Episode 135 – Heads and Tails
00:00:00 – Jason Head joins us to talk about Titanoboa, the largest snake ever found and subject a new documentary starring Dr. Head himself. Part 1 tackles the initial discovery and piecing together of the biology of the snake. We actually recommend watching the documentary (or play the game) first, but you’re a smart person, you’ll figure it out regardless.
00:27:29 – Some snakes function better in the water, some scientists podcast better with a drink. Charlie tries his hand at cider, Patrick calls back to an old-faithful Pinot Noir, and Ryan compliments his recently acquired Bière De Mars from Jolly Pumpkin.
00:31:28 – Trailer Trash Talk tangents into board game territory, i.e. anything to avoid talking about how bad Battleship looks.
00:43:50 – Part 2 of our interview with Dr. Jason Head finishes the story of The Infamous Biting of John Bloch, as well as discussing the paleoecological significance of this awesome find. We also ask about the process of having a documentary made about your work. All in all, a good time is had.
01:02:10 – PaleoPOWs are a lot like fossil snakes, easily lost to the rigors of time. Charlie has an iTunes review from an underaged fluffyraptor decrying his lack of ability to donate. We come up with an alternate, more collegiate use for the money. Speaking of money, Eric C. decides to set up a recurring donation, and Patrick is quick with the praise. And finally, Ryan has a question from Kyle H. concerning which scientific topic the guys would most like to see animated.
Thanks for listening and be sure to check out the Brachiolope Media Network for more great science podcasts!
Music for this week’s show provided by:
Crawling Snake King – The Doors
Johnny Appleseed – Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros
The Battle of Who Could Care Less – Ben Folds Five
So Long – Guster
Image Credit: Jason Bourque
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
There are 5 Comments to "Episode 135 – Heads and Tails"
Thanks for your answers to the animation question. If the fans or other Paleo Pals not on this week’s show have suggestions, I’d like to hear those too. I’m glad to hear the thermodynamics suggestion, because that is the one that I’ve actually written a script for already.
The periodicity of elements never would have occurred to me, but that’s a great idea. Lots of interesting visual ways to approach that.
I’ll have to think about how to do the species definition problem in a clever visual way. Fortunately, it’ll take me a few months to get through the other two ideas, so I have time to figure it out.
Even better than nibbles is Death Worm 1.04.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBSgw7XgRIU
You play as the cryptid known as the Mongolian Death Worm, swimming through the sand and slowly growing huge by eating meaty things on the surface, while avoiding Rampage-like waves of military strikes.
It’s a few years old, but some googlin’ will turn up a softpedia mirror.
There’s a 2011 flash remake, too. Not as good imo.
When he said just about the width of a doorway my first thought was, why have we made our doors perfectly acceptable for this thing to get through. All doors should be narrower now I guess is my completely non-rational point.
A very entertaining episode – thanks! Unfortunately, the link to the full documentary at http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=140671#titanoboa-monster-snake-full-episode seems to only play a 1:33 trailer…
[...] - The same mine that gave us Titanoboa has also given us a very large, round, and flat turtle called Puentemys mushaisaensis. Was the [...]