Of all the vertebrate animals, only mammals have muscles of facial expression ... why?

Along The Backbone

Episode 8: Face the Face

The ability to open doors depends on two things: 1) being able to grip the door handle and 2) being able to rotate the hand so that the door handle turns. Could a hungry Velociraptor turn a door handle to get at you, the delectable human in hiding?

Episode 7: Hands Down, or, Why Velociraptor Could Not Open Doors

Why don't mammals continuously replace their teeth? The answer may surprise you.

Episode 6: How the Dentist Came To Be So Important to Mammals

Having upright limbs has advantages for mammals. And you probably want to know about how an elephant almost made Dr. Bonnan thinner.

Episode 5: Elephants, Cats, and Ticking Clocks

Many of us enjoy eating meat, but few of us pause to think about how important its pre-meal form, skeletal muscle, is for vertebrate life.

Episode 4: A Brief History of Meat

It seems only fitting that a podcast series called Along the Backbone should discuss the formation of the backbone in one of lengthiest vertebrates: snakes.

Episode 3: How Do You Make a Snake?

The Evolution of Vertebrate Anatomy Through Deep Time

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Along The Backbone

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