papers is insightful, fair, and informative. They give their honest opinion, and point out flaws without being too critical, as well as positives without being overly rosy. If you’re worried you won’t be able to understand it if you’re not a paleontologist, don’t be! I have only ever dabbled in paleo as a hobby, and I am able to follow their conversations fairly easily. Although there are some things that go over my head or I need to google, they do a GREAT job explaining the concepts and relevant terms for the paper. Overall, I cannot recommend this podcast highly enough. It reminds me of my own grad school days (albeit in a different subject) when we would just sit around and talk about the things that fascinate us. Amanda, Curtis, and James come across as real people, and the only regret you’ll have is that you’ll spend a lot of time wishing they were your friends.

This podcast is humorous, charmingly rambly, and informative all at once. It’s always fun listening to their discussions and banter and I never fail to learn something interesting each episode and always look forward to the next one. This podcast is a hoot and if you don’t mind a bit of rambling then it’s well worth a listen, it’s such great fun.

I think I’ve reviewed before but maybe it went away over the years... When you’re a graduate student trying to learn the literature, you often end up going to journal clubs, where you and a bunch of grad students sit around and try to do your best posturing-as-professors with dissecting the papers. You often go off topic, have cutting tangents referring to things no one has brought up in 3 years, and overall try to figure out if you can understand a paper well enough to see its flaws, and yet also see its promise. PAD delivers this experience in perfect simulacra, and I love it. I don’t this podcast speaks broadly to paleontology or even *wants* to, instead I think it’s just a great place to hear people try to see what is interesting in a couple of papers that looked way more interesting from the titles. Heck I have even been offended by some criticisms, but I don’t care anymore, because I really its really just showing how genuine they are, which is pretty true - regardless of alcohol percentage of the beer of choice. Also, love the Fiasco sessions! If conferences weren’t so exhausting I would suggest a game (maybe something shorter, like Lady Blackbird) could be arranged one evening during a meeting...