Science Update: The Science Radio News Feature of the AAAS

Topic: Anthropology

April 6, 2013	Podcast for 5 April 2013 - LESSONS FROM THE DEAD - Scientists attempt to bring back an extinct frog. Mummies showing signs of heart disease make researchers rethink assumptions about lifestyle and diet. The mysterious death zone within African "fairy circles" explained. Also: a miniature laboratory under the skin monitors blood chemistry.
April 1, 2013	Mummy Heart Disease - Mummies from a variety of different cultures show signs of heart disease.
March 5, 2013	Alcohol Origins - Did our ability to digest alcohol first emerge at the dawn of civilization or millions of years earlier?
March 1, 2013	Dental Roundup - Ancient people had beneficial bacteria to fight dental plaque that is absent in modern populations.
February 20, 2013	Hard Labor - Other people help human mothers through the emotional and physical aspects of the birth process, which help decrease the risks of childbirth. But apes have easy births, and prefer to go it alone.
February 16, 2013	Hard Labor – 2013 AAAS Annual Meeting Coverage - Other people help human mothers through the emotional and physical aspects of the birth process, which help decrease the risks of childbirth. But apes have easy births, and prefer to go it alone.
January 14, 2013	Neolithic Woodworking - The discovery of ancient wooden wells in Germany reveals that Neolithic woodworking was more sophisticated than previously believed.
January 9, 2013	Tree-Climbing People - The Twa people of Uganda climb trees with ease. A new study suggests that the trait may be the result of practical necessity.
December 5, 2012	Climate Change & The Maya - Climate change may have unraveled the sophisticated Maya empire.
November 30, 2012	Podcast for 30 November 2012 - CHILD DEVELOPMENT - Are kids naturally stingy? Why children's self-control could depend on the adults around them. And why math anxiety "hurts". Also: What monsters from Dungeons & Dragons can tell us about the importance of eyes.
November 19, 2012	Digitizing Ancient Texts - Sophisticated computer imaging may help decode the world's oldest un-deciphered written language.
November 16, 2012	Podcast for 16 November 2012 - BIRDS, BUTTERFLIES & BEETLES - How radar helped solve a migration mystery, why malaria could be heading north, and how dung beetles cool themselves off. Also: a 21st century technology that's helping archaeologists crack an ancient code.
	Autism Roundup - The incidence of autism has increased in recent years, and so have efforts to identify and treat it earlier.
November 13, 2012	Eyes vs. Faces - Monsters from the role playing game “Dungeons & Dragons” help reveal what’s most important to us.
November 9, 2012	Podcast for 9 November 2012 - SURVIVAL - Why female Komodo dragons die young, a whale that sounded like a person, and algae that flee their predators. Also: how the brain's insulation differs between us and chimpanzees, and why that insulation is so important to social development.
	Evolution Roundup - Evidence suggests that an ancestor of modern humans both walked upright and climbed trees.
October 16, 2012	Long-lived Eunuchs - Over several centuries in Imperial Korea, eunuchs far outlived their non-castrated counterparts.
September 7, 2012	Podcast for 7 September 2012 - MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS - A new drug that could block heroin addiction, how mice could speed up AIDS research, and why we're more prone to cancer than our closest living relatives. Also: the two brain chemicals behind sleep paralysis.
August 13, 2012	Hunter-Gatherer Metabolism - People living as hunter-gatherers burn roughly as many calories per day as those in industrialized countries.
July 5, 2012	Dairy Detectives - Traces of milk fat in pottery confirm that prehistoric North Africans practiced dairy farming.
June 8, 2012	Podcast for 8 June 2012 - The link between touch and hearing. And, why bilinguals hear better in noisy environments. Also: new brain research could illuminate why we’re willing to share so much personal information on social networking sites. And, how much money would it take for you to give someone an electric shock? The answer may surprise you.
May 28, 2012	Self-Disclosure - How the brain's reward system makes sharing personal information on social media so compelling.
May 22, 2012	Biodiversity, Allergies & Asthma - People who live around fewer varieties of plants, and whose skin carries fewer kinds of bacteria, are more likely to have allergies.
May 21, 2012	Money vs. Morals - What would you do if given enough money?
May 14, 2012	Sizing Up Weapons - People think others are larger and stronger if they’re holding a weapon in their hands.
April 27, 2012	Chilly Relationships Roundup - Social anxiety can affect how you sense temperature.
April 20, 2012	Podcast for 20 April 2012 - SOUND SCIENCE - Can sounds influence dreams? Emotional similarities between music and speech. Does a deeper voice lead people to vote for a political candidate? Baboons that recognize words. And baby goats with accents.
March 26, 2012	Australian Extinction - Human hunters drove Australia’s largest animals to extinction around 40,000 years ago.
March 23, 2012	Podcast for 23 March 2012 - EVOLUTION & EXTINCTION - What really happened to Australia's missing megafauna, how carnivores lost their sweet tooth, why lovelorn fruit flies resort to alcohol, strategic miscarriages in monkeys, and a new frog species is discovered in plain sight.
March 16, 2012	Podcast for 16 March 2012 - SCIENCE OF SOCIETY - Do wealthier people tend to have fewer scruples? The social costs of mass incarceration. Seeing-eye smartphones for the blind. And, new evidence calls an accepted tenet of science into question. Also: how to make plastic from plants.
March 13, 2012	Ethics & Social Class - The higher your socioeconomic status, the more prone you may be to unethical behavior.
March 9, 2012	Podcast for 9 March 2012 - NEW MEDICINE - A rare mutation that protects people from diabetes and cancer. How the pancreas "tastes" sugar. And a new implantable microchip that delivers an osteoporosis drug. Also: chimpanzees may yawn for the same reason humans do.
March 5, 2012	Contagious Yawns - Both humans and chimpanzees can’t resist the urge to yawn when others do.
February 29, 2012	Language Delays - Screening criteria for language delays in children depend on the culture.
February 23, 2012	Endangered Voices - Digital technology and social media are helping save endangered languages.
February 10, 2012	Politics Roundup - Research suggests that conservatives pay more attention to unpleasant images and liberals, to pleasant ones.
February 8, 2012	Sex Ratio & Spending - The perception that women are scarce may make men less careful with their money.
January 26, 2012	A Dog’s Eye View of People - One key to our successful long-term relationship with dogs may lie in the eyes.
January 25, 2012	Kinder, Gentler Monkeys - Rhesus macaque monkeys become kinder after inhaling the hormone oxytocin.
January 20, 2012	Podcast for 20 January 2012 - ANIMALS & PEOPLE - Levitating flies, what dogs and babies have in common, how oxytocin makes kinder, gentler monkeys, a fish that mimics an octopus that mimics a fish, and how bats hear with both sides of the brain.
January 11, 2012	Sounds & Colors - Like humans, chimpanzees associate high-pitched sounds with bright colors and low-pitched sounds with dark colors.
January 6, 2012	Calendar Roundup - Researchers say they’ve developed a better calendar.
January 2, 2012	The Oldest Oldies - Some of the first sound recordings ever made are finally being heard again.
November 22, 2011	Cooking Up Evolution - Scientists have new evidence that cooking influenced human evolution.
November 7, 2011	Neanderthal Legs - Scientists have figured out how Neanderthals got by with short legs.
October 6, 2011	Twitter Mood - Sociologists analyzed Twitter posts to track daily and seasonal mood swings around the world.
September 30, 2011	Podcast for 30 September 2011 - HORMONES & BEHAVIOR - Testosterone and fatherhood, the genetics of oxytocin and depression, gender and spatial reasoning revisited, where taste is found in the brain, and more.
September 28, 2011	Testosterone & Fatherhood - Men's testosterone levels drop significantly when they become fathers.
September 15, 2011	Sex & Spatial Thinking - Gender differences in spatial reasoning abilities may be strongly influenced by culture.
September 2, 2011	Ancient Food Roundup - Lager beers have been around for about 500 years, thanks to the meeting of yeasts from the Old and New World.