Origin Stories

By The Leakey Foundation

What's Origin Stories about?

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.

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Origin Stories episodes:

04.30.2024
The Story of Human Hair
Why do humans have most of our hair on our heads, not our bodies? Why do we have so many varieties of hair color, thickness, and curliness? Dr. Tina Lasisi is a biological anthropologist whose work explores these evolutionary mysteries....
04.02.2024
The Musical Ape
Music is universal in all human cultures, but why? What gives us the ability to hear sound as music? Are we the only musical species–or was Darwin right when he said every animal with a backbone should be able to...
02.27.2024
Custodian of the Ancestors
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...
01.31.2024
A Brief History of Bling
Travel through 50,000 years of human history following clues hidden inside beads made from ostrich eggshells. In this episode, researchers Jennifer Miller and Yiming Wang share how these tiny artifacts reveal a sweeping story of ancient social networks, cultural connections,...
12.27.2023
Top Human Origins Discoveries of 2023
2023 was another exciting year in human origins research! Fossil discoveries and long-term primate studies expanded our understanding of what makes us human. In this episode, four Leakey Foundation scientists shared their favorite human evolution discoveries from the past year....
10.31.2023
Siblings
Sibling relationships can include everything from love and support–to tension, competition, and conflict. They might also play a fundamental role in the evolution of our species. In the final installment of our three-part series on family relationships, researchers Karen Kramer,...
09.26.2023
Fatherhood
Humans invest enormous amounts of time and energy into bringing up our babies. This unique investment is a fundamental part of what it means to be human. In this episode, the second in a three-part series on family relationships,...
08.29.2023
Motherhood
Humans invest enormous amounts of time and energy into bringing up our babies. This unique investment is a fundamental part of what it means to be human. In this episode, the first in a three-part series on family relationships, researchers...
08.02.2023
Boomplaas Cave - Bonus Interview
How did climate change impact ancient human behavior? This is one of the questions Justin Pargeter and his team are investigating at a site called Boomplaas Cave in South Africa. This site has a unique record of human presence over...
07.06.2023
Field School Diaries
This special episode takes you inside the world of archaeology students at Boomplaas Cave, one of South Africa’s flagship human evolution research sites. Led by Dr. Justin Pargeter, the students chronicle their field school journey through personal audio diaries, offering...
05.30.2023
The Hobbit
In this episode, we explore the fascinating tale of the Hobbit, an unexpected fossil find that shook the world's understanding of human evolution. Join researcher Matt Tocheri as he shares how this tiny hominin revolutionized the human story and transformed...
03.28.2023
A Giganto Mystery
Dr. Kira Westaway is part of an international research team working to solve the mystery of Gigantopithecus, the largest ape that ever walked the earth. In this episode, we explore how this massive primate lived, why it disappeared, and what...
03.01.2023
The New Metabolism
How do human bodies use energy? In this episode, Leakey Foundation grantee Dr. Herman Pontzer shares groundbreaking research that upends our understanding of metabolism, calories, and the history of our species. Origin Stories is hosted by Meredith Johnson, produced and...
01.31.2023
Top Human Origins Discoveries of 2022
2022 was another exciting year in human origins research! New fossil discoveries and ancient DNA research expanded our understanding of the past. We learned something surprising about the evolution of human speech, and new methodologies and showed promising potential to...
01.24.2023
Origin Stories is back!
We've been hard at work on a new season of stories about how we became human. Origin Stories returns on January 31 with monthly episodes!
05.17.2022
First Steps at Laetoli
In this episode, we explore five strange fossilized footprints found by Mary Leakey at the site of Laetoli in Tanzania. Decades after their original discovery, these footprints have revealed a new story about our ancient ancestors that expands our...
02.25.2022
Discovering Us
In this episode, we talk with Evan Hadingham, senior science editor for the PBS program NOVA. His new book, Discovering Us: 50 Great Discoveries in Human Origins, highlights the thrilling fossil finds, groundbreaking primate behavior observations, and important scientific work...
12.21.2021
Episode 59: Top Human Origins Discoveries of 2021
2021 was a big year in science! Fossil discoveries introduced new relatives to our family tree, new findings added fascinating twists to the human story, and breakthroughs in research methods opened new worlds to explore. In this episode, five scientists...
11.09.2021
Episode 58: Biruté Mary Galdikas - 50 Years with Orangutans
As a young girl, Biruté Mary Galdikas dreamed of going to the forests of Southeast Asia to study the least-known of all the great apes, the elusive orangutan. People told her it would be impossible. But, in 1971, she traveled...
10.05.2021
Entre Chien et Loup: How Dogs Began
Scientists agree that dogs evolved from wolves, but exactly how and when that happened is hotly contested. In this episode, Origin Stories contributor Neil Sandell examines the evolution of the relationship between dogs and humans, and explores the journey from...
09.29.2021
Bonus Episode: Short and Sweat
Learn about the evolution of our extraordinary ability to cool ourselves down. Biological anthropologist Andrew Best discusses the past, present, and future of sweat in this special bonus episode. About our guest Dr. Andrew Best is a biological anthropologist at...
07.07.2021
Episode 55: Monkeys Get Creative
Producer and scientist Kevin McLean travels to an island off the coast of Panama where researchers have found an isolated group of monkeys with a creative approach to surviving in a challenging environment. Links These tiny monkeys have entered...
06.04.2021
Episode 54: The Obstetrical Dilemma
The widely-held idea known as the “obstetrical dilemma” is a hypothesis that explains why babies are so helpless, and why childbirth is so difficult for humans compared to other animals. The obstetrical dilemma suggests that babies are born early so...
05.07.2021
Sleep and the Moon
Sleep is one of the defining traits of human life. It's also one of the most mysterious. Dr. Horacio de la Iglesia is a neurobiologist who's on a quest to understand how patterns of human sleep evolved. His new research...
03.27.2021
Episode 52: How to Study an Endangered Species
What is it like to study an endangered species like chimpanzees, knowing they may go extinct within your lifetime? Leakey Foundation grantee Dr. Zarin Machanda is a co-director of the Kibale Chimpanzee Project, a long-term field study in Uganda. This...
03.02.2021
Episode 51: The Teeth Remember
Your life story is hidden in your teeth. The days, weeks, years, and stressful events of your life are recorded in tiny timelines that can be read by scientists like Leakey Foundation grantee Dr. Tanya Smith. She and her colleagues...
02.01.2021
Episode 50: Understanding Neanderthals
Early prehistorians had little more than stones and bones to work with as they tried to piece together the story of the Neanderthals, but today’s researchers work in ways that early prehistorians could never have imagined. Archaeologist and author Rebecca...
12.31.2020
Episode 49: Exercise
If exercise is healthy, why do so many people avoid doing it? If we're born to be active, why is it so hard to keep your New Year's resolutions about exercise? On this episode, learn about the powerful instincts that...
11.27.2020
Episode 48: Ancestor (rerelease)
In 2017, Dr. Isaiah Nengo announced the discovery of a 13 million-year-old fossil ape found in Kenya. This remarkable fossil, nicknamed Alesi, was from a time period where there’s a big blank spot in the fossil record of our family...
11.03.2020
Episode 47: Skin
Variation in human skin color has fascinated and perplexed people for centuries. As the most visible aspect of human variation, skin color has been used as a basis for classifying people into “races.” In this lecture, Leakey Foundation grantee Dr....
09.30.2020
Episode 46: Interview with María Martinón-Torres
September 30 is International Podcast Day and on this episode, we’re handing things over to producer Lucía Benavides, who sat down with Leakey Foundation grantee María Martinón-Torres for an interview about her life and career. This bonus episode is entirely...
08.28.2020
Episode 45: Detective of the Dead
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...
07.30.2020
Episode 44: Custodian of the Ancestors
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...
05.29.2020
Episode 43: We Eat Bugs
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,...
04.08.2020
Episode 42: The Cave Punan
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...
02.29.2020
Episode 41: Tribes Old and New
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...
11.28.2019
Episode 40: The Denisovans
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...
10.31.2019
Piltdown Man
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...
08.07.2019
Episode 38: From the Archive - Louis Leakey
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...
06.14.2019
Episode 37: From the Archive - Mary Leakey
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...
03.14.2019
Episode 36: From the Archive - Tepilit Ole Saitoti
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 ...
02.14.2019
Episode 35: From the Archive - Raymond Dart
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...
01.10.2019
Episode 34: From the Archive - Margaret Mead
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...
12.13.2018
Episode 33: From the Archive - Dian Fossey
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...
11.29.2018
Episode 32: From the Archive - Carl Sagan
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...
11.15.2018
Episode 31: The Four Year War
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...
11.01.2018
Origin Stories Season Three Preview
Origin Stories returns November 15th with more stories about how we became human.
06.06.2018
Episode 28: What They Left Behind [Rebroadcast]
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...
12.31.2017
Episode 30: Tales From the Field [LIVE]
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...
11.07.2017
Episode 29: Rewriting Our Story
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...

What's Origin Stories about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Origin Stories episodes:

The Story of Human Hair

The Musical Ape

Custodian of the Ancestors

A Brief History of Bling

Top Human Origins Discoveries of 2023

Siblings

Fatherhood

Motherhood

Boomplaas Cave - Bonus Interview

Field School Diaries

The Hobbit

A Giganto Mystery

The New Metabolism

Top Human Origins Discoveries of 2022

Origin Stories is back!

First Steps at Laetoli

Discovering Us

Episode 59: Top Human Origins Discoveries of 2021

Episode 58: Biruté Mary Galdikas - 50 Years with Orangutans

Entre Chien et Loup: How Dogs Began

Bonus Episode: Short and Sweat

Episode 55: Monkeys Get Creative

Episode 54: The Obstetrical Dilemma

Sleep and the Moon

Episode 52: How to Study an Endangered Species

Episode 51: The Teeth Remember

Episode 50: Understanding Neanderthals

Episode 49: Exercise

Episode 48: Ancestor (rerelease)

Episode 47: Skin

Episode 46: Interview with María Martinón-Torres

Episode 45: Detective of the Dead

Episode 44: Custodian of the Ancestors

Episode 43: We Eat Bugs

Episode 42: The Cave Punan

Episode 41: Tribes Old and New

Episode 40: The Denisovans

Piltdown Man

Episode 38: From the Archive - Louis Leakey

Episode 37: From the Archive - Mary Leakey

Episode 36: From the Archive - Tepilit Ole Saitoti

Episode 35: From the Archive - Raymond Dart

Episode 34: From the Archive - Margaret Mead

Episode 33: From the Archive - Dian Fossey

Episode 32: From the Archive - Carl Sagan

Episode 31: The Four Year War

Origin Stories Season Three Preview

Episode 28: What They Left Behind [Rebroadcast]

Episode 30: Tales From the Field [LIVE]

Episode 29: Rewriting Our Story