2025 was another exciting year in human origins research! In this episode, four scientists and Leakey Foundation grantees (and one podcast host) share their picks for the top discoveries of the year.

Support this show and the science we talk about. Your tax-deductible gift to The Leakey Foundation will be matched! Click here to donate.

Want more science between podcast episodes? Join our monthly newsletter for human origins news and updates from Origin Stories and The Leakey Foundation.

Links to learn more

All research articles are open-access and free to read

New research reveals the hand of Paranthropus boisei

Earliest evidence of making fire

Complete sequencing of ape genomes

Highly selective cannibalism in the Late Pleistocene of Northern Europe reveals Neandertals were targeted prey

Denisovan mitochondrial DNA from dental calculus of the >146,000-year-old Harbin cranium

This episode features two stories from the Science Podcast. First, Science writer Ann Gibbons tells the story of three ancient hominin species that lived side-by-side in South Africa's Cradle of Humankind. Then, anthropologist Melanie Beasley discusses her new study on why chemical signals in Neanderthal teeth and bones make them look like hypercarnivores. Her research suggests they were just eating a lot of maggots!

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to funding human origins research and sharing discoveries.

The Science podcast is a weekly show from the journal Science and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Search for Science Magazine in any podcasting app to subscribe. Learn more at https://www.science.org/podcasts

Origin Stories is audience-supported. Additional support comes from Jeanne Newman, the Anne and Gordon Getty Foundation, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.

This is a story about sweat, survival, speed, and the peculiar ways running may have shaped us as humans. Armed with a hydration vest, a dream, and paleoanthropologist Daniel Lieberman's endurance running hypothesis, filmmaker Nicole Teeny set out to push the limits of her own endurance. Nicole's mission takes her from the Kalahari Desert to Kansas to see if humans really did evolve to run. Along the way, she discovers humans' unusual superpower and asks, can a human outrun a horse?

This episode was written and produced by Nicole Teeny. Sound designed and produced by Ray Pang. Edited by Audrey Quinn. Our host and executive producer is Meredith Johnson.

Want more of this story? Listen to Nicole's four-episode series on ESPN's 30 for 30 podcast!

Support our show and the science we talk about! Until August 31, all donations to Origin Stories and The Leakey Foundation will be quadruple-matched by Leakey Foundation trustee Nina Carroll and the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.

After 10 years of exploring the stories behind breakthrough science, it's time to tell our own origin story! In this special anniversary episode, we're flipping the script to share how Origin Stories began. Join us behind the scenes, revisit three milestone episodes, and get an exciting update on the Punan Batu community's fight for their ancestral lands in Borneo.

Here's to our listeners who've made this decade of science and storytelling possible, and to many more stories ahead.

Links to learn more:

• On Two Feet with Carol Ward
• Ancestor with Isaiah Nengo
• The Cave Punan with Steve Lansing

Support science:

In honor of 10 years of Origin Stories, please consider donating $10 per month to support the show and the science we talk about! Your donation will be matched, doubling your impact!

Donate at leakeyfoundation.org/originstories

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and education.

This episode was generously sponsored by Don Dana. Origin Stories is also sponsored by our community of listeners, along with Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.

Origin Stories is produced by Meredith Johnson and Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.

Shanidar Cave is a unique archaeological site in Kurdistan where scientists found the remains of 10 Neanderthal men, women, and children. Some of these individuals had survived serious injuries, and one seemed to have been buried with flowers beneath his body. The discoveries at Shanidar challenged long-standing ideas of who Neanderthals were and what separates our species from theirs. Now, more than 50 years after the original excavations, scientists have returned to Shanidar to answer lingering questions about the Neanderthals who lived and died there.

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Support Origin Stories with a one-time or monthly donation. Your gift will be matched, and every dollar helps make this show possible. Go to leakeyfoundation.org/originstories to donate.

Links to learn more

The Shanidar Cave Project Ralph Solecki's excavations Ralph S. and Rose L. and Solecki Papers at the Smithsonian Shanidar Z: 75,000-year-old face revealed More about Shanidar Z Shanidar Cave location New Shanidar research on cooking Revisiting the flower burial Shanidar: The First Flower People (pdf of book by Ralph Solecki)

Sponsors

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a donor-supported nonprofit dedicated to funding human origins research and sharing discoveries to advance public understanding of science.

This episode is generously sponsored by Dub and Ginny Crook. Dub and Ginny are long-time Leakey Foundation Fellows who directly support scientific research and science communication projects. They are passionate about human origins research and making science accessible for all. We are deeply grateful for their support.

Are you interested in sponsoring a future episode? Email [email protected] to learn more!

Origin Stories is listener-supported. Additional support comes from Jeanne Newman, the Anne and Gordon Getty Foundation, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.

Credits

This episode was produced and written by Ray Pang and Meredith Johnson. Sound design by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Michael Gallagher helped record the interviews at Cambridge. Our theme music is by Henry Nagle with additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.

2024 was another amazing year in human origins research. In this episode, three Leakey Foundation grantees (and one podcast host) share their picks for the most exciting discoveries of the year.

Support this show and the science we talk about. Your tax-deductible gift to The Leakey Foundation will be quadruple-matched through midnight on December 31! Click here to donate.

Want more science between podcast episodes? Join our monthly newsletter for human origins news and updates from Origin Stories and The Leakey Foundation.

Links to learn more

All research articles are open-access and free to read

On the genetic basis of tail-loss evolution in humans and apes

Why don't humans have tails? Scientists find answers in an unlikely place

Long genetic and social isolation in Neanderthals before their extinction

Meet Thorin: A cave-dwelling population of Neanderthals isolated for 50,000 years

Recurrent evolution and selection shape structural diversity at the amylase locus

How early humans evolved to eat starch

Footprint evidence for locomotor diversity and shared habitats among early Pleistocene hominins

Fossilized footprints reveal two extinct hominin species living side by side 1.5 million years ago

In this episode, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of Lucy, one of the most iconic and important scientific discoveries ever made. Paleoanthropologist Don Johanson tells the story of his early scientific career and the pivotal moment when he discovered 3.2 million-year-old hominin fossils in Ethiopia's Afar region. It's a story that connects us to our deepest roots and shows how one remarkable fossil changed our view of what it means to be human.

Links to learn more:

Lucy and the Taung Child: A Century of Science - from The Leakey Foundation

Institute of Human Origins Lucy 50—A Year for Human Origins

Lucy 50th Anniversary Video Playlist from the Institute of Human Origins

How the Famous Lucy Fossil Revolutionized the Study of Human Origins - Scientific American

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Through December 31 all donations will be quadruple-matched! Donate now to quadruple your impact on human origins science and education. Your tax-deductible donation will be matched 4x!

Click to donate to The Leakey Foundation today!

Sponsors

This episode is generously sponsored by the Leis family in honor of Jorge Leis, who has served on The Leakey Foundation board of trustees since 2017.

Jorge and his siblings grew up in a family where curiosity, exploration, learning, and science were the most valued of human endeavors. His family members are proud of Jorge's dedication to helping keep scientific organizations such as The Leakey Foundation relevant and growing.

Special thanks to Dianne and Joe Leis, Donna, and Art Leis for sponsoring this tribute to Jorge.

Origin Stories is listener-supported. Additional support comes from the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, Jeanne Newman, Camilla Smith, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.

Credits

This episode was produced by Ray Pang and Meredith Johnson, sound design by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Music by Henry Nagle, Blue Dot Sessions, and Lee Roservere.

Are humans the only animals that practice medicine? In this episode, two scientists share surprising observations of orangutans and chimpanzees treating wounds–their own and others'–with plants and insects. These discoveries challenge ideas about uniquely human behaviors and offer insights into animal intelligence, empathy, and the evolutionary roots of medicine.

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and outreach. Sign up for our monthly newsletter to learn more about our work!

Videos

Rakus and his wound

Rakus doing a long call after being wounded

Chimp applying insect to wound

Caroline Schuppli on Lunch Break Science

Links to learn more

SUAQ Orangutan Program

Ozouga Chimpanzees (where Alessandra studies chimpanzee behavior)

Research papers

Active self-treatment of a facial wound with a biologically active plant by a male Sumatran orangutan (open access)

Application of insects to wounds of self and others by chimpanzees in the wild (pdf)

Credits

Origin Stories is a listener-supported show. Additional support comes from Jeanne Newman, , Camilla and George Smith, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.

Origin Stories is produced by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.

Over 50,000 years ago on what is now the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, someone climbed a towering rock formation and painted a mysterious image on a cave ceiling. The painting shows three half-human, half-animal figures and a large wild pig. The image, dated to 51,200 years old, is now the oldest known visual story in the world. In this episode, archaeologist Adam Brumm shares the story of this incredible discovery.

Help make more Origin Stories. We're $3,000 short of our quadruple-match fundraising goal and our deadline is August 31! Please donate today and your gift will be quadruple-matched! Click here to 4x your donation!

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and outreach.

Links to learn more:

• Google Arts and Culture virtual tour of the cave art site
• Narrative cave art in Indonesia by 51,200 years ago Nature, July 2024
• Adam Brumm's website
• Blog post by Adhi Oktaviana

Episode produced by Meredith Johnson and Ray Pang Sound design by Ray Pang Edited by Audrey Quinn

Theme music by Henry Nagle. Ending credit music by Lee Roservere. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Hungry for more science?

Lunch Break Science is The Leakey Foundation's web series featuring short talks and interviews with Leakey Foundation grantees. Episodes stream on the third Thursday of every month.

Click here to watch!

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 Wragg Sykes' new book Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Art, and Death synthesizes more than a century of research on Neanderthals – from the first Neanderthal fossil discovered, to the most up to date and cutting edge research - revealing a vivid portrait of one of our most intriguing and misunderstood relatives.

Links

• Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death, and Art by Rebecca Wragg Sykes
• Rebecca Wragg Sykes' website
• Kindred bibliography with 61 pages of Neanderthal research papers
• Leakey Foundation grantee Carolina Mallol's Neanderthal Fire Project

The Leakey Foundation

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and outreach.

Support The Leakey Foundation

Support this show and the science we talk about. leakeyfoundation.org/donate