BROADCASTS.com

b'Okay, that\\u2019s not a great title. More accurately, we\\u2019re discussing toxins, the substances that organisms produce for chemical defense or attack against each other. Toxins are found in practically all living things, they function as part of immune systems, poisonous defenses, and predatory venom, and they have all sorts of amazing effects from discomfort to death. In this episode, we\\u2019ll touch on who has them, what they do, and what we know about the long, complex evolutionary history of venom and biological poison.\\nIn the news: Spinosaurus teeth, an overlooked extinction, bird beaks, and Neanderthal DNA.\\nTime markers: Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00News: 00:04:00Main discussion, Part 1: 00:33:30Main discussion, Part 2: 01:07:30 Patron question: 01:47:30\\nCheck out our blog for bonus info and pictures:http://commondescentpodcast.wordpress.com/\\nFind merch at the Common Descent Store! http://zazzle.com/common_descentFeaturing art by Rob Soto! https://www.rob-soto.com/\\nFollow and Support us on: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/commondescentpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/CommonDescentPCFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/commondescentpodcastInstagram: @commondescentpodcast PodBean: https://commondescentpodcast.podbean.com/ iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast/id1207586509?mt=2YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCePRXHEnZmTGum2r1l2mduw\\nThe Intro and Outro music is \\u201cOn the Origin of Species\\u201d by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org.\\nMusical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/'