Origin Stories

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 Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Stacy Rosenbaum, and Amy Scott explore how our species' approach to motherhood may hold the key to some of the most important traits that set us apart from other mammals.

Links to learn more:

• Sarah Blaffer Hrdy - Childrearing in Evolution (video)
• Sarah Blaffer Hrdy - Mothers and Others (article)
• Citrona Walnut Farm
• Grantee Spotlight: Amy Scott
• Stacey Rosenbaum - Gorilla group structure
• Stacey Rosenbaum - Gorillas, humans, and early life adversity
• The Birth Bliss Academy

Support Origin Stories

Origin Stories needs your support. Your donation helps bring the untold stories and latest research in human evolution to thousands of curious minds worldwide. Your gift, no matter the amount, makes a big difference! Click here to support the show.

Credits:

This episode was produced by Leo Hornak. Sound design by Ray Pang. Host and executive producer, Meredith Johnson. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Recording assistance Catherine Monahon. Theme music by Henry Nagle, additional music by Lee Roservere and Blue Dot Sessions.

Sponsors:

Dana LaJoie and Bill Richards, Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.

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 the past 80,000 years or so. Importantly, the site is helping researchers piece together the story of how humans adapted to rapidly shifting climates in the past.

Origin Stories producer Ray Pang interviews Leakey Foundation grantee Justin Pargeter, an archaeologist and professor at NYU about his work at the site, the history and importance of the cave, and why African-led research is critical for the future of science.

Links to learn more:

• Justin Pargeter, NYU
• Drone tour of the Boomplaas Cave area
• Human Origins Migration and Evolution Research Group (HOMER)
• Joan Cogswell Donner Field School Scholarship
• Boomplaas Cave (Wikipedia)
• New ages from Boomplaas Cave, South Africa, provide increased resolution on late/terminal Pleistocene human behavioural variability

Support Origin Stories

Origin Stories needs your support. Your donation helps bring the untold stories and latest research in human evolution to thousands of curious minds worldwide. Your gift, no matter the amount, makes a big difference! Click here to support the show.

Credits:

This episode was produced by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle, additional music by Lee Roservere.

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 a candid look at the joys, thrills, and challenges of archaeological fieldwork.

Thanks to Justin Pargeter, Monique Niekerk, Asi Ntsodwa, Bacara Spruit, and all the students at Boomplaas Cave field school.

Learn more:

• Justin Pargeter, NYU
• Drone tour of the Boomplaas Cave area
• Human Origins Migration and Evolution Research Group (HOMER)
• Joan Cogswell Donner Field School Scholarship
• Boomplaas Cave (Wikipedia)
• New ages from Boomplaas Cave, South Africa, provide increased resolution on late/terminal Pleistocene human behavioural variability

Credits:

Produced by Ray Pang, Meredith Johnson, and Taylor Cook. Sound design by Ray Pang. Edited by Audrey Quinn

Support the show:

Love Origin Stories? Here's your chance to double the impact! Every dollar you donate helps us explore and explain our shared human origins, and right now, every donation will be matched! Click here to donate!

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 his life.

Links:

From the Field: Matt Tocheri Homo floresiensis Can rat bones solve an island mystery?

Love Origin Stories? Here's your chance to double the impact! Every dollar you donate helps us explore and explain our shared human origins, and right now, every donation will be matched! Click here to donate!

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 it can tell us about extinctions happening now.

Learn more:

• Where Giants Roamed

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and outreach. Click here to support this show and the science we talk about. Your donation will be matched by Jeanne Newman.

This episode was generously sponsored by Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.

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

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 sound designed by Ray Pang, and edited by Audrey Quinn.

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

Links:

Burn by Herman Pontzer, PhD

Pontzer Lab

The energetics of uniquely human subsistence strategies

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 improve the future of medicine. In this episode, four Leakey Foundation scientists shared their favorite human evolution discoveries from the past year.

Our guests

• Carol Ward, University of Missouri
• Sofia Samper Carro, Australian National University
• Kevin Hatala, Chatham University
• Megan Henriquez, City University of New York

Links to learn more

• Evolutionary loss of complexity in human vocal anatomy as an adaptation for speech
• When less is more in the evolution of language
• The face of the first European found in Atapuerca
• Europe's oldest fossil named after Pink Floyd
• Meet the first Neanderthal family
• Genetic insights into the social organization of Neanderthals
• Population genetics study of Strongyloides fuelleborni

The Leakey Foundation

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing human origins research and outreach. Want to support the show? Your donation will be matched by Leakey Foundation President Jeanne Newman who is matching up to $5,000 in gifts from Origin Stories listeners. Every dollar helps! leakeyfoundation.org/originstories23

Sponsors and credits

This episode was generously sponsored by Diana McSherry and Pat Poe. Origin Stories is also sponsored by Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, Camilla and George Smith, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund. Thanks as well to the Benevity Community Impact Fund for their support of the show.

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.

Join us for these events

February 8, 6 pm Pacific - Where is the love?: Secrets of Chimpanzee Relationships - click to register

February 16, 11 am Pacific - Lunch Break Science with Tom Plummer - click to watch

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!

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 understanding of how hominins moved and interacted.

ThanksThanks to Dr. Ellison McNutt and Dr. Charles Musiba for sharing their work.

Survey and Discovering Us giveaway Click here to take our short audience survey, and you could win one of three free copies of Discovering Us: 50 Great Discoveries in Human Origins by Evan Hadingham.

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and educational outreach. Support this show and the science we talk about. Your donations will be matched by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.

leakeyfoundation.org/donate

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

leakeyfoundation.org/live

This episode was produced and sound designed by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.

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 of Leakey Foundation researchers. Want to win your own copy of the book? Take our listener survey for a chance to win one of three giveaway copies! Discovering Us is also available for sale anywhere you buy books, but when you buy it through bookshop.org, 10% of the proceeds go to support our work. Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and outreach. Support this show and the science we talk about. Your donations will be matched by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.

leakeyfoundation.org/donate

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

leakeyfoundation.org/live

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