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PODCAST

Origin Stories

The Leakey Foundation

Explore human evolution one story at a time. This award-winning show blends storytelling with science that will change your understanding of who we are.

science natural sciences

All Episodes

40:39

Episode 45: Detective of the Dead

Origin Stories ·

2020/08/28

Atapuerca is a place that holds the mystery of human evolution in Europe from 1.2 million years ago through recent times. You can find, in one place, the oldest human in Europe, the first murder in the archaeological record, and fossils that tell a range of stories from disturbing and grisly to tender and heartwarming. María Martinón-Torres is a Leakey Foundation grantee who is sometimes called a "detective of the dead" because she pieces together clues to learn about the lives and deaths of the

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33:40

Episode 44: Custodian of the Ancestors

Origin Stories ·

2020/07/30

What is it like to be responsible for the safekeeping of the ancestors of everyone in the world? In this episode, we travel to the National Museum of Ethiopia to see our most famous fossil relative – Lucy, and meet Yared Assefa, the person who takes care of her and all of our Ethiopian fossil ancestors and relatives. If you love fossils, you won't want to miss this episode! Special thanks Thanks to Yared Assefa, Dr. Berhane Asfaw, and Dr. Mulugeta Feseha, who hosted The Leakey Foundation at the

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28:35

Episode 43: We Eat Bugs

Origin Stories ·

2020/05/29

Have you ever considered how profoundly food has shaped who we are as a species? Julie Lesnik is a paleoanthropolgist who studies the evolution of the human diet. Her special focus is on insects as food in the past, present, and the future. Additional Information Read more about Julie Lesnik's work and check out her book Edible Insects and Human Evolution. Follow her on Twitter: @JulieLesnik Want to try some edible insects? Here are a few places we recommend: Don Bugito Entomo Farms Looking for

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34:40

Episode 42: The Cave Punan

Origin Stories ·

2020/04/08

Deep in the forests of Borneo, lives a society of hunter-gatherers who speak a language never before shared with outsiders. Until now. The Cave Punan are the last surviving hunter-gatherers in Indonesia and they have reached out for help to save their forest home and their culture. In 2018, Leakey Foundation grantee Steve Lansing was invited by the elected leader of the Punan in Borneo to meet the Cave Punan. He soon learned of the Cave Punan's unique song language and their urgent need to protect

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22:58

Episode 41: Tribes Old and New

Origin Stories ·

2020/02/29

What happens when bows and arrows and face-to-face conversations are replaced by high powered weapons and cell phones practically overnight? Dr. Polly Wiessner is an anthropologist who has studied the Enga of Papua New Guinea for 30 years and her current research is focused on how traditional societies cope with rapid cultural change. This episode features a talk given by Dr. Wiessner at The Leakey Foundation's Survival Symposium in 2019. Videos of the seven talks given at the symposium will be on

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31:48

Episode 40: The Denisovans

Origin Stories ·

2019/11/28

A mysterious new human relative was discovered ten years ago from a pinky bone found in a Siberian cave. They're called the Denisovans, and people around the world carry their DNA today. Until just a few months ago, the sum total of all the fossils the Denisovans left behind could fit in the palm of your hand. Now new research is unlocking more of their secrets. Thanks Thanks to Bence Viola and Viviane Slon for sharing their work. Dr. Viola also wants to give a shoutout to his colleagues, including

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37:00

Episode 39: Piltdown Man

Origin Stories ·

2019/10/31

In this episode, we explore the story of Piltdown Man – one of the most notorious hoaxes in history. When Piltdown Man was discovered in a gravel pit outside a small English village in 1912, it was celebrated as a "missing link." The find captured the public's imagination and became world-famous. The problem was that Piltdown Man was a complete fraud. The purported fossils were actually made up of modern human bones and an orangutan mandible. The Piltdown hoax suspects have included Sir Arthur

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31:56

Episode 38: From the Archive - Louis Leakey

Origin Stories ·

2019/08/07

In the final installment of our "From the Archive" series, Kenyan paleoanthropologist Louis S.B. Leakey shares the story of his life and work in a never-before-released interview recorded in 1969. The Leakey Foundation was formed 1968 in honor of Louis Leakey and we are proud to carry on his mission of increasing scientific knowledge, education, and public understanding of human origins, evolution, behavior, and survival. You can help carry on Louis Leakey's legacy by donating to The Leakey

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46:24

Episode 37: From the Archive - Mary Leakey

Origin Stories ·

2019/06/14

Mary Leakey was called the "grand dame" of archaeology. She was a methodical and exacting scientist who made some of the world's most significant archaeological discoveries. In this lecture from The Leakey Foundation archive, Mary Leakey tells the story of Olduvai Gorge, the place where she found fossils that completely changed our understanding of human origins. Want to support Origin Stories? All donations are being matched 4:1. Give today at leakeyfoundation.org/originstorieschallenge

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56:13

Episode 36: From the Archive - Tepilit Ole Saitoti

Origin Stories ·

2019/03/14

Tepilit Ole Saitoti was a Maasai warrior, author, and natural resources expert. In this lecture from The Leakey Foundation archive, Saitoti tells his life story, discusses Maasai culture, and explores the challenges faced by the Maasai people. Learn more and see photos on our blog. Want to support Origin Stories? All donations are being matched 4:1. Give today at leakeyfoundation.org/originstorieschallenge

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31:44

Episode 35: From the Archive - Raymond Dart

Origin Stories ·

2019/02/14

Raymond Dart was getting dressed for a wedding when he was given two boxes of rocks and fossils. Inside the boxes, he found the first evidence of humanity’s African origins. This episode tells the story of the 1924 discovery of the Taung Child through a never-before-released lecture by Dr. Raymond Dart. Show Notes The Leakey Foundation is celebrating its 50th anniversary by sharing rare, previously unreleased lectures from the Foundation’s archive. The fourth lecture in this "From the Archive"

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51:41

Episode 34: From the Archive - Margaret Mead

Origin Stories ·

2019/01/10

In this never-before-released archival lecture from 1974, anthropologist Margaret Mead discusses the lives of women from prehistoric through modern times. Show Notes The Leakey Foundation is 50 years old this year, and we’re celebrating this milestone by sharing rare, previously unreleased lectures from the Foundation’s archive. These talks are like a time capsule that lets you hear from scientists in their own words and in their own voices - as they were making the discoveries that made them

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54:01

Episode 33: From the Archive - Dian Fossey

Origin Stories ·

2018/12/13

In this never-before-released archival lecture from 1973, the legendary primatologist Dian Fossey tells the story of the early years of her groundbreaking mountain gorilla research. Show Notes The Leakey Foundation is 50 years old this year, and we’re celebrating this milestone by sharing rare, previously unreleased lectures from the Foundation’s archive. These talks are like a time capsule that lets you hear from scientists in their own words and in their own voices - as they were making the

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48:06

Episode 32: From the Archive - Carl Sagan

Origin Stories ·

2018/11/29

Carl Sagan explores the evolution of human intelligence from the big bang, fifteen billion years ago, through today in this never-before-released archival lecture. Show Notes The Leakey Foundation is 50 years old this year, and we’re celebrating this milestone by sharing rare, previously unreleased lectures from the Foundation’s archive. These talks are like a time machine that lets you hear from scientists in their own words and in their own voices - as they were making the discoveries that made

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26:55

Episode 31: The Four Year War

Origin Stories ·

2018/11/15

A scientist solves the mystery of the only known chimpanzee civil war...thus far. In 1960, Louis Leakey sent Jane Goodall to start her study of chimpanzees at Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Her first decade of research led her to think that chimpanzees were like nicer versions of humans. But in the early 1970s, the Gombe chimp community split in two and deadly violence erupted. The cause has remained a mystery until now. A new study by Leakey Foundation grantee Joseph Feldblum reveals similarities

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02:20

Origin Stories Season Three Preview

Origin Stories ·

2018/11/01

Origin Stories returns November 15th with more stories about how we became human.

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38:49

Episode 28: What They Left Behind [Rebroadcast]

Origin Stories ·

2018/06/06

The stories and songs of prehistoric people are lost. Their art and artifacts are all that remain of their culture. The painted caves of Ice Age Europe are the world's most famous examples of prehistoric art. What does this art reveal about the people who made it? Why did they paint those images on cave walls? What do the images mean? Jean Clottes is one of the world's preeminent prehistorians and a leading expert on prehistoric art. He has devoted his life to asking these big questions, and his

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29:49

Episode 30: Tales From the Field [LIVE]

Origin Stories ·

2017/12/31

Three true tales about what it's like to do field research. Kelly Stewart, Dorothy Cheney, and Robert Seyfarth share stories of gun smuggling, pet leeches, close encounters with hippos, and fan mail from one of the world's most infamous mass murderers. This bonus episode was recorded live at a Leakey Foundation Fellows event in 2016. The Leakey Foundation Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and outreach. Support

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23:48

Episode 29: Rewriting Our Story

Origin Stories ·

2017/11/07

For a long time, scientists have been searching for the first Homo sapiens in the Great Rift Valley of Ethiopia. The story we've been telling about the origin of our species has gone something like this: Around 200,000 years ago in East Africa, the first Homo sapiens emerged, splitting off from an ancestral species, possibly Homo erectus. We had big brains and a knack for tool making. We spread out across the world from there. We adapted, and we alone survived. Now a scientific discovery made by

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38:17

Episode 28: What They Left Behind

Origin Stories ·

2017/09/28

The stories and songs of prehistoric people are lost. Their art and artifacts are all that remain of their culture. The painted caves of Ice Age Europe are the world's most famous examples of prehistoric art. What does this art reveal about the people who made it? Why did they paint those images on cave walls? What do the images mean? Jean Clottes is one of the world's preeminent prehistorians and a leading expert on prehistoric art. He has devoted his life to asking these big questions, and his

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