PODCAST · science
Weird & Dead
by Amy Atwater and Meaghan Wetherell
A podcast about evolution's most embarrassing and bizarre stories as told by two very gossipy paleontologists. Amy and Meaghan happily dish the details on everything from fossilized dinosaur butts to the secret drama behind naming new species. Time for the hottest tea from prehistory!
Episodes
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Silly Scaly Trees (Butt Rot Part 1)
In this episode Meaghan dives deep into her latest obsession: modelling 300 million year old plants for the bit. Join us for part 1 of a 2 part episode on wood, rotten and otherwise! Images on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/WeirdandDeadPodcast CW: Cursing, horrifying baby Lepidodendrons,...
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Evolution of the Beaver Butt
Rodents have stinky butts too y’know - it’s just we seem to be into that smell a lot more than we are skunk. Let’s once again revisit Amy’s cloaca envy and talk about waterproofing butt goop flavored ice cream shall we? CW: all things that come out of a cloaca, cursing, animal death, eating of...
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Evolution of the Skunk Butt
When did skunks get their characteristic butts? How does skunk spraying work and how do you get rid of it? We dig into the whys and wherefores of the skunk stank butt and watch a video so disgusting that Amy couldn't even relisten to herself reacting to it. (Images and video are on Patreon!) CW:...
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Clam Jam
There's a clam called Vulvaceramus. Or Volviceramus, if you are no fun. Let's talk about giant clams, pearls, and how Amy overidentifies with certain minerals. CW: Vagina jokes, obviously. Cursing. Gossip.
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Skin Teeth
Teeth evolved to be sensitive first, thank you very much - the whole “use for eating” thing was actually an evolutionary afterthought. And whatever ratfish are doing with them is… not correct. CW: tenaculums & triggering medical procedures, cursing, dick shaped objects, trypophobia & odontophobia
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Fossil Unicorns
We narrow down the closest fossil candidate for that virgin-loving legend, the Unicorn, as Meaghan finds yet another excuse to talk about how cool artiodactyls are. Photos on Patreon! CW: Cursing, animal experiments, dildo discussion, the pitfalls of intelligent design
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Clever Hurl
Filter-feeding pterosaurs and the dinosaurs that ate them and then threw them back up - a love story? CW: Vomit, Vomit eating (for romance), Scavenging (also for romance), Crop milk (platonic), Dinosaur slander, and of course... cursing.
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Exploding Fossil Frogs
Some frogs are explosive breeders. Some frogs just explode. Both have somehow been preserved in lakes in Europe... a lot. CW: Frog death, frogs drowning each other during mating, frog researchers forgetting key feminist frog facts, bloat & float & explode as a concept, cursing Images for this...
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The Evolution of Scrotums
What makes a scrotum a scrotum, why do they exist, and why is Meaghan so good at answering quiz questions about them? CW: Testicles & mockery thereof, animal castration, hernias, cursing
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The Epstein Files and Paleontology
This episode is a little different than our normal content. There are several paleontologists mentioned in the latest release of the Epstein files, and the official response to that has been... underwhelming. In this episode we tell you about the facts within the files, the paleo people…
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Bonus: Turtle Mouth Madness
At least one soft-shelled turtle pees mostly out of its mouth. This Patreon exclusive episode takes you down winding pathway from throat stalactites to shark dissection to vegan gardening practices (it's related, we promise). Images and a whole season of full-length exclusive episodes are on...
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Bonus Episode: Giant Lemurs
Happy holidays! Here’s a bonus episode we’re releasing to the public as a holiday gift for you, all about Amy’s favorite: Lemurs! And specifically, how they used to be enormous and maybe interested in crushing birds. Art (and a whole season worth of exclusive episodes) is available on our…
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Megatherium the Stabber
From carnivorous armadillos to the serial stabbing experiments of a self-described 70 kg male with no special training in any sporting discipline but who seems to have a very vicious cat, this episode is a wild, wild ride. But would you truly expect any different from xenarthrans? CW: Cursing…
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Freaky Fingers, the Return
Evolution continues to be disgusting as we dive into the multipurpose functionality of Aye Aye and Striped Possum fingers. CW: Boogers, Aye Ayes just generally, cursing, and somehow puppy play (you know, the kink that Google apparently thinks Meaghan has)
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Freaky Fingers Pt 1
Sometimes evolution isn’t just weird, it’s weirdly indecisive. Let’s talk about the multipurpose mishaps that led to Iguanodon’s hoof-knife-tentacle combo and the extending butterknife palms of Pandas. Now with fixed audio featuring also Amy! CW: jokes about dildos, sex acts, and rude hand...
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Worms & Dead
There is a worm that has fins and an Elizabethan collar of venomous fangs. It looks like someone glued false lashes to a tiny translucent manatee, and it might be the reason that clams are starting to kill people. Let's talk about arrow worms! CW: Swearing. Jokes about penises. Impacts of modern...
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Birds That Make Milk
Some birds (and thus, dinosaurs) make milk in a special part of their throat called the crop. Let's talk crop milk, crop cheese, shrimp smoothies, and why pterosaurs were pink. CW: a befowling of milk and cheese as concepts. Gagging noises. Eating of roadkill (theoretical). Swearing.
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Fossil Rodents of Unusual Size
Or rather, unusually interesting size. To some. Let's talk giant beavers and the biggest rodent of all time, Josephoartigasia. CW: Body shaming of big rodents (not us!), cursing, statistics.
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The Glory of Gonopods
From crazy three-legged millipede fossils to the sexy club hands of spiders, this episode is all about where arthropods put their genitals. Specifically, their chins and feet. Videos and images are on our website weirdanddead.com! CW: Spiders and other arthropods. Cursing. Sex acts only a…
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Radioactive Dinos
Dinosaurs and horses and Amy loudly shouting out radioactive elements to antagonize her husband, oh my! This episode covers the perils lurking behind locked and poorly ventilated cabin doors - specifically, radioactive bones. CW: Cursing, cancer and theoretical nastiness caused by radioactive...
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Bloat & Float
Ankylosaurs, ichthyosaurs and nonexistent narcissistic krakens! Let's talk about why Ankylosaurs are found upside down, and what really happened at Berlin Ichthyosaur State Park. Time to bloat up & float along. CW: Cursing, Pseudoscience, Dead Animals & Decay
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Fossil Urine
Time to discuss yet another body secretion that you probably didn't think could fossilize. Urine marks, urine that became rocks, and rocks that formed in urine - we've got it all, baby! CW: Body fluids, cursing, turtles doing horrible physiological things, animal death
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Bonus Episode: Chameleons
Thanks for an excellent first year! Here’s a bonus episode where Amy demonstrates she’s learned more about Chameleons since we started (kinda). Images are on weirdanddead.com CW: Cursing
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Bonus Episode: Rugose Corals
Meaghan loses her mind about how gross rugose corals are. Try evolving something that doesn’t involve genetically manipulating your babies, you lonely jellyfish-emulating losers. CW: cursing. Gagging noises.
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Dino Sex
It may not have happened in lakes but it certainly did happen – so how? Let’s dive into fossilized cloacas, theoretical genitals, and the impracticalities of sexing a dinosaur. CW: sexual content, genitalia, brief discussions of nonconsensual sex between animals, Nanotyrannus, making fun of old...
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Fossil Frenemies
From friends to enemies to roommates (to lovers??), we discuss classic examples of animals found fossilized together, how that happens, and how some of the interpretations are… a stretch. CW: Animal death, dead babies, lubed holes, incest, cursing
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The Burgess Shale
500 some million years ago the world was full of ‘abnormal shrimp’ and ‘blunt feet’ and other animals that defy comprehensible definitions. In this episode we talk all about the mind-boggling biology and bizarre geology of the Cambrian. CW: Drug references, cursing, dead animals, cavalier jokes…
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Fossil Forensics
Bones are sick – and this time, we mean it literally. From infected bite marks to the ever-prevalent markings of tuberculosis, we’re talking about the signs of illnesses and injuries in fossils and what they tell us about the lives (and deaths) of these animals. CW: Cancer, infections and pus,...
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Trunks, Snoods, and Other Floppy Face Flesh
Did Diplodocus have a trunk? Did T. rex have a wobbly turkey neck? This week’s episode is all about fleshy face flaps and their uses, and how to detect them in the fossil record. CW: Animal death, cursing, making fun of dinosaurs, urine
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Polar Dinosaurs
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
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The Baculum and the Baubellum
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
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Fossil Brainz
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
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Lingering Fingerlings and Dexterous Dingalings (Vestigial Structures)
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
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Things You Didn’t Think a Butthole Could Do
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
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Weird & Dead Trailer
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!
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Becoming Paleontologists
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!
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Thick Thighs and Body Size
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.
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Everything You Wanted To Know About Eggs
…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
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Everything That Ate Our Ancestors
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.
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The Science of Fossil Poop and Puke
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...
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The Secret Shame of Dinosaurs (Fossil Names)
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…
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Homicidal Earth Burps and Murderous Sky Rocks (All About Extinctions)
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...
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How to Mummify a Dinosaur (and Other Fossil Tips and Tricks)
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…
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How to Preserve a Fossil Fish in The Weirdest Way Possible
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,...
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How Fossil Lemurs Got Across Oceans
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...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
A podcast about evolution's most embarrassing and bizarre stories as told by two very gossipy paleontologists. Amy and Meaghan happily dish the details on everything from fossilized dinosaur butts to the secret drama behind naming new species. Time for the hottest tea from prehistory!
HOSTED BY
Amy Atwater and Meaghan Wetherell
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Weird & Dead have?
Weird & Dead currently has 45 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Weird & Dead about?
A podcast about evolution's most embarrassing and bizarre stories as told by two very gossipy paleontologists. Amy and Meaghan happily dish the details on everything from fossilized dinosaur butts to the secret drama behind naming new species. Time for the hottest tea from prehistory!
How often does Weird & Dead release new episodes?
Weird & Dead has 45 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Weird & Dead?
You can listen to Weird & Dead on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Weird & Dead?
Weird & Dead is created and hosted by Amy Atwater and Meaghan Wetherell.
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