There were dinosaurs in Antarctica and Alaska – but what did it look like when they lived there? Was it cold? Was it dark? Did they stay there year round? Also, Meaghan learns how magnets work (finally). CW: cursing, death of people and animals

Sometimes boners have actual bones! This episode is all about the evolution, use, and occasional loss of/damage to genital bones in both male and female animals. CW: Cursing, genitalia, brief mention of non-consensual sexual behavior in animals

How much do we really know about the brains of ancient animals? In this episode we dive into the fantastic world of endocasts, aka, brain impressions! CW: soft tissue, cursing, Nanotyrannus, brief mention of the Nazis in regards to Tilly Edinger

Today we’re answering the big questions, like why do whales have hips when they don’t have legs? And why did Tyrannosaurus rex have such tiny tiny arms? CW: Genitalia, cursing, discussion of unwanted sexual contact in whales

From the anal chimneys of crinoids to the tushy lungs of turtles, this episode covers all the weird things that buttholes can do… but shouldn’t. CW: Buttholes, cursing, poop, tobacco use, alien abduction

On this podcast we dish the details on the wildest stories that 500 million years of evolution have to offer. The grosser, the better! That said, this podcast is not intended for kids and is rated E for strong language and crude senses of humor. Season 2 begins 6-19-2024!

For our final episode of season 1 we go into detail on how the two of us met, how we got into paleontology, and the various twists and turns that have made up our two careers. CW: Cursing. Yep, that’s all this time – we were surprised too!

From dinosaurs to rhinos to bugs, things used to get a whole lot bigger than they seem to today. In this episode we talk all about evolutionary constraints, the narrow set of bumper bars enforced on us by biology. CW: Body fluids. Using the term bug incorrectly (sorry entomologists). Cursing.

…and then some. From the eggs of the platypus to the eggs of dinosaurs, we’ll talk about how eggs are formed, why humans don’t lay them, and of course, why the egg definitely came before the chicken. CW: Placentas and afterbirth, body fluids, cursing

It’s time to be more afraid of seals, everyone. And hyenas. And tigers. And… birds? And big crocodiles. Really, the deeper you go into human history, the longer that list of fears gets – and on this episode, we go real, real deep. CW: death, dead bodies, being hunted, cannibalism.

Trace fossils are an incredible resource to understand behavior… even behavior those animals wish maybe there wasn’t a record of. From the results of terrible food poisoning to the fossil equivalent of a xeroxed buttocks, trace fossils record some animals’ most humiliating moments. CW: Everything in the title, cursing, stomach stones (bezoars)…

Did you know that technically, the name ‘dinosaur’ is a rebrand? The original name was a lot more… wrinkly. In this episode we discuss how to name fossils and bring up the funniest fossil names we could find. CW: Cursing. Discussion of European colonization and Native Americans. Many references to genitalia.…

Asteroids, volcanoes, and sex lakes – in this episode we discuss the varied and sometimes hilarious hypotheses of why animals have gone extinct. CW: Extinctions/animal death, toxic shock syndrome, menstruation, serial killers, suicide in reference to having to do geochronology. Referring to non-avian dinosaurs as just dinosaurs.…

While usually it’s just the hard bits that fossilize, occasionally the fossil record can preserve things like skin, organs, blood and more. This episode talks about what happens when soft tissue fossilizes, and what weird things scientists have done upon finding it. CW: Dead animals/babies, eating gross things, blood and gushy body bits, placentas.…

Sometimes paleontology is awe-inspiring. Sometimes it’s gross and hilarious. This episode is at the weird epicenter of all of those things, because it turns out the best preserved fossil sturgeons are found up the rear end of duck-billed dinosaurs. CONTENT WARNINGS: Hemorrhoids, butt jokes, maligning archeologists, misinterpreting a cloaca as a but…

Throughout time we find evidence that animals made it to other continents seemingly by crossing vast oceans. In this episode we talk all about how animals can survive these strange events of accidental seafaring, and how the odds are always stacked against them. CW: Cruel research methods (not ours!), inbreeding, death.…

In this episode of Backyard Geology, Serena takes you to the Jack Hills in western Australia to peer 4.39 billion years into the past. Detrital zircon grains found in the rocks of the Jack Hills are the oldest known materials existing on Earth today. Their chemical makeup preserves Earth’s oldest and most elusive Eon, the […]…

In this episode of Backyard Geology, Serena takes you to the Semail Ophiolite. The small mountains on the northern coast of Oman once resided at the bottom of an ocean, before being uplifted onto land. Here, the igneous stratigraphy of the ocean crust is perfectly preserved, proving a standard for geologists to study. A special […]…

In this episode of Backyard Geology, Serena takes you to the Galapagos Islands. Here, helium isotopes and the observations of Charles Darwin tell the tales of evolution, both in terms of geology and ecology respectively. As an isolated group of ocean islands, the Galapagos became the perfect place to observe the fine details of evolution. […]…

In this episode of Backyard Geology, Serena takes you to Scotland where foundations for modern geology were laid. In the late 18th century, naturalists seeking to explain the landscapes around them started to propose radical ideas about the origins of rocks and the cycling of Earth’s materials. Tune in to hear about the people, places […]…

In this episode of Backyard Geology, Serena takes you to Iceland to see the early stages of geologic succession in action. As one of the youngest nations in the world, geologically speaking, of course, Iceland showcases fresh geologic processes as an active volcanic island. Tune in to learn about what makes Iceland a great place […]…

In this episode of Backyard Geology, Serena takes you 80 degrees north to the archipelago of Svalbard. Here, the cryosphere speaks to the effects of global warming and researchers can observe our changing world. As a change from our usual programing, it’s what sits on top of the rocks that is the hot topic, or, […]…

Do you enjoy learning new things in all fields of geosciences? Do you have a soft spot for shenanigans? Then this podcast is just for you! In this podcast, Dr B. interviews interesting geoscientist with interesting stories. To skip the game jump to minute 5:00 Resources mentioned in this episode: Go back and listen to […]…

Show notes Do you enjoy learning new things in all fields of geosciences? Do you have a soft spot for shenanigans? Then this podcast is just for you! In this podcast, Dr B. interviews interesting geoscientist with interesting stories. Resources mentioned in this episode: Go back and listen to the previous GC episodes: https://www.travelinggeologist…

Show notes Do you enjoy learning new things in all fields of geosciences? Do you have a soft spot for shenanigans? Then this podcast is just for you! In this podcast, Dr B. interviews interesting geoscientist with interesting stories. Resources mentioned in this episode: Go back and listen to the previous GC episodes: https://www.travelinggeologist…

Do you remember the episodes where we interviewed researchers from the LLUNE? If you haven’t listened to them yet, go back to episodes Ophiolites, Rocks under pressure, and Biostratigraphy with Dr. Luke Milan, Dr. Tim Chapman, and Dr. Maritta Betts from LLUNE. In this Bonus episode, Marissa talks with DrB about the Geological Timescales and […]…

Do you enjoy learning new things in all fields of geosciences? Do you have a soft spot for shenanigans? Then this podcast is just for you! In this podcast, Dr B. interviews interesting geoscientist with interesting stories. Skip the game [09:00] minutes. Resources mentioned in this episode: Go back and listen to the previous GC […]…

Are you a gamer? Do you know the lingo? Marie Curie Fellow Dr Eleanore Blereau from the University of Leeds is not only a gaming expert, but she is also a petrochronology one. Eleanore explains to Dr. B and Dr. Silvia that petrochronology is a way to describe a field of science where petrologists utilize […]…

This is the third and last of three special episodes in partnership with the Litho Lab University of New England or LLUNE for short. Which one is your favorite Gneiss Chats game? For this Special episode with Dr. Marissa Betts from LLUNE, Dr. B brings back the highly requested Dating Game. Which one is Marissa’s […]…

In this episode Dr. B had an interesting chat with brilliant actor and researcher Dr. Luke Daly from the University of Glasgow. Luke explains the difference between meteorites, fireballs, meteoroids, and UFOs and how the fireball network monitors the ‘sky activity’ across the world to know when a meteorite hits the ground. They talk also […]…

This is the second of three special episodes in partnership with the Litho Lab University of New England or LLUNE for short. Have you ever felt under a lot of pressure? Well, Dr. Timothy Chapman from LLUNE chats with Dr. B about rocks that formed at very high pressures (HP), way higher than the one […]…

A landscape is a palimpsest because it is the result of different geological processes that build and shape the planet where we live on. In this episode Dr. B chats about how beautiful landscapes develop and form breathtaking natural shapes, by interviewing an expert on this topic, Dr. Chiara Zuffetti from the University of Milan, […]…

This is the first of three special episodes in partnership with the Litho Lab University of England or LLUNE for short. In this episode Dr. B plays the game ‘Time for Questions’ with the three researchers of the LLUNE Special Series: Dr Luke Milan, Dr Tim Chapman, and Dr. Marissa Betts. Who is going to […]…

Frankenstein was a young scientist who enjoyed doing scientific experiments to create a sapient creature. In this episode our guest is a great Senior Experimental Petrologist who talks about geo-scientists who create rocks and experiments to study Earth processes. Professor Stefano Poli from the University of Milan tells Dr. B everything about the …

For this final chapter, Part III, of the Rebecca Trilogy, Dr. B plays a geology-version of the famous game show Family Feud that we renamed the Geology-Field Game. Our guest, Professor Rebecca Flowers from the University of Colorado Boulder, tries to find out which one was the most popular answers from our geological survey, play […]…

Have you ever felt the earth shaking under your feet? For Part II of the Rebecca Trilogy, Professor Rebecca Harrington from the Ruhr-Universität Bochum joined Dr. B for a Gneiss Chat about Earth Tremors. In this episode Rebecca tell us about her research group’s interest in understanding natural and induced earthquakes in different places around [……

Over the next three episodes Dr. B is coincidently interviewing three Rebeccas, about fields in geosciences that are completely different from each other. This is the first episode of the Rebecca Trilogy, and for this first piece Dr. B has a Gneiss Chat with Dr Rebecca Paisley, an exploration geochemist from Cornish Lithium in the […]…

Hot, hot, hot, rocks! This episode is going to be a real burn, because we are going to talk about metamorphic rocks that have experienced very high temperature metamorphism, deep in the crust, the so called Ultra High Temperature or UHT conditions. Professor Mahyra Tedeschi from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) explains what […]…

In this episode Dr B will have a double interview with Dr Uwe Kirscher and Prof Ross Mitchell. Well, actually, to be more precise, Ross started the interview as an Associate Professor and finished it as a Full Professor, that was pretty dope! In the first part of the episode, the fun game of Geopardy […]…

This episode can be treated as a sequel to the previous episode with Dr Bryant Ware on radiogenic isotopes. This time Dr B has a Gneiss Chat with Mikaela Moore, who tells us about the use of Stable IsoTOPes in geoscience. Mikaela just obtained a bachelor degree from Queens University in geology and she is […]…

In this episode we have a bit of a freaky Friday thing going. Gneiss Chats producer and occasional co-host Dr Silvia Volante is the host of the game Newly Grad (formerly known as Twinning). She interviews Dr B and his co-author, producer of the Gneiss Chats podcast and also BEST FRIEND…or just FRIEND? No, BEST […]…

For the first time Dr. B is going back to the motherland. In this episode he interviews his countrywoman and also ECR celebrity Dr Bruna Carvalho, who is a postdoc at the University of Padova in ‘Italia’. This episodes’ central theme is Melt Inclusions. But before starting to dig into the good bits, Dr. B […]…

Episode summary introduction:​ ​ In this episode Dr B. decided to investigate and discuss about contested theories in geoscience and the reasons for their creation with current PhD candidate Angus Rogers at Monash University. As we all know, Dr B enjoys to break the ice with a funny game and for this episode our guest Angus will find out his favori…

Episode summary introduction:​ ​ Space? Exoplanets? In this episode our guest is Dr Francesca Miozzi aka ‘La Giovi’ who will take us outside of our home ‘the Earth’ by talking about to the study of exoplanets. La Giovi will tell us about how, through experimental petrology, she tries to understand C-rich exoplanets versus O-rich planets […]…

Episode summary introduction:​ ​In this episode of Backyard Geology, Chris explores the incredible variety and flow of lava! Not everyone’s backyard is a place to see lava, but that doesn’t mean that lava flows are uncommon. Chris will explore the major types of lava as well as share some unbelievable, and in some cases, catastrophic […]…

Episode summary introduction:​ ​ “How old is the Earth?” Generations of scholars have asked this fundamental question, and estimates ranged from a few thousand years to indefinite time spans. Geologic and biologic observations from the 18th and 19th centuries (like Darwin’s theory of evolution and Hutton’s concept of deep time) suggested that Earth…

Episode summary introduction:​ ​ In this episode Dr B. interviews, the original traveling geologist himself, Assistant Prof. Chris Spencer. Chris shares how the initiative of traveling geologist started during his PhD studies in St. Andrews, and also, his love for one of the most fascinating parts of our job: fieldwork. During this Gneiss chats epi…

Episode summary introduction:​ ​In this episode of Backyard Geology, Chris explores oil found right in people’s backyards. Finding oil in your backyard depends on a host of variables that all need to align perfectly. From the hill billies who struck oil and moved to Beverly Hills to the oil dowsers of the Appalachians, oil has […]…

Do you enjoy learning new things in all fields of geosciences? Do you have a soft spot for shenanigans? Then this podcast is just for you! In this podcast, Dr B. interviews interesting geologists with interesting stories.By TravelingGeologist

What exciting geology is in your backyard?By TravelingGeologist