{"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 245 - Cycads","slug":"episode-245-cycads","published_at":"2026-06-07T00:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast-466591/episode-245-cycads","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast-466591","url":"https://commondescentpodcast.podbean.com/e/episode-245-cycads/","audio_url":"https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/3c3ihj2pnnt9w837/Episode_245_Cycads.mp3","summary":"Cycads are cousins of conifers, and although they can be found throughout the modern tropics, they are often considered a visual indicator of prehistory. This episode, Aly joins us to explore what sets cycads apart from other plants, what we know of their deep history, and whether they truly deserve their reputation as dinosaur food. In the news: toothless crocs, Arctic mammals, turtle relations, and crater life. Time markers:Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00News: 00:10:35Main discussion, Part 1: 00:41:00Main discussion, Part 2: 01:25:55Patron question: 02:00:45 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":"Cycads are cousins of conifers, and although they can be found throughout the modern tropics, they are often considered a visual indicator of prehistory.…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":8096,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-common-descent-podcast-466591/episodes/episode-245-cycads/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-245-cycads.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}