Episodes
Dr. Goodson (Cambridge University) and Dr. Trombley (Augustana University) join forces on the show to discuss their bioarchaeological-historical collaboration to understand the Medieval mouth. Learn about what Books, articles, and selected people mentioned in this episode: Medieval Mouths in Context: Biocultural and MultiScalar Considerations of the Mouth and the Case of Late-Medieval Villamagna, Italy Dr. Roberta Gilchrist, Medieval Life: Archaeology and the Life Course Dr. Virginia...
Published 04/25/24
Published 04/25/24
Dr. Trent Trombley of Augustana University joins the show to talk about his research at Villamagna, a medieval settlement outside of Rome. He uses macroscopic analysis of teeth along with a few other methods to understand life in the past. Links mentioned in the show: Dr. Trombley's ResearchGate profile Making Sense of Medieval Mouths: Investigating Sex Differences of Dental Pathological Lesions in a Late Medieval Italian Community Growing up at Villamagna: Sex, Gender, and Stress During...
Published 03/25/24
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.  Links mentioned in the show: Dr. Larsen's faculty page The past 12,000 years of behavior, adaptation, population and evolution shaped who we are today (2023 PNAS article - opens as a website) Paleosyndemics: A bioarchaeological and biosocial approach to study infectious diseases in the past (2022...
Published 02/24/24
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. Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology. Email the host at [email protected].
Published 01/03/24
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.  Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology. Email the host at [email protected].
Published 07/22/23
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  Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology. Email the host at [email protected].
Published 03/24/23
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...
Published 01/30/23
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. Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology. Email the host at [email protected].
Published 01/04/23
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. Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology. Email the host at [email protected].
Published 12/21/22
Rick Coste, host of the Evolution Talk podcast, talks about his new book (Evolution Talk) and how he became interested in science. Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology.
Published 11/28/22
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?  Want to learn more? Read the article the episode is based on: "Towards an Anti-Maleficent Research Agenda" Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology.
Published 11/01/22
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. Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram...
Published 09/23/22
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. Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology. Email the host at [email protected].
Published 07/20/22
Dr. Nicole Iturriaga of UC - Irvine joined the show to talk about her book: Exhuming Violent Histories: Forensics, Memory, and Rewriting Spain’s Past. In this episode, we discuss the history of the Spanish Civil War, how forensics can help change perceptions and heal communities, and how the general public perceives forensic anthropology. Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology. Email the host at...
Published 06/16/22
Dr. Julia Boughner of the University of Saskatchewan talks about the evolution of human teeth. Why do adults have ~32 teeth? Are our jaws shrinking? What's the deal with wisdom teeth? Does modern dentistry change our evolutionary path? Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology. Email the host at [email protected].
Published 05/18/22
Ms. Selina Carlhoff, PhD candidate at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, talks about the basics of DNA, what you should know about ancient DNA, and some of the ethical complexities that come with studying prehistoric populations. She also fills us in on her article in Nature, "Genome of a middle Holocene hunter-gatherer from Wallacea." Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology. Email the host at...
Published 04/20/22
Dr. David Braun of George Washington University's Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology in the Anthropology Department chats about the cycles of tool use and niche construction. We talk about how one affects the other and vice versa in cycles, plus the interplay of greater environmental and climate change. Dr. Braun also discusses how we can look into the near and deep past to figure out environmental change. Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find...
Published 03/25/22
Dr. Jonathan Marks of the University of North Carolina - Charlotte joins the show to talk about his book, Why Are There Still Creationists? Human Evolution and the Ancestors. We chat about one of the toughest conversations everyone who deals with evolution faces: Speaking with creationists. In the episode, Marks talks about theology and the surprising history between scientists and creationists. Check out the book here.  Jon Marks' website is here. Find links to articles, books, and pics...
Published 02/23/22
Dr. Bill Schutt, zoologist and author, joins the show to talk about his latest book, Pump: A Natural History of the Heart. We chat about the evolution of hearts, how people learned about how hearts work, and science writing.  Check out his book here: https://www.workman.com/products/pump/ Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology.
Published 11/11/21
Dr. Robert Anemone of the University of North Carolina - Greensboro joins the show to talk about how advances in geospatial tech can help paleoanthropologists find productive sites, along with how he's used it in his real life field work in the Great Divide Basin of Wyoming. Helpful background: Fossil GPS, Scientific American, May 2014, Anemone & Emerson Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology.
Published 10/28/21
Dr. Sarah Kindschuh of the DPAA discusses what it's like to work for federal government to recover and identify members of the U.S. armed services. We also chatted about advice for undergraduates interested in pursuing work as anthropologists. Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology.
Published 09/23/21
Dr. Christopher D. Lynn of the University of Alabama joins the show to talk about tattoos and what they can tell us about immune function, health signaling, and cultural meanings. Plus, we talk about sci comm! Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology. Check out Dr. Lynn's website here: https://cdlynn.people.ua.edu/ 
Published 09/08/21
Stine Carlsson is a PhD candidate at Queens University Belfast in Northern Ireland. We discuss strategies for finding a good grad program, dealing with toxic academic environments, choosing a path, and skeletal stress indicators.  Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology.
Published 08/26/21
Dr. Robert Mann of the University of Hawaii talks about his winding path in biological anthropology. Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology.
Published 08/11/21