Episode #53 The Very Day the Asteroid (almost) Killed Our Planet with Robert DePalma Part One
The nerds travel to the final day of the dinosaurs reign with paleontologist Robert DePalma and the legendary Tanis Site.
Episodes
Paleo Nerds
A Paleo Nerd is a grown-up who still has the child-like wonder and love for dinosaurs, fossils, science, and paleontology.
Paleo Nerds follows Alaskan artist, Ray Troll, and his friend ventriloquist David Strassman, as they host exciting interviews with paleontologists, scientists and fellow paleo nerds from around the world. They take what would’ve been a boring science class and turn it into an exciting and extremely informative party.
Episodes
Episode #52: Your Mother Was a Vetulicolian and Your Father Smelt of Elderberries with Henry Gee
The Paleo Nerds cover the history of life on Earth with Nature Senior Editor Henry Gee
Episode #51 Botany, Bugs, and Beards with Dr. Ellen Currano
The nerds reconstruct ancient ecosystems with Paleobotanist Dr. Ellen Currano
Episode #50: The Past is All We Ever Have with Ken Lacovara
The nerds hit the prehistoric Jersey Shore with Ken Lacovara
Episode #49 Raptors red in tooth and claw with James Kirkland
The nerds talk Utahraptors with Utah State Paleontologist Jim Kirkland.
Episode #48 The Ends of the World with Peter Brannen
Author Peter Brannen just happened to be driving through Kansas so Ray flagged him down to ask him about The Ends of the World, his recent book on mass extinctions, a fitting end to Season 3 of Paleo Nerds!
Episode #47 Locked in Time with Dean Lomax
Dr. Dean Lomax sold his Star Wars collection to fund his paleontology dreams. While some may gasp, his investment certainly paid off - his book Locked in Time has already come up a few times on the show already!
Episode #46 The Colossal Wyoming Death Cave with Julie Meachen
The Natural Trap Cave is a sinkhole death trap that contains a pile of fallen mammals that spans over 100,000 years and Julie Meachen has been studying this pile of bones since 2014.
Episode #45 The Coastal Fossil Finder with Kent Gibson
While installing his Cruisin' the Fossil Coastline exhibit at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, Ray had a chance to sit down with Kent Gibson who lent a very small fraction of his massive collection of coastal fossils to Ray's exhibit.
Episode #44 Polar Dinos and Super Crocs! with Greg Erickson
Greg Erickson is a very well-rounded paleontologist: he's studied Super Crocs, arctic duckbills and even "dated" (well, aged...) the prehistoric celebrity Sue.
Episode #43 Interplanetary Paleontology with Kenneth Williford
This episode of Paleo Nerds is truly out of this world! The Nerds talk to Kenneth Williford, Deputy Project Scientist for the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission. Blast off to the martian past!
Episode #42 The Scariest Moments with Brian Skerry
Brian Skerry has logged over 10,000 hours underwater, capturing powerful images for National Geographic and has recently teamed up with James Cameron to continue bringing the captivating stories of the world's oceans to those of us stuck on land.
Episode #41 A Gentleman’s Geology of Georgia with Cameron Muskelly
Youtube star Cameron Muskelly joins the Nerds to talk about the geologic treasures of Georgia and the southern United States. Cam is a paleo encyclopedia, so you're sure to learn something new!
Episode #40 Who Dung It? with Karen Chin
Coprolites (or fossil poop to the layman) have come up repeatedly on the show so we are thrilled to finally have the Queen of Coprolites herself on the show! Karen Chin can interpret entire lifestyles from a thin slice of paleo dung.
Episode #39 Hell Pigs: T. rex of the Tertiary with Scott Foss
What had giant cheeks, protruding canines, dainty hooves and a giant, ridged back? The Hell Pig is almost like Frankenstein's monster, and Scott Foss tells us all about how these creatures utilized this unique combo of features to be the "T. rex of the Tertiary."
Paleo Nerds on Vacation
Dave and Ray both took advantage of their early vaccination status (the perks of being living fossils!) and got out for some traveling. Dave visited Montana and Ray drove across the country, both visiting a few Paleo Nerds along the way.
Episode #38 A Dog’s Day at the Tar Pits with Mairin Balisi
The Nerds return to the La Brea tar pits, this time to talk carnivores with Mairin Balisi! She studies what the dogs of the tar pits ate throughout their life and discusses dog evolution.
Episode #37 Turning Trout into Salmon with Gerald Smith
Anyone familiar with Ray's art knows that fish are a focal point and salmon are central, so it's shocking that it's taken so long to have a salmon expert on the show! We're talking spike tooth salmon with Jerry Smith - Dive in!
Episode #36 The Call of the Parasaurolophus with Ashley Hall
Ashley Hall has been obsessed with dinosaurs since she was a kid and now she spends her days educating the public at the Museum of the Rockies. She makes fossils fun!
Episode #35 Painting the Living Science of Paleontology with William Stout
Seeing dinosaurs on the silver screen made Bill Stout a Paleo Nerd, so it's only fitting that he started his art career illustrating movie posters. His work spans from comic books to murals and has brought him all the way to Antarctica.
Episode #34 One for the Bird Nerds with John Marzluff
Ravens and crows have their own form of complex communication amongst themselves, and John Marzluff has studied how these birds pass information on an individual and even generational level. Ray gets to ask questions about his own raven experiment!
Episode #33 The Sistine Chapel of Dinosaurs with ReBecca Hunt-Foster
ReBecca Hunt-Foster is the Park Paleontologist at the Dinosaur National Monument. Yes, she has the iconic park ranger hat, but she spends her time tracing the footsteps of the dinos that walked Utah in the Late Jurassic.
Season 3 is Coming Soon!!!
This season brings a lineup that won't disappoint! There's something for everyone as Ray and Dave discuss ancient salmon, corvids, and "hell pigs" with Paleo Nerds in the sciences, the arts, and even on other planets...
Episode #32 The Hot Blooded Dinosaur Revolutionary with Bob Bakker
Dr. Bob Bakker is widely known as the "Dinosaur Heretic". Over his long career, he has revolutionized our understanding of dinosaur behavior and overturned many outdated concepts. Get an insight into the mind of this bold maverick and expansive thinker in our season two finale.
Episode # 31 The Tantalizing Truth about Trilobites with Sam Gon III
Sam Ohu Gon III, trilobite expert and Senior Scientist & Cultural Advisor for the Nature Conservancy of Hawaiʻi. Sam looks to traditional Hawaiian cultural history as an example for a sustainable future.
Episode #30 Diving into Hell’s Aquarium with Laura Wilson
Imagine time traveling back to the Western Interior Seaway AKA "Hell's Aquarium." It's a fitting nickname for the shallow marine environment, full of fish with teeth so big they ate differently than modern fish.
Episode #29 Fighting Anti-Science with Facts and Fossils with Don Prothero
Don Prothero has written 48 books and counting! And he has repeatedly gone to bat for science, using the facts of the fossil record to disprove creationist beliefs.
Episode #28 Mammoths, Mummies and Wolves (Oh My!) with Grant Zazula
Grant Zazula is a Paleo Nerd! His interest in archaeology is what attracted him to the Pleistocene and now he studies in the mighty Yukon, managing thousands of fossils that are byproducts of the mining industry.
Episode #27 A Crash Course on the Great Alaskan Terrane-Wreck with Connie Soja
Connie Soja has extensively studied the paleontology of the Alexander terrane, a gigantic crustal fragment that underlies Ray's backyard of Southeast Alaska. In fact, she's reconstructed ancient environments around the globe!
Episode #26 Hunting for Sharks in a Dark National Park with JP Hodnett
JP Hodnett is a Paleo Nerd. But that's a given! He's a shark (and sauropod and cat) expert, so the Nerds get to go off the deep end, diving into incredible finds at Mammoth Cave and JP's day job at Dinosaur Park.