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.

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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