The Shanidar Cave Neanderthals
Origin Stories
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. Double your impact Support Origin...
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Top Human Origins Discoveries of 2024
Origin Stories
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! . Want more science between podcast episodes? Join our monthly newsletter for human origins . Links to learn more All research articles are open-access and free to read
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Lucy
Origin Stories
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: - from The Leakey Foundation from the Institute of Human Origins Quadruple your impact: Through December 31...
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Ape Medicine
Origin Stories
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. to learn more about our work! Videos Links to learn more (where Alessandra...
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The First Story
Origin Stories
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...
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Understanding Neanderthals
Origin Stories
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 by...
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The Story of Human Hair
Origin Stories
Why do humans have most of our hair on our heads, not our bodies? Why do we have so many varieties of hair color, thickness, and curliness? Dr. Tina Lasisi is a biological anthropologist whose work explores these evolutionary mysteries. In this episode, she shares her research into why humans have scalp hair as well as her insights on why curly hair is uniquely human. Links to learn more: - research paper Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to human origins research and education. Donate to support the show. Your gift will...
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The Musical Ape
Origin Stories
Music is universal in all human cultures, but why? What gives us the ability to hear sound as music? Are we the only musical species–or was Darwin right when he said every animal with a backbone should be able to perceive, if not enjoy music? Professor Henkjan Honing is on a mission to find out. Learn more - Henkjan Honing lecture - beat perception study Support the show All monthly or one-time donations will be quadruple-matched! to turn $10 into $40 or $25 into $100! Credits This episode was written and produced by Ray Pang and Meredith Johnson. Sound design, mixing, and...
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Custodian of the Ancestors
Origin Stories
What is it like to be responsible for the safekeeping of the ancestors of everyone in the world? In this episode, we travel to the National Museum of Ethiopia to see our most famous fossil relative – Lucy – and meet Yared Assefa, the person who takes care of her and all of our Ethiopian fossil ancestors and relatives. If you love fossils, you won't want to miss this episode! Special thanks Thanks to Yared Assefa, Dr. Berhane Asfaw, and Dr. Mulugeta Feseha, who hosted The Leakey Foundation at the National Museum of Ethiopia. Quadruple your impact! Support the show! Your donation will...
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A Brief History of Bling
Origin Stories
Travel through 50,000 years of human history following clues hidden inside beads made from ostrich eggshells. In this episode, researchers Jennifer Miller and Yiming Wang share how these tiny artifacts reveal a sweeping story of ancient social networks, cultural connections, and human adaptability. Support the show Help us make more episodes! All tax-deductible donations to Origin Stories will be quadruple-matched! . Guests Links to learn more (Wikipedia) Sponsors and credits This episode was generously sponsored by Leakey Foundation Fellow Eddie Kislinger in honor of his...
info_outlineMusic is universal in all human cultures, but why? What gives us the ability to hear sound as music? Are we the only musical species–or was Darwin right when he said every animal with a backbone should be able to perceive, if not enjoy music? Professor Henkjan Honing is on a mission to find out.
Learn more
- Henkjan Honing's website
- Music Cognition Group Blog
- The Evolving Animal Orchestra - Henkjan Honing
- What makes us musical animals - Henkjan Honing lecture
- Henkjan Honing TedX Amsterdam
- Snowball dancing to the Backstreet Boys
- Ronan the sea lion
- Songs to make the forest happy
- It turns out we were born to groove - beat perception study
Support the show
All monthly or one-time donations will be quadruple-matched! Click here to turn $10 into $40 or $25 into $100!
Credits
This episode was written and produced by Ray Pang and Meredith Johnson. Sound design, mixing, and scoring by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle, additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.
This episode uses many sounds from Freesound.org, including:
Neon Dreams: A Retro-Futuristic Synthwave Track - Instrument 02 by Robbnix - License: Attribution 4.0
Music Box, Happy Birthday.wav - by InspectorJ - License: Attribution 4.0