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.

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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 Mendelian genetics, ultimately died in prison for daring to go against Stalin's favored genetic model created by Trofim Lysenko and based on Lamarckism.

Also worth noting: The contributions of Lyudmila Trut who worked with Dr. Belyayev and continued running the study after his death.

• Dr. Chirchir's staff page at OSU
• Dr. Chirchir's personal and lab website
• Assif, L., & Chirchir, H. (2024). Trabecular bone morphology in big cats reflects the complex diversity of limb use but not home range size or daily travel distance. The Anatomical Record, 307(1), 208–222. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25302
• H. Chirchir, T.L. Kivell, C.B. Ruff, J. Hublin, K.J. Carlson, B. Zipfel, & B.G. Richmond, Recent origin of low trabecular bone density in modern humans, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 112 (2) 366-371, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1411696112 (2015).
• Chirchir H, Ruff CB, Junno J-A, and Potts R. Low trabecular bone density in recent sedentary modern humans. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2017; 162:e23138. doi:10.1002/ajpa.23138.
• Chirchir, H. (2019), Trabecular Bone Fraction Variation in Modern Humans, Fossil Hominins and Other Primates. Anat. Rec., 302: 288-305. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.23967
• H. Chirchir, T.L. Kivell, C.B. Ruff, J. Hublin, K.J. Carlson, B. Zipfel, & B.G. Richmond, Recent origin of low trabecular bone density in modern humans, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 112 (2) 366-371, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1411696112 (2015).
• Chirchir Habiba, Ruff Christopher, Helgen Kristofer M. and Potts Richard. 2022. Effects of reduced mobility on trabecular bone density in captive big catsR. Soc. Open Sci.9211345 http://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211345.
• Chirchir H. Trabecular bone in domestic dogs and wolves: Implications for understanding human self-domestication. Anat Rec. 2021; 304: 31–41. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.24510
• Richmond, Brian & Green, David & Lague, Michael & Chirchir, Habiba & Behrensmeyer, Anna & Bobe, René & Bamford, Marion & Griffin, N & Gunz, Philipp & Mbua, Emma & Merritt, S & Pobiner, Briana & Kiura, Purity & Kibunjia, Mzalendo & Harris, J & Braun, David. (2020). The upper limb of Paranthropus boisei from Ileret, Kenya. Journal of Human Evolution. 141. 102727. 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.102727.
• Perry, T.A. and Chirchir, H. (2019), Cortical and trabecular bone density distribution in primate and felid limb epiphyses. The FASEB Journal, 33: lb150-lb150. https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2019.33.1_supplement.lb150
• Cartwright C, Ragni A, Hublin JJ, Chirchir H. Trabecular bone volume fraction in Holocene and Late Pleistocene humans. J Hum Evol. 2024 May;190:103499. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103499. Epub 2024 Apr 3. PMID: 38569444.
• Barak MM, Lieberman DE, Hublin JJ. A Wolff in sheep's clothing: trabecular bone adaptation in response to changes in joint loading orientation. Bone. 2011 Dec;49(6):1141-51. doi: 10.1016/j.bone.2011.08.020. Epub 2011 Aug 26. PMID: 21893221.
• Barak, Meir & Lieberman, Daniel & Hublin, Jean-Jacques. (2012). Sheep in shoes: a new experimental test of Wolff’s Law of trabecular orientation. 10.13140/RG.2.1.3689.5123.
• Barak, Meir & Hublin, Jean-Jacques & Lieberman, Daniel. (2011). Altering joint loading direction in the sheep generates trabecular orientation adjustment.
• Assif, L. and ChirChir, H. (2022), Trabecular bone morphology in felids reflects diversity in locomotor strategy but not home range size. The FASEB Journal, 36:. https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2022.36.S1.R3371
• Trut, Lyudmila. Early Canid Domestication: The Farm-Fox Experiment. American Scientist. 1999 Mar; 8(2): 160.
• Dr. Christopher Ruff's staff profile page at Johns Hopkins
• Dr. Ruff's Google Scholar profile
• Dr. Brian Hare's staff profile at Duke
• Dr. Hare's personal website
• Dr. Hare's Google Scholar profile
• Elzinga DC, Kulwicki R, Iselin S, Spence L, Capaldi A. Rapid evolution of prehistoric dogs from wolves by natural and sexual selection emerges from an agent-based model. Proc Biol Sci. 2025 Feb;292(2040):20242646. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2024.2646. Epub 2025 Feb 12. PMID: 39933588; PMCID: PMC11813586.
• Grantchester on PBS

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.

• Dr. Orton's University of York faculty profile
• RATTUS project website
• Eric Guiry et al., The ratting of North America: A 350-year retrospective on Rattus species compositions and competition. Scientific Advancements. 10, eadm6755(2024). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adm6755
• Yu, H., Jamieson, A., Hulme-Beaman, A. et al. Palaeogenomic analysis of black rat (Rattus rattus) reveals multiple European introductions associated with human economic history. Nature Communications. 13, 2399 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30009-z
• Jason Munshi-South et al., The evolutionary history of wild and domestic brown rats (Rattus norvegicus). Science. 385, 1292-1297. (2024). DOI:10.1126/science.adp1166
• E. E. Puckett, D. Orton, J. Munshi-South, Commensal Rats and Humans: Integrating Rodent Phylogeography and Zooarchaeology to Highlight Connections between Human Societies. BioEssays 2020, 42, 1900160. https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201900160
• Guiry, E.J., Gaulton, B.C. Inferring Human Behaviors from Isotopic Analyses of Rat Diet: a Critical Review and Historical Application. J Archaeol Method Theory 23, 399–426 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-015-9248-9
• Susat, Julian et al. A 5,000-year-old hunter-gatherer already plagued by Yersinia pestis. Cell Reports, Volume 35, Issue 13, 109278.
• Hall, A. R., Kenward, H. K., and Williams, D. Environmental Evidence from Roman Deposits in Skeldergate. The Archaeology of York. Volume 14, Issue 3. (1980).
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Owl Pellet Teaching Tips.
• Beisaw, April. (2013). Identifying and Interpreting Animal Bones: A Manual. Texas A&M University Press.
• O'Connor, Terry. (2008). The Archaeology of Animal Bones. Texas A&M University Press.
• O'Connor, Terry. (2014). Animals as Neighbors: The Past and Present of Commensal Animals. Michigan State University Press.
• MacArthur, R.H. and E.O. Wilson. (1967). The Theory of Island Biogeography. Princeton University Press.
• Kalmring, Sven. (2024). Towns and Commerce in Viking-Age Scandinavia. Cambridge University Press.
• Vinge, Vernor. (2010). A Fire Upon the Deep. Tor Books.
• Larian Studios. (2023). Baldur's Gate 3.
• Chambers, Becky. (2021). The Galaxy, and the Ground Within. Harper Voyager Books.

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.

• Dr. Erlich's personal website
• Dr. Erlich's Medium profile
• Erlich, H. (2023). Genetic Reconstruction of the Past: DNA Analysis in Forensics and Human Evolution. Oxford University Press.
• Ed. H Erlich, E Stover, TJ White. (2020). Silent Witness: Forensic DNA Evidence in Criminal Investigations and Humanitarian Disasters. Oxford University Press.
• Wulf, A. (2016). The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt's New World. Knopf - Vintage.

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.

• Dr. Schmitt's personal website
• Dr. Schmitt's faculty profile at Boston University
• Schmitt, C., Service, S., Jasinska, A. et al. Obesity and obesogenic growth are both highly heritable and modified by diet in a nonhuman primate model, the African green monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus). Int J Obes 42, 765–774 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2017.301
• Carrey, N. (2011). The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern Biology Is Rewriting Our Understanding of Genetics, Disease, and Inheritance.
• Stearns, S.C. (1992). The Evolution of Life Histories. Oxford University Press.
• Turner, T. R., Schmitt, C. A., & Cramer, J. D. (2019). Savanna Monkeys: The Genus Chlorocebus. Cambridge University Press.

Dr. Kate Clancy of Illinois 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.

• Clancy, K. (2023). Period: The Real Story of Menstruation. Princeton University Press. (Audiobook version)
• Dr. Clancy's website
• Dr. Clancy's faculty profile at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• Dr. Clancy's Bluesky profile
• Dr. Clancy's Buttondown profile
• Ellison, P.T. (2003). On Fertile Ground: A Natural History of Human Reproduction. Harvard University Press.
• Van Der Sijpt, E. (2018). Wasted Wombs: Navigating Reproductive Interruptions in Cameroon. Vanderbilt University Press.
• Nguyen, M. (2024). The Promise of Beauty. Duke University Press.
• Gladstone, M. (2012). Three Parts Dead. Tor Books.

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.

• 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 Changing Shape of Palaeopathology: The Contribution of Skeletal Shape Analyses to Investigations of Pathological Conditions. (OPEN ACCESS). Yearbook of Physical Anthropology. 10.1002/ajpa.24475..
• Battles, Heather & Gilmour, Rebecca. (2022). Beyond Mortality: Survivors of Epidemic Infections and the Bioarchaeology of Impairment and Disability. (OPEN ACCESS). 6. 23–40. 10.5744/bi.2021.0003.
• Gilmour, Rebecca & Brickley, Megan & Jurriaans, Erik & Prowse, Tracy. (2018). Maintaining mobility after fracture: A biomechanical analysis of fracture consequences at the Roman Sites of Ancaster (UK) and Vagnari (Italy). International Journal of Paleopathology. 24. 10.1016/j.ijpp.2018.09.002..
• Gilmour, Rebecca & Prowse, Tracy & Jurriaans, Erik & Brickley, Megan. (2017). Well-Trodden Roads: Skeletal Evidence for Sex-Related Mobility at the Roman Site of Vagnari, Italy. Conference presentation: American Association of Physical Anthropologists.
• Gilmour, Rebecca. (2017). Resilient Romans: Cross-Sectional Evidence for Long-Term Functional Consequences of Extremity Trauma. PhD thesis completed at McMaster University.
• Cunningham, C., Scheuer, L., Black, S. (2016). Developmental Juvenile Osteology. Academic Press.
• White, T. & Folken, P. (2005). The Human Bone Manual. Academic Press.
• Eds. Hirst, C.S., Gilmour, R.J., Cardoso, F.A. (2023). Behaviour in Our Bones: How Human Behaviour Influences Skeletal Morphology. Elsevier Science Publishing.
• Canci, Alessandro & Marchi, Damiano & Caramella, Davide & Sparacello, Vitale. (2024). A severe case of bilateral humerus varus deformity from the Middle Bronze age necropolis of Olmo di Nogara, Northeast Italy: The contribution of biomechanical analysis to paleopathological study. International journal of paleopathology. 47. 12-20. 10.1016/j.ijpp.2024.07.005.
• Ed. Laes, C. (2024). A Cultural History of Disability in Antiquity. Bloomsbury Acadamic.
• Van Pelt, S. (2022). Remarkably Bright Creatures. Ecco Press.
• Holmes, R. (2024). Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide. Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster.
• Blum, D. (2011). The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York. Penguin Books.

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 anthropology, along with the importance of bringing diverse perspectives to the field.

• Dr. Goliath's personal website
• Dr. Goliath's faculty profile page at MS State
• Dr. Goliath's ResearchGate profile
• The Mississippi Repository for Missing and Unidentified Persons
• Forensic Pioneers of Color
• Goliath, J.R., Yim, A., & Juarez, J.K. (Eds). (2024). Contemporary Concerns and Considations in Forensic Anthropology. [Special issue]. Humans, 4(1).
• Hagerman, M.A. (2024). Children of a Troubled Time: Growing Up with Racism in Trump's America. New York University Press.
• Barber, W.J & Wilson-Hartgrove, J. (2024). White Poverty: How Exposing Myths about Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy. Liveright Publishing Corporation.

Dr. Christine Drea of Duke University joined the show to talk about mechanisms of female dominance, which is when females of a species are more dominant in groups than males. Dr. Drea looks at how genetics, hormones, and social dynamics interact with each other to result in female dominance in hyenas, meerkats, and lemurs.

Content warning: We talk about animal genitalia and hyenas' traumatic birthing process.

• Dr. Drea’s faculty page at Duke University
• Dr. Drea’s website
• Dr. Drea’s ResearchGate profile
• Dixons, A. (2012). Primate Sexuality: Comparative Studies of the Prosimians, Monkeys, Apes, and Humans. Oxford University Press.
• Ellison, P. (2003). On Fertile Ground: A Natural History of Human Reproduction. Harvard University Press.
• Grebe, Nicholas & Sheikh, Alizeh & Ohannessian, Laury & Drea, Christine. (2023). Effects of Oxytocin Receptor Blockade on Dyadic Social Behavior in Monogamous and Non-Monogamous Eulemur. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 150. 106044. 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106044.
• Bornbusch, Sally & Clarke, Tara & Hobilalaina, Sylvia & Reseva, Honore & LaFleur, Marni & Drea, Christine. (2022). Microbial rewilding in the gut microbiomes of captive ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) in Madagascar. Scientific Reports. 12. 10.1038/s41598-022-26861-0.
• Drea, Christine & Grebe, Nicholas. (2022). Intraspecific Aggression and Social Dominance. (chapter in The Routledge International Handbook of Comparative Psychology, ed. by Freeberg, Ridley, and d'Ettorre)
• Bornbusch, Sally & Greene, Lydia & Rahobilalaina, Sylvia & Calkins, Samantha & Rothman, Ryan & Clarke, Tara & LaFleur, Marni & Drea, Christine. (2022). Gut microbiota of ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) vary across natural and captive populations and correlate with environmental microbiota. Animal Microbiome. 4. 10.1186/s42523-022-00176-x.
• Grebe, Nicholas & Sheikh, Alizeh & Drea, Christine. (2022). Integrating the female masculinization and challenge hypotheses: Female dominance, male deference, and seasonal hormone fluctuations in adult blue-eyed black lemurs (Eulemur flavifrons). Hormones and Behavior. 139. 105108. 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2022.105108.
• Drea, Christine & Davies, Charli & Greene, Lydia & Mitchell, Jessica & Blondel, Dimitri & Shearer, Caroline & Feldblum, Joseph & Dimac-Stohl, Kristin & Smyth-Kabay, Kendra & Clutton-Brock, Tim. (2021). An intergenerational androgenic mechanism of female intrasexual competition in the cooperatively breeding meerkat. Nature Communications. 12. 10.1038/s41467-021-27496-x.
• Conley, Alan & Place, Ned & Legacki, Erin & Hammond, Geoffrey & Cunha, Gerald & Drea, Christine & Weldele, Mary & Glickman, Stephen. (2020). Spotted hyaenas and the sexual spectrum: reproductive endocrinology and development. Journal of Endocrinology. 247. 10.1530/JOE-20-0252.
• Smyth, Kendra & Caruso, Nicholas & Davies, Charli & Clutton-Brock, Tim & Drea, Christine. (2018). Social and endocrine correlates of immune function in meerkats: Implications for the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis. Royal Society Open Science. 5. 180435. 10.1098/rsos.180435.
• Drea, Christine & Coscia, Elizabeth & Glickman, Stephen. (2018). Hyenas. (chapter in The Encyclopedia of Reproduction from Academic Press, ed. Michael Skinner)

Dr. Lauren Butaric of University of Florida joined the show to talk about sinuses - what they are, why we have them, how they can be used in forensic contexts, and what they can tell us about people.

I personally love these anatomy-based discussions. It's just so exciting to do a deep dive into these dark cavities.

Here are some of the articles I found helpful while prepping for this episode:

• Campbell, Jessica & Butaric, Lauren. (2022). Technical Modifications for the Application of the Total Difference Method for Frontal Sinus Comparison. Biology. 11. 1075. 10.3390/biology11071075.
• Butaric, Lauren & Campbell, Jessica & Fischer, Kristine & Garvin, Heather. (2022). Ontogenetic patterns in human frontal sinus shape: A longitudinal study using elliptical Fourier analysis. Journal of Anatomy. 241. 10.1111/joa.13687.
• Butaric, Lauren & Richman, Allison & Garvin, Heather. (2022). The Effects of Cranial Orientation on Forensic Frontal Sinus Identification as Assessed by Outline Analyses. Biology. 11. 62. 10.3390/biology11010062.
• Butaric, Lauren & Nicholas, Christina & Kravchuk, Katherine & Maddux, Scott. (2021). Ontogenetic variation in human nasal morphology. The Anatomical Record. 305. 10.1002/ar.24760.
• Kim, Suhhyun & Ward, Lyndee & Butaric, Lauren & Maddux, Scott. (2021). Ancestry‐based variation in maxillary sinus anatomy: Implications for health disparities in sinonasal disease. The Anatomical Record. 305. 10.1002/ar.24644.

Books, articles, and media mentioned in this episode + helpful sites:

• Dr. Lauren Butaric's faculty page at University of Florida
• Dr. Butaric's website
• Dr. Butaric's ResearchGate profile
• Nestor, J. (2020). Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. Riverhead Books.
• Lieberman, D. (2011). The Evolution of the Human Head. Harvard University Press.
• Jemisin, NK. (2015). The Broken Earth Trilogy. Orbit.
• Jordan, R. (1990-2007). The Wheel of Time series.
• Stephen King
• Gaby's fantasy rec: Anything by Ilona Andrews

Dr. Gwen Robbins Schug from the University of North Carolina - Greebsboro discusses some of the projects her lab is working on, including skeletal and dental pathology in past populations and istopic analysis of human remains. She also touches on the importance of integrating biological anthropology into climate change and global health policies.

These two articles are great examples of how bio anthro could inform policymaking:

• G. Robbins Schug, S. E. Halcrow, Building a bioarchaeology of pandemic, epidemic, and syndemic diseases: Lessons for understanding COVID-19. Bioarchaeol. Int. 6, 179–200 (2022).
• G. Robbins Schug et al., Climate change, human health, and resilience in the Holocene. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 120 (2023).

Honestly, we probably could have done an entire show on just one article. And I might do that in the future. For now, I encourage you to read the articles. They illustrate how answering questions about our past can help us build a better future.

Books, articles, and media mentioned in this episode:

• Dr. Robbins Schug's faculty page at UNCG
• Robbins Schug Human Diversity Lab Website
• G. Robbins Schug, S. E. Halcrow, Building a bioarchaeology of pandemic, epidemic, and syndemic diseases: Lessons for understanding COVID-19. Bioarchaeol. Int. 6, 179–200 (2022).
• G. Robbins Schug et al., Climate change, human health, and resilience in the Holocene. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 120 (2023).
• Grauer, A. (Ed.) (2015). A Companion to Paleopathology. Wiley-Blackwell.
• Buiktra, J. (Ed.) (2019). Ortner's Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains (3rd edition). Academic Press.
• Resnick, D. (2001). Diagnosis of Bone and Joint Disorders: 5-Volume Set. Saunders.
• Planetary Health Alliance
• Sholts, S. (2024). The Human Disease: How We Create Pandemics, from our Bodies to Our Beliefs. MIT Press.