Orangutan Resilience
Orangutans may be more resilient to human disturbance than once thought.
North American Dogs
What happened to ancient American dogs, and where did they come from in the first place?
Starbucks Culture
Customers at Starbucks in China show behavioral traits of their agrarian past.
Prehistoric Sloth Hunting
Footprints reveal an encounter between human hunters and the now extinct giant ground sloth.
Neanderthal Dental Plaque
Dental plaque from ancient Neanderthals reveals that they used herbal remedies.
Neanderthal Art
Sophisticated cave art in Spain may be the work of Neanderthals.
Human DNA in Sediment
Scientists develop a new technique for finding ancient DNA in rock sediments.
Peak Randomness
Mathematically random behavior in humans peaks at the quarter-century mark.
Historical Smell Mismatch
The mismatch between the smells in the environment we evolved in and the one we live in today could impact our health.
Neanderthal Dental Plaque
Dental plaque from ancient Neanderthals reveals that they used herbal remedies.
Ancient Egyptian Prosthetics
Artificial toes from ancient Egypt may have been functional prosthetics.
Scary Monsters
A listener wonders why we fear irrational things when there are plenty of real threats out there.
Right-Handed Fossil
Analysis of a nearly two million-year-old jaw fossil from east Africa reveals clues to the evolution of the human brain.
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.
Neolithic Woodworking
The discovery of ancient wooden wells in Germany reveals that Neolithic woodworking was more sophisticated than previously believed.
Smoke Resistance
A random mutation allowed our ancestors to stay relatively healthy despite exposure to toxic woodfire smoke.
Monkey Archaeology
Scientists find evidence of monkey tool use dating back seven centuries.
Ancient Florida
New evidence confirms that a prehistoric archaeological site in Florida is one of the continent’s oldest.
Neandertal Legacy
Neandertals contributed to genetic risk factors for some of today’s health problems and even mood disorders in people of European and Asian descent.
Neanderthal Inheritance
Did modern humans inherit allergies from Neanderthals?
Science Breakthroughs of 2015: Kennewick Man’s DNA
Science Breakthroughs of 2015: Kennewick Man’s 8,500-year-old bones are finally sequenced, revealing his genetic ancestry.
Science Breakthroughs of 2015: Homo Naledi
Science Breakthroughs of 2015: The discovery of an extinct human species in a South African cave made headlines this year.
Paleo Sleep
Ancient peoples' sleep might not have been much different than our own.