Summary

Dr. Clark Spencer Larsen of Ohio State joins the show to discuss his history in the field, bioarchaeology, and how we can use biological anthropology to understand human health in the past. 

Recommendations

• Dr. Larsen’s faculty page
• Dr. Larsen’s Google Scholar profile
• Clark Spencer Larsen Wikipedia page
• CS Larsen. (2023). The past 12,000 years of behavior, adaptation, population and evolution shaped who we are today PNAS.
• CS Larsen & F Crespo. (2022). Paleosyndemics: A bioarchaeological and biosocial approach to study infectious diseases in the past. Centaurus article [PDF]
• CS Larsen. (2015). Bioarchaeology: Interpreting Behavior from the Human Skeleton. Cambridge University Press.
• CS Larsen. (2018). Essentials of Biological Anthropology. W. W. Norton & Company.
• CS Larsen. (2019). Our Origins: Discovering Biological Anthropology. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Gunsmoke (TV series)

Summary

Dr. Daniel Benyshek of UNLV joins the show to discuss plancentophagy. Check out his lab page for more info on placentophagy.

Note: There is a special addition at the end of this episode.

Recommendations

• Dr. Benyshek’s faculty profile at UNLV
• Dr. Benyshek’s ResearchGate profile
• Benyshek, Daniel & Bovbjerg, Marit & Cheyney, Melissa. (2023). Comparison of placenta consumers’ and non-consumers’ postpartum depression screening results using EPDS in US community birth settings (n=6038): a propensity score analysis. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. 23. 10.1186/s12884-023-05852-7.
• Johnson, Sophia & Pastuschek, Jana & Benyshek, Daniel & Heimann, Yvonne & Möller, Anne & Rödel, Jürgen & White, Jacob & Zöllkau, Janine & Groten, Tanja. (2022). Impact of tissue processing on microbiological colonization in the context of placentophagy. Scientific Reports. 12. 10.1038/s41598-022-09243-4.
• Young, Sharon & Gryder-Culver, Laura & Cross, Chad & Zava, David & Norris, Wendy & Benyshek, Daniel. (2019). Ingestion of Steamed and Dehydrated Placenta Capsules Does Not Affect Postpartum Plasma Prolactin Levels or Neonatal Weight Gain: Results from a Randomized, Double‐Bind, Placebo‐Controlled Pilot Study. Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health. 64. 10.1111/jmwh.12955.
• Benyshek, Daniel & Cheyney, Melissa & Brown, Jennifer & Bovbjerg, Marit. (2018). Placentophagy among women planning community births in the United States: Frequency, rationale, and associated neonatal outcomes. Birth. 45. 10.1111/birt.12354.
• Herlosky, Kristen & Benyshek, Daniel & Mabulla, Ibrahim & Pollom, Trevor & Crittenden, Alyssa. (2020). Postpartum Maternal Mood Among Hadza Foragers of Tanzania: A Mixed Methods Approach. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry. 44. 10.1007/s11013-019-09655-4.
• Ed. by Gluckman, P & M Hanson. (2006). Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. Cambridge University Press.
• Gluckman, P & M Hanson. (2019). Ingenious: The Unintended Consequences of Human Innovation. Harvard University Press.
• Dr. Michael Winkelman’s books
• For fun (original episode): Fly fishing, mountain biking
• Dr. Roland Griffiths on Making Sense with Sam Harris
• Samson, D. (2023). Our Tribal Future: How to Channel Our Foundational Human Instincts Into a Force for Good. St. Martin’s Press.

Summary

Dr. Jeremy DeSilva of Dartmouth joins the show to discuss bipedalism — why anthropologists are obsessed with it and how it might have come to be. 

Recommendations

• Dr. DeSilva’s website
• DeSilva J. (2022). First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human. Harper Collins.
• Rhianna C. Drummond-Clarke et al. (2022). Wild chimpanzee behavior suggests that a savanna-mosaic habitat did not support the emergence of hominin terrestrial bipedalism. Sci. Adv. 8,eadd9752.
• DeSilva, J. (2022). Fossils Upend Conventional Wisdom about Evolution of Human Bipedalism. Sci Am. Nov 22.
• Saini, A. (2023). The Patriarchs: The Origins of Inequality. Beacon Press.
• Miller, L. (2021). Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life. Simon & Schuster.
• Ian Tattersall’s books
• American Association of Biological Anthropologists job board
• Saini, A. (2020). Superior: The Return of Race Science. Beacon Press.
• Saini, A. (2018). Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong and the New Research That’s Rewriting the Story. Beacon Press.

Summary

Rhianna Drummond-Clarke, PhD candidate at the Max Planck Institute (Dept. of Human Origins), joins the show to discuss her most recent article examining how environments affect chimp locomotion. She also chat about her time in the field.

See her article here: https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/sciadv.add9752 

Recommendations

• Rhianna Drummond-Clarke’s Max Planck Institute profile page
• Rhianna C. Drummond-Clarke et al. (2022). Wild chimpanzee behavior suggests that a savanna-mosaic habitat did not support the emergence of hominin terrestrial bipedalism. Sci. Adv. 8,eadd9752.
• Ed. by Muller MN, RW Wrangham, DR Pilbeam. (2017). Chimpanzees and Human Evolution. Belknap Press.
• DeSilva J. (2022). First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human. Harper Collins.
• Thorpe SK, Crompton RH. Orangutan positional behavior and the nature of arboreal locomotion in Hominoidea. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2006 Nov;131(3):384-401.
• The Infinite Monkey Cage (podcast)

Summary

Dr. Kirsty Graham from the University of St. Andrews discusses how bonobos use gestures to communicate, which winds into a chat about what that means for ape communication generally — especially humans. They also have some insights into field research.

Check out the article about humans understanding nonhuman ape gestures here: https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3001939 

Listener discretion advised: Bonobo behavior is discussed in this episode, which includes sexual habits.

Recommendations

• Dr. Graham’s ResearchGate profile
• Graham KE, Hobaiter C. Towards a great ape dictionary: Inexperienced humans understand common nonhuman ape gestures. PLoS Biol. 2023 Jan 24;21(1):e3001939.
• Wickelgren I. (2023). Humans Can Correctly Guess the Meaning of Chimp Gestures. Sci Am.
• Eleuteri, Vesta & Henderson, Matthew & Soldati, Adrian & Badihi, Gal & Zuberbühler, Klaus & Hobaiter, Catherine. (2022). The form and function of chimpanzee buttress drumming. Animal Behaviour. 192. 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.07.013.
• Soldati, Adrian & Fedurek, Pawel & Dezecache, Guillaume & Call, Josep & Zuberbühler, Klaus. (2022). Audience sensitivity in chimpanzee display pant hoots. Animal Behaviour. 190. 23-40. 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.05.010.
• Haraway D. (1990). Primate Visions: Gender, Race, and Nature in the World of Modern Science. Routledge.
• Rutherford A. (2020). The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us. Experiment.
• Weir A. (2022). Project Hail Mary. Ballantine Books.
• Chambers B. (2016). The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. Harper Voyager.

Summary

Dr. James Cole from the University of Brighton joins the show to talk about how studying stone tools can reveal insights about the evolution of cognition in humans. Along the way, we touch on brain size, theory of mind, and social groups.

Recommendations

• Dr. Cole’s University of Brighton faculty page
• Dr. Cole’s ResearchGate profile
• Cole, J. Assessing the calorific significance of episodes of human cannibalism in the Palaeolithic. Sci Rep 7, 44707 (2017).
• Galway-Witham, J., Cole, J. and Stringer, C. (2019), Aspects of human physical and behavioural evolution during the last 1 million years. J. Quaternary Sci., 34: 355-378.
• Kohn M, Mithen S. Handaxes: products of sexual selection? Antiquity. 1999;73(281):518-526.
• Harré M. (2012). Social Network Size Linked to Brain Size: How and why the volume of the orbital prefrontal cortex is related to the size of social networks. Sci Am.
• Borgen (TV series)
• For All Mankind (TV series)

Summary

Rick Coste, host of the Evolution Talk podcast [links opens in Spotify], talks about his new book (Evolution Talk) and how he became interested in science.

Recommendations

• Rick Coste’s website
• Evolution Talk podcast [links opens in Spotify]
• R. Coste. (2022). Evolution Talk: The Who, What, Why, and How Behind the Oldest Story Ever Told. Prometheus Books.
• Cole, James, ‘Knapping in the Dark: Stone Tools and a Theory of Mind’, in Karenleigh A. Overmann, and Frederick L. Coolidge (eds), Squeezing Minds From Stones: Cognitive Archaeology and the Evolution of the Human Mind (New York
  , 2019; online edn, Oxford Academic, 23 May 2019), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190854614.003.0018.
• B. Chambers. (2016). The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. Harper Voyager.
• J. Marks. (2021). Why Are There Still Creationists?: Human Evolution and the Ancestors. Polity Press.
• D. Chalmers. (2023). Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Saga, comic series by Brian K. Vaughn, illustrated by Fiona Staples
• R. Chambers. (2015). Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.

Summary

Dr. Agustin Fuentes of Princeton and Dr. Barbara King joined the show to discuss the scientific community’s responsibility for animals used in research. Should it be done? Is it possible to carry out ethical research involving animals? 

Recommendations

• Dr. Agustin Fuentes’ website
• Dr. Barbara King’s website
• B. King. (2021). Animals’ Best Friends: Putting Compassion to Work for Animals in Captivity and in the Wild. University of Chicago Press.
• A. Fuentes. (2019). Why We Believe: Evolution and the Human Way of Being. Yale University Press.
• A. Fuentes. (2022). Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You: Busting Myths about Human Nature. University of California Press.
• L. Cooke. (2022). Bitch: On the Female of the Species. Basic Books.
• D. Peña-Guzman. (2022). When Animals Dream: The Hidden World of Animal Consciousness. Princeton University Press.
• A. Elliott Dark. (2023). Fellowship Point. S&S/Marysue Rucci Books.
• Woke (TV series)
• Bridgerton (TV series)
• Evil (TV series)
• For All Mankind (TV series)

Summary

Dr. Christian Crowder from the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office joins the show to talk about his experiences in forensic anthropology, using histology for forensic cases, and how anthropologists are a crucial component of the response team for mass fatality events. Dr. Crowder also talks about his work on the editorial boards of peer-reviewed publications like the Journal of Forensic Anthropology.

Recommendations

• Dr. Crowder’s ResearchGate profile
• H. Scammell & D. Ubelaker. (2000). Bones: A Forensic Detective’s Casebook. M. Evans and Company.
• M. Browning & W. Maples. (1995). Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Strange and Fascinating Cases of a Forensic Anthropologist. Crown Publishing Group.
• Ed. N. Langley & M. Tersigni-Tarrant. (2012) Forensic Anthropology: An Introduction. CRC Press.
• A. Christensen, N. Passalacqua, E. Bartelink. (2014). Forensic Anthropology: Current Methods and Practice. Academic Press.
• ScienceDirect’s Forensic Anthropology homepage
• E. Carlson. (1996). I Remember Julia: Voices of the Disappeared. Temple University Press.
• Ed. A. Klales. (2020). Sex Estimation of the Human Skeleton: History, Methods, and Emerging Techniques. Academic Press.
• Bethard JD, DiGangi EA. Letter to the Editor-Moving Beyond a Lost Cause: Forensic Anthropology and Ancestry Estimates in the United States. J Forensic Sci. 2020 Sep;65(5):1791-1792. doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.14513. Epub 2020 Jul 23. PMID: 33104304; PMCID: PMC7496147.

Summary

Dr. John Lindo of Emory talks about ancient DNA — how it works, what you can understand from it, and why it’s important. He explains how he’s using ancient DNA to understand the biological diversity of pre-contact indigenous groups in the Americas.

Recommendations

• Dr. Lindo’s website
• C. Clark. (2018). “DNA analysis adds twists to ancient story of a Native American group“. Emory University News Center.
• L. Wade. (2018). “How the people of the Andes evolved to live in high altitudes“. Science.
• Lindo J, De La Rosa R, Santos ALCD, Sans M, DeGiorgio M, Figueiro G. The genomic prehistory of the Indigenous peoples of Uruguay. PNAS Nexus. 2022 Apr 21;1(2):pgac047. doi: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac047. PMID: 36713318; PMCID: PMC9802099.
• Nature Reviews Genetics – DNA articles
• C. Murray. (2020). Human Diversity: The Biology of Gender, Race, and Class. Twelve.
• D. Moore. (2017). The Developing Genome: An Introduction to Behavioral Epigenetics. Oxford University Press.
• Pryor Y, Lindo J. Deconstructing Eurocentrism in skin pigmentation research via the incorporation of diverse populations and theoretical perspectives. Evol Anthropol. 2023 Aug;32(4):195-205. doi: 10.1002/evan.21993. Epub 2023 Jul 14. PMID: 37450551.
• The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, TV show
• 1000 Genomes homepage
• Genotype Tissue Expression Project homepage