Unravelling the 6-million-year-long story of where we came from is a tricky business because palaeontologists have to rely on scarce, precious fossil remains that are hard to access and even harder to find in the first place. And there's a limit to what pieces of bone and teeth can reveal about our ancestors. But, occasionally, serendipity affords us a special glimpse into our past like it did in Laetoli, Tanzania, where a nearby erupting volcano captured the footsteps millions of years ago of a group of Australopithecines. In episode 34 of the eLife Podcast we heard from University of Perugia... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

In this episode of the eLife podcast we hear about fossil footprints, taking medical research to the clinic, sleepy flies, team-working ants and diversity in science. Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

In this episode of the eLife podcast we hear about the first heartbeat, African sleeping sickness, elephant genetics, the rubber hand illusion and women in science. Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

In this episode of the eLife podcast we hear about ancient proteins, aging mice, mosquito nets, resourceful plants and cocktail party conversations. Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

In this episode of the eLife podcast we hear about human height, fish joints, colour vision, chimpanzees using tools and open science. Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

In this episode of the eLife podcast we hear about drug production, early career researchers, honeybees, human migrations and pain. Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

In this episode of the eLife podcast we hear about parasitic worms, dog tumours, epilepsy, DNA sequencing classes and social behaviour in mice. Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

In this episode of the eLife podcast we hear about aging, artificial fingertips, ancient DNA, antibiotic resistance and dengue fever. Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

In this episode of the eLife podcast we hear about midnight snacking, X-ray imaging of fossils, hummingbirds, monkeys gambling and axolotls regenerating... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website

Heat-seeking behaviour in mosquitoes, mass spawning in coral reefs, social organization in ants, fear in rats and tissue regeneration in newts go under the microscope in Episode 26 of the eLife Podcast... Get the references and the transcripts for this programme from the Naked Scientists website