AnthroBiology Podcast

53:01

Dr. Stacey Tecot – What can lemur hormones tell us...

AnthroBiology Podcast ·

2026/09/30

Dr. Stacey Tecot of the University of Arizona joins the show to talk about her research on lemurs, their endocrinology and what their hormones can tell us about allomaternal care -- the care provided to young by any individuals who are not the mother. We also talk about methods and living in the field. Recommendations Dr. Stacey Tecot's staff profile at University of Arizona Dr. Tecot's personal website LEEP lab website Nelson, R.J. (2022). An Introduction to Behavioral Endocrinology (6th

en

43:47

Dr. Briana Pobiner – What can cut marks tell us about...

AnthroBiology Podcast ·

2026/08/31

Dr. Briana Pobiner of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's Human Origins Program joins the show to talk about cut marks. She discusses how we can tell what's a cut mark vs. other bone damage and how cut marks can illuminate human evolution along with illustrating migration and behavioral patterns in the distant past. Recommendations Dr. Pobiner's NMNH staff profile Dr. Pobiner's Google Scholar profile W.A. Barr, B. Pobiner, J. Rowan, A. Du, & J.T. Faith. (2022). No sustained

en

01:15:16

Dr. Christiane Baigent – How do bodies decompose at...

AnthroBiology Podcast ·

2026/07/29

Dr. Christiane Baigent of Colorado Mesa University runs the Forensic Investigation Resource Station (FIRS), which is the highest body farm in the world. We talk about how bodies decompose at high altitude and how it can differ from decomp at lower altitude. Dr. Baigent also shares some of the behind-the-scenes of running a body farm. Recommendations Dr. Baigent's faculty profile at Colorado Mesa University Forensic Investigation Resource Station (FIRS) website American Academy of Forensic

en

49:23

Dr. Raquel Fleskes – Using Ancient DNA to interpret...

AnthroBiology Podcast ·

2026/06/30

Dr. Raquel Fleskes of Dartmouth joins the show to talk about her work using ancient DNA to uncover the past in the Tidewater and South Carolina. Most people think about ancient DNA being used for, well, ancient skeletons, but ancient DNA can also be used in more recent contexts to illuminate the near past. We also chatted about ways to make ancient DNA work more accessible to descendent communities. Recommendations Dr. Fleske's lab page Dr. Fleske's staff profile at Dartmouth Dr. Fleske's

en

45:12

Dr. Andrew Best – Why do humans sweat?

AnthroBiology Podcast ·

2026/05/29

Dr. Andrew Best of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts joined the show to talk about sweat -- what it is, when we do it, how we vary, and why it makes humans different from most other animals. Recommendations Dr. Best's faculty profile at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Dr. Best Google scholar profile My Sport Science from Asker Jeukendrup (website) Asker Jeukendrup (instagram) Gatorade Sports Science Institute Everts, S. (2021). The Joy of Sweat: The Strange Science of

en

50:58

Decoding cemeteries: A historian's guide to death...

AnthroBiology Podcast ·

2026/04/22

Ron Romano of Spirits Alive (a non-profit dedicated to preserving Eastern Cemetery and its history) joins the show to talk about gravestone symbolism, mortuary practices, cemetery organization and social status, and the evolution of gravestone creation in Eastern Cemetery of Portland, ME. Cemeteries reveal a lot about the people who made them -- how they think about death, life, and religion; social and economic hierarchies; changing technologies; what's important to them; what causes anxiety

en

56:02

Dr. Wakefield & Dr. Niedich – Death in early New York...

AnthroBiology Podcast ·

2026/03/25

Dr. Wakefield (Northeast College) and Dr. Niedich (University of Missouri) joined the show to discuss their research on death in early New York mental health institutions and how it differed from the populations around them. Along the way, we talk about the history of mental health institutions in the United States and how differences in the amount and causes of death can illuminate what we care about as a society. Dr. Walker also worked on this project, but unfortunately was unable to join. Her

en

38:30

Dr. Brian Villmoare – Using teeth to help fill in the...

AnthroBiology Podcast ·

2026/01/29

Dr. Brian Villmoare of the University of Nevada - Las Vegas shares how his team found teeth in Ethiopia and what those teeth might mean in terms of who was around when in the evolutionary record. Recommendations Dr. Villmoare's University of Nevada - Las Vegas staff profile Dr. Villmoare's Human Paleontology Lab Villmoare, B., Delezene, L.K., Rector, A.L. et al. New discoveries of Australopithecus and Homo from Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia. Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09390-4

en

01:08:01

Keri Porter – What can head trauma tell us about...

AnthroBiology Podcast ·

2025/12/31

Keri Porter, a PhD candidate at Notre Dame University, joins the show to discuss their research on patterns of violence in a Bronze Age urban center in the Southern Levant. They focus on cranial trauma and what it can reveal about humans attempting to live together along with what it might reveal about who suffers violence. They also share some excellent recommendations for how to think about grad school, whether or not to go, and tips for applying. Recommendations Keri Porter's Notre Dame

en

57:37

Dr. Maria Nieves-Colón and Jaime Zolik, MA – Working...

AnthroBiology Podcast ·

2025/12/03

Dr. Maria Nieves-Cólon and Jamie Zolik join the show to discuss their ancient DNA research in San Luis de Cañete and what it can reveal about the historical population of the town specifically and the African diaspora in South America generally. They share some of the exciting ways they've forged a partnership with the community in order to carry out the work as ethically as possible. Recommendations Dr. Maries Nieves-Colón's faculty page at the University of Minnesota Nieves-Colón lab Jaime

en

52:27

Dr. Eric Shattuck – How do humans act when we get...

AnthroBiology Podcast ·

2025/10/29

Dr. Eric Shattuck of Florida State University joins the show to discuss his research on sickness behavior. He wants to know how humans tend to act when they get sick and why they act that way. Recommendations Dr. Shattuck's faculty page at FSU Dr. Shattuck's personal web page Social Health and Immunology Research (SHIRE) Lab page Dr. Shattuck's Google Scholar profile Shattuck, E.C. and Muehlenbein, M.P. (2015), Human sickness behavior: Ultimate and proximate explanations. Am. J. Phys

en

50:12

Dr. Erin Blankenship-Sefczek – How does developmental...

AnthroBiology Podcast ·

2025/09/25

Summary Dr. Erin Blankenship-Sefczek of Creighton University joins the show to discuss her research examining the connection between developmental stress and accessory cusps in teeth. Her work focuses on the placement and appearance of extra cusps that occur with greater frequency among individuals who have suffered stress during key developmental periods in their lives. Recommendations Dr. Blankenship-Sefczek's staff profile page at Creighton University Blankenship-Sefczek EC, Goodman AH,

en

01:02:04

Dr. Samantha Yaussy - What can frailty in skeletons...

AnthroBiology Podcast ·

2025/08/28

Dr. Samantha Yaussy of James Madison University joins the show to discuss her research on the how sex, socioeconomic status, and developmental stress and the intersectionality therein might interact to affect health outcomes in the past via the lens of frailty in skeletal remains primarily from medieval London. In this episode, we talked about the skeletal markers of frailty in human remains, understanding bias in research and samples, and intersectionality. As part of this, Dr. Yaussy

en

40:08

Dr. Habiba Chirchir - Why did humans evolve to have...

AnthroBiology Podcast ·

2025/07/31

Dr. Habiba Chirchir of the Ohio State University joins the show to discuss her research into the skeletal gracilization of modern humans. She's trying to understand when and why our skeletons became less robust, and whether self-domestication may have played a role. ------------------ Note: Apparently I got Dmitry Belyayev confused with Nikolai Vavilov. Both geneticists worked in the Soviet Union, but Dr. Belyayev wasn't persecuted to the same extent as Vavilov. Vavilov, who based his work on

en

01:13:21

Dr. David Orton – Rats in Europe and Zooarchaeology

AnthroBiology Podcast ·

2025/06/25

Dr. David Orton of the University of York joins the show to discuss how he uses zooarchaeology (the study of animal remains in archaeological contexts) to understand the how rat and human populations interacted and affected each other over time in Europe. He gets into the spread of rats, the plague, using ancient DNA and isotopic analysis to analyze rats, and what rats can tell us about historic events. Books, articles, and media mentioned in this episode + helpful sites and articles: Dr. Orton's

en

01:11:30

Dr. Henry Erlich - Genetic Reconstruction of the Past

AnthroBiology Podcast ·

2025/05/28

Dr. Henry Erlich, Researcher Emeritus at Benioff UCSF Children's Hospital, joins the show to discuss his book, Genetic Reconstruction of the Past: DNA Analysis in Forensics and Human Evolution. We chatted about what it was like to pioneer PCR tests along with how PCR testing works, its applications (including medicine, understanding human evolution, and forensics), and some of the ethical dilemmas around DNA testing more generally. Books, articles, and media mentioned in this episode + helpful sites

en

55:55

Dr. Christopher Schmitt - Vervets and woolly monkeys

AnthroBiology Podcast ·

2025/04/30

Dr. Christopher Schmitt of Boston University joins the show to talk about how he uses life history theory and epigenetics as a lens for his work with vervets and woolly monkeys. We also chatted about the highs of fieldwork, along with understanding how identity can affect an individual's experience of the field. Books, articles, and media mentioned in this episode + helpful sites and articles: Dr. Schmitt's personal website Dr. Schmitt's faculty profile at Boston University Schmitt, C.,

en

45:00

Dr. Kate Clancy - Period: The Real Story of Menstruation

AnthroBiology Podcast ·

2025/03/27

Dr. Kate Clancy of Indiana State University Urbana-Champaign joins the show to talk about her book, Period: The Real Story of Menstruation. We touch on what periods are, why humans might menstruate, factors that affect menstruation, the study of women's health in general, and a few things to keep in when doing research. Books, articles, and media mentioned in this episode + helpful sites and articles: Clancy, K. (2023). Period: The Real Story of Menstruation. Princeton University Press

en

53:33

Dr. Rebecca Gilmour - Roman bioarchaeology

AnthroBiology Podcast ·

2025/02/26

Dr. Rebecca Gilmour of Mount Royal University talks about bones, their mechanics, and how we can use both to understand humans' lives in the past -- especially around her main focus of disability and care in ancient Rome. Books, articles, and media mentioned in this episode + helpful sites and articles: Ed. CS Hirst, RJ Gilmour, FA Cardoso, KA Plomp. (2023). Behaviour in our Bones: How Human Behaviour Influences Skeletal Morphology. Elsevier. Gilmour, Rebecca & Plomp, Kimberly. (2022). The

en

55:44

Dr. Jesse Goliath - Forensic anthropology

AnthroBiology Podcast ·

2025/01/15

Dr. Jesse Goliath of Mississippi State University joins the show to talk about forensic anthropology, including how he ended up in forensic anthropology and how he developed the Mississippi Repository for Missing and Unidentified Persons. We also talk about the complicated relationship between race and forensic anthopology, along with the importance of bringing diverse perspectives to the field. Books, articles, and media mentioned in this episode + helpful sites and articles: Dr. Goliath's

en

All Episodes

Similar Podcasts

Beyond the Divide

Koala Moon

The SCP Experience

Dr. NoSleep Studios

John Michael Godier"s Event Horizon

John Michael Godier

La Science CQFD

France Culture

A Moment of Science

Indiana Public Media