Since my last post on Along the Backbone, things have changed. How so? Well, read here to find out: http://matthewbonnan.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/dr-bonnan-is-moving-east/This site is not defunct, but it is undergoing a major overhaul to upd

Is there a topic you’d like to see covered on Along the Backbone?

Feb 22nd, 2012

Is there a topic you would like to see covered on Along the Backbone? Post your comments in this topic thread and let me know. In the meantime, I will continue to produce new episodes on a variety of evolutionary anatomy topics, from brains t

Episode 8: Face the Face

Feb 17th, 2012

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

Just for fun — dinosaurs are the American Thanksgiving meal …

Nov 24th, 2011

No podcast for this — just a quick bit of fun:Birds are dinosaur descendants, so today on U.S. Thanksgiving you are consuming a derived dinosaur called a turkey. So, we know that at least some dinosaurs were delicious.Because birds inherite

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

Nov 5th, 2011

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 hi

Help select the next story you hear on “Along the Backbone”

Nov 1st, 2011

Time for some feedback: influence which story is produced for “Along the Backbone”:The polls will close Friday, November 4, at 12:00 midnight!Take Our Poll(function(d,c,j){if(!d.getElementById(j)){var pd=d.createElement(c),s;pd.id=j;pd.sr

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

Nov 1st, 2011

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

Episode 5: Elephants, Cats, and Ticking Clocks

Oct 24th, 2011

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

Episode 4: A Brief History of Meat

Oct 14th, 2011

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 3: How Do You Make a Snake?

Oct 11th, 2011

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.

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