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Dr. Habiba Chirchir - Why did humans evolve to have less robust skeletons?

AnthroBiology Podcast

Release Date: 07/31/2025

Dr. Brian Villmoare – Using teeth to help fill in the blanks of human evolution show art Dr. Brian Villmoare – Using teeth to help fill in the blanks of human evolution

AnthroBiology Podcast

Dr. Brian Villmoare of the University of Nevada - Las Vegas shares how his team found teeth in Ethiopia and what those teeth might mean in terms of who was around when in the evolutionary record. Recommendations Villmoare, B., Delezene, L.K., Rector, A.L. et al. . Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09390-4 Kalb, J. (2013). . Copernicus. Wood, B. (2019). . Oxford University Press. [<- This is what I was talking about when I mentioned an intro to human evolution from Cambridge.] + Jablonka, E. & Lamb, M.J. (2014). . Bradford Book. ...

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AnthroBiology Podcast

Keri Porter, a PhD candidate at Notre Dame University, joins the show to discuss their research on patterns of violence in a Bronze Age urban center in the Southern Levant. They focus on cranial trauma and what it can reveal about humans attempting to live together along with what it might reveal about who suffers violence. They also share some excellent recommendations for how to think about grad school, whether or not to go, and tips for applying. Recommendations Martin, D.L., Harrod, R.P., & Pérez, V.R. (Eds.) (2013). . University Press of Florida. Regev J, De Miroschedji P,...

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AnthroBiology Podcast

Dr. Maria Nieves-Cólon and Jamie Zolik join the show to discuss their ancient DNA research in San Luis de Cañete and what it can reveal about the historical population of the town specifically and the African diaspora in South America generally. They share some of the exciting ways they've forged a partnership with the community in order to carry out the work as ethically as possible. Recommendations Nieves-Colón MA, Ulrich EC, Chen L, Torres Colón GA, Rivera Clemente M, Corporación Piñones se Integra (COPI), Benn Torres J. . American Journal of Biological...

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AnthroBiology Podcast

Dr. Eric Shattuck of Florida State University joins the show to discuss his research on sickness behavior. He wants to know how humans tend to act when they get sick and why they act that way. Recommendations Shattuck, E.C. and Muehlenbein, M.P. (2015), . Am. J. Phys. Anthropol., 157: 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22698 Shattuck, EC. (2021). . Brain Behav Immun Health. 18:100367. doi: 10.1016/j.bbih.2021.100367. PMID: 34761241; PMCID: PMC8566934. Stockmaier S, Stroeymeyt N, Shattuck EC, Hawley DM, Meyers LA, Bolnick DI. . Science. 2021 Mar 5;371(6533):eabc8881....

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AnthroBiology Podcast

Summary Dr. Erin Blankenship-Sefczek of Creighton University joins the show to discuss her research examining the connection between developmental stress and accessory cusps in teeth. Her work focuses on the placement and appearance of extra cusps that occur with greater frequency among individuals who have suffered stress during key developmental periods in their lives. Recommendations Blankenship-Sefczek EC, Goodman AH, Hubbe M, Hunter JP, Guatelli-Steinberg D (2024) . PLOS ONE 19(6): e0305123.  Bailey SE, Hublin J-J. [links to pdf of chapter] In:...

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AnthroBiology Podcast

Dr. Samantha Yaussy of James Madison University joins the show to discuss her research on the how sex, socioeconomic status, and developmental stress and the intersectionality therein might interact to affect health outcomes in the past via the lens of frailty in skeletal remains primarily from medieval London. In this episode, we talked about the skeletal markers of frailty in human remains, understanding bias in research and samples, and intersectionality. As part of this, Dr. Yaussy highlighted the morbidity-mortality paradox -- women in modern contexts typically have worse health but...

info_outline Dr. Habiba Chirchir - Why did humans evolve to have less robust skeletons? show art Dr. Habiba Chirchir - Why did humans evolve to have less robust skeletons?

AnthroBiology Podcast

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. ------------------ Note: Apparently I got confused with . 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 and based...

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AnthroBiology Podcast

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. Books, articles, and media mentioned in this episode + helpful sites and articles: Eric Guiry et al., . Scientific Advancements. 10, eadm6755(2024). DOI: Yu, H., Jamieson, A.,...

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AnthroBiology Podcast

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. Books, articles, and media mentioned in this episode + helpful sites and articles: Erlich, H. (2023). . Oxford University Press. Ed. H Erlich, E Stover, TJ...

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AnthroBiology Podcast

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. Books, articles, and media mentioned in this episode + helpful sites and articles: Schmitt, C., Service, S., Jasinska, A. et al. . Int J Obes 42, 765–774 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2017.301 Carrey, N. (2011). . Stearns, S.C. (1992). . Oxford...

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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.

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