{"podcast":{"title":"The Common Descent Podcast","slug":"the-common-descent-podcast-466591","podcast_index_feed_id":466591,"rss_url":"https://commondescentpodcast.podbean.com/feed.xml","website_url":"http://commondescentpodcast.podbean.com","image_url":"https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/1598752/CommonDescentLogo.png","author":"Common Descent","episode_count":379,"summary":"Join David and Will as they explore the paleontologists’ perspective on various topics in life and earth history. Each episode features a main discussion on a topic requested by the listeners, presented as a lighthearted and educational conversation about fossils, evolution, deep time, and more. Before the main discussion, each episode also includes a news segment, covering recent research related to paleontology and evolution. Each episode ends with the answer to a question submitted by subscribers on Patreon. New episodes with new topics every fortnight!","last_synced_at":"2026-07-17T04:20:14.679099+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast-466591"},"episode":{"title":"Episode 238 - Osteoderms (Skin Bones)","slug":"episode-238-osteoderms-skin-bones","published_at":"2026-03-01T01:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast-466591/episode-238-osteoderms-skin-bones","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast-466591","url":"https://commondescentpodcast.podbean.com/e/episode-238-osteoderms-skin-bones/","audio_url":"https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/duf2sswg2mqu9pua/Episode_238_Osteoderms_Skin_Bones.mp3","summary":"Some bones are only skin deep! In many species of reptiles, mammals, and amphibians, bones called osteoderms develop within the skin, serving as body armor, additional muscular support, display features, or any number of other functions. This episode, we explore the extraordinary diversity of osteoderm anatomy, we take a tour through the many and varied osteoderms of Earth history, and we investigate a long list of hypothesized functions for these unusual bones. In the news: reptile skin, dinosaur quills, dinosaur bites, and cannibal snakes. Time markers:Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00News: 00:06:25Main discussion, Part 1: 00:46:35Main discussion, Part 2: 01:26:35 Patron question: 02:24:05 Check out our website for this episode’s blog post and more: http://commondescentpodcast.com/ Join us on Patreon to support the podcast and enjoy bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/commondescentpodcast Got a topic you want to hear about? Submit your episode request here: https://commondescentpodcast.com/request-a-topic/ Lots more ways to connect with us: https://linktr.ee/common_descent The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org Musical Interludes are \"Professor Umlaut\" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0","meta_description":"Some bones are only skin deep! In many species of reptiles, mammals, and amphibians, bones called osteoderms develop within the skin, serving as body armo…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":9367,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-common-descent-podcast-466591/episodes/episode-238-osteoderms-skin-bones/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast-466591/episode-238-osteoderms-skin-bones.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}