AnthroBiology Podcast

Dr. Stacey Tecot of the University of Arizona joins the show to talk about her research on lemurs, their endocrinology and what their hormones can tell us about allomaternal care -- the care provided to young by any individuals who are not the mother. We also talk about methods and living in the field.

Recommendations

Dr. Stacey Tecot's staff profile at University of Arizona
Dr. Tecot's personal website
LEEP lab website
Nelson, R.J. (2022). An Introduction to Behavioral Endocrinology (6th edition). Oxford University Press.
Hofer, H., & East, M. L. (1998). Biological conservation and stress. In A. P. Møller, M. Milinski, & P. J. B. Slater (Eds.), Advances in the study of behavior, Vol. 27, pp. 405–525). Academic Press.
Wright P. C. (1999). Lemur traits and Madagascar ecology: coping with an island environment. American journal of physical anthropology, Suppl 29, 31–72. https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1096-8644(1999)110:29+3.0.co;2-0
Sapolsky, R.M. (2002). A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons. Scribner Book Company.
Hrdy, S.B. (2011). Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding. Belknap Press.
Hrdy, S.B. (2024). Father Time: A Natural History of Men and Babies. Princeton University Press.
Ellison, P.T. (2003). On Fertile Ground: A Natural History of Human Reproduction. Harvard University Press.
Eds. Ellison, P.T. & Gray, P.B. (2012). Endocrinology of Social Relatioships. Harvard University Press.
Dr. Christine Drea's personal website
Dr. Drea's Google Scholar
Dr. Drea's AnthroBiology episode (Opens on the janky podcast host site. Also available on Apple and Spotify)
Cooke, L. (2022). Bitch: On the Female of the Species. Basic Books.
Canelos, A. (2022). The Neotenic Queen: Tales of Sex and Survival in the Sonoran Desert. Neotenic Press.
Taskmaster (TV show)

Dr. Briana Pobiner of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's Human Origins Program joins the show to talk about cut marks. She discusses how we can tell what's a cut mark vs. other bone damage and how cut marks can illuminate human evolution along with illustrating migration and behavioral patterns in the distant past.
Recommendations
Dr. Pobiner's NMNH staff profile
Dr. Pobiner's Google Scholar profile
W.A. Barr, B. Pobiner, J. Rowan, A. Du, & J.T. Faith. (2022). No sustained increase in zooarchaeological evidence for carnivory after the appearance of Homo erectus, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 119 (5) e2115540119, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2115540119.
Keevil TL, Pelissero AJ, Negash T, Orlikoff ER, Osborne I, Tolley AM, Pobiner B and Pante MC. (2026). A comparative bone surface modification database for revealing the origins and evolution of human carnivory. Front. Ecol. Evol. 14:1681814. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2026.1681814
Pobiner, B., Pante, M. & Keevil, T. (2023). Early Pleistocene cut marked hominin fossil from Koobi Fora, Kenya. Sci Rep 13, 9896. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-35702-7
Egeland, C., Pobiner, B., Merritt, S., & Kunitz, S. (2024). Actualistic butchery studies in zooarchaeology: Where we've been, where we are now, and where we want to go. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. 73. 10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101565.
Curran, S.C., Drăgușin, V., Pobiner, B. et al. Hominin presence in Eurasia by at least 1.95 million years ago. Nat Commun 16, 836 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56154-9
Pobiner, B., Curran, S., and Drãgușin, V. (2025). Tiny cut marks on animal bone fossils reveal that human ancestors were in Romania 1.95 million years ago. The Conversation. https://doi.org/10.64628/AAI.vxf9wp6jy
Pobiner, B. (2016). Meat-Eating Among the Earliest Humans. American Scientist. 104 (2).
The Bear (TV show)
Miller, L. (2021). Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life. Simon & Schuster.

Dr. Christiane Baigent of Colorado Mesa University runs the Forensic Investigation Resource Station (FIRS), which is the highest body farm in the world. We talk about how bodies decompose at high altitude and how it can differ from decomp at lower altitude. Dr. Baigent also shares some of the behind-the-scenes of running a body farm.

Recommendations

Dr. Baigent's faculty profile at Colorado Mesa University
Forensic Investigation Resource Station (FIRS) website
American Academy of Forensic Sciences website
Baigent, C. (2024). The effect of altitude on decomposition: Toward an understanding of the postmortem interval in the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado [Doctoral dissertation, Southern Illinois University - Carbondale]. OpenSIUC. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations/2198/
Hansen, E.S., Baigent, C., Reck, S.I. and Connor, M. (2018). Bioelectrical Impedance as a Technique for Estimating Postmortem Interval. J Forensic Sci, 63: 1186-1190. https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.13695
Bailey, C. A., Lennartz, A. N., Klemm, M. M., Matheson, C. A., Unger, C. A., & George, R. L. (2025). Assessing Patterns of Moisture Content in Decomposing, Desiccated, and Mummified Tissue in Western North Carolina. Forensic Sciences, 5(4), 73. https://doi.org/10.3390/forensicsci5040073
Connor, M., Baigent, C. and Hansen, E.S. (2019), Measuring Desiccation Using Qualitative Changes: A Step Toward Determining Regional Decomposition Sequences. J Forensic Sci, 64: 1004-1011. https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.14003
Baigent C, Agan C, Connor M, Hansen ES. Autopsy as a form of evisceration: Implications for decomposition rate, pattern, and estimation of postmortem interval. Forensic Sci Int. 2020 Jan;306:110068. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2019.110068. Epub 2019 Nov 19. PMID: 31816485.
Garcia, S., Smith, A., Baigent, C. and Connor, M. (2020). The Scavenging Patterns of Feral Cats on Human Remains in an Outdoor Setting. J Forensic Sci, 65: 948-952. https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.14238
Eds. Haglund, W. and Sorg, M. (1996). Forensic taphonomy: The postmortem fate of human remains. CRC Press.
Eds. Haglund, W. and Sorg, M. (2001). Advances in forensic taphonomy: Method, theory, and archaeological perspectives. CRC Press.
Eds. Ellingham, S., Adserias-Garcia, J., and Zapico, S. (2023). Burnt human remains: Recovery, analysis, and interpretation. Wiley.
Alexander, M. (2020). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The New Press.
Stevenson, B. (2015). Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. One World.
Derby, S. (2021). Sisters in Hate: American Women and White Extremism. Little, Brown.

Dr. Raquel Fleskes of Dartmouth joins the show to talk about her work using ancient DNA to uncover the past in the Tidewater and South Carolina. Most people think about ancient DNA being used for, well, ancient skeletons, but ancient DNA can also be used in more recent contexts to illuminate the near past. We also chatted about ways to make ancient DNA work more accessible to descendent communities.

Recommendations

Dr. Fleske's lab page
Dr. Fleske's staff profile at Dartmouth
Dr. Fleske's Google Scholar page
Jamestown Rediscovery website
Fleskes, R. E., H. M. Palacios, H. Budner, et al. (2025). "Archaeogenomic Analysis of Nineteenth-Century Burials at Saint Mary's Basilica: An Intersectional Analysis of Religion, Race, and Migration." Am J Biol Anthropol, 187, no. 4: e70110. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.70110.
Masur, L., Fleskes, R., Schurr, T., Brown, D., Harpole, T., Pollard, P., Alukonis, L., Horsley, T., et al. (2025). "Let Perpetual Light Shine upon Them": Forgetting and Remembering Segregated Catholic Cemeteries." American Antiquity. 91. 1-24. 10.1017/aaq.2025.10103.
Fleskes, R.E., Gilmore, J.K., Oubré, L.S., Ofunniyin, A.A., Cabana, G.S. and Schurr, T.G. (2025). "Immersive Videography of Ancient DNA Extraction for Community Engagement and Educational Initiatives by the Anson Street African Burial Ground Project." Am J Biol Anthropol, 186: e25055. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.25055
Fleskes, R.E., Johnson, S.J., Honap, T.P. et al. (2024). "Oral microbial diversity in 18th century African individuals from South Carolina." Commun Biol 7, 1213. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06893-0
R.E. Fleskes, G.S. Cabana, J.K. Gilmore, C. Juarez, E. Karcher, L. Oubré, G. Mishoe, A.A. Ofunniyin, & T.G. Schurr. (2023). "Community-engaged ancient DNA project reveals diverse origins of 18th-century African descendants in Charleston, South Carolina." Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 120 (3) e2201620120, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2201620120.
Fleskes, R.E., Johnson, S.J., Honap, T.P. et al. (2024). "Oral microbial diversity in 18th century African individuals from South Carolina." Commun Biol 7, 1213. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06893-0.
Raquel E. Fleskes, Alyssa C. Bader, Krystal S. Tsosie, Jennifer K. Wagner, Katrina G. Claw, Nanibaa' A. Garrison. (2022). "Ethical Guidance in Human Paleogenomics: New and Ongoing Perspectives." Annual Review Genomics and Human Genetics. 23:627-652. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-genom-120621-090239
Fleskes RE, Ofunniyin AA, Gilmore JK, et al. (2021). "Ancestry, health, and lived experiences of enslaved Africans in 18th century Charleston: An osteobiographical analysis." Am J Phys Anthropol.175:3–24. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24149
Källén, A. (2025). The Trouble with Ancient DNA: Telling Stories of the Past with Genomic Science. University of Chicago Press.
The X-Files
Scooby-Doo

Dr. Andrew Best of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts joined the show to talk about sweat -- what it is, when we do it, how we vary, and why it makes humans different from most other animals.

Recommendations

Dr. Best's faculty profile at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
Dr. Best Google scholar profile
My Sport Science from Asker Jeukendrup (website)
Asker Jeukendrup (instagram)
Gatorade Sports Science Institute
Everts, S. (2021). The Joy of Sweat: The Strange Science of Perspiration. W.W. Norton & Company.
Galloway, S. (2025). Notes on Being a Man. Simon & Schuster.