Origin Stories The Leakey Foundation

In this episode, we explore the fascinating tale of the Hobbit, an unexpected fossil find that shook the world's understanding of human evolution. Join researcher Matt Tocheri as he shares how this tiny hominin revolutionized the human story and transformed his life. 
Links:
From the Field: Matt Tocheri
Homo floresiensis
Can rat bones solve an island mystery?
 
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Dr. Kira Westaway is part of an international research team working to solve the mystery of Gigantopithecus, the largest ape that ever walked the earth. In this episode, we explore how this massive primate lived, why it disappeared, and what it can tell us about extinctions happening now. 
Learn more:
Where Giants Roamed Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and outreach.

Click here to support this show and the science we talk about. Your donation will be matched by Jeanne Newman.
This episode was generously sponsored by Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund. 
Origin Stories is produced and sound designed by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.
 
 

How do human bodies use energy? In this episode, Leakey Foundation grantee Dr. Herman Pontzer shares groundbreaking research that upends our understanding of metabolism, calories, and the history of our species. 
Origin Stories is hosted by Meredith Johnson, produced and sound designed by Ray Pang, and edited by Audrey Quinn.
Support this show and the science we talk about. leakeyfoundation.org/donate 
Links:
Burn by Herman Pontzer, PhD
Pontzer Lab
The energetics of uniquely human subsistence strategies
 

2022 was another exciting year in human origins research! New fossil discoveries and ancient DNA research expanded our understanding of the past. We learned something surprising about the evolution of human speech, and new methodologies and showed promising potential to improve the future of medicine. In this episode, four Leakey Foundation scientists shared their favorite human evolution discoveries from the past year.
Our guests
Carol Ward, University of Missouri Sofia Samper Carro, Australian National University Kevin Hatala, Chatham University Megan Henriquez, City University of New York Links to learn more
Evolutionary loss of complexity in human vocal anatomy as an adaptation for speech When less is more in the evolution of language The face of the first European found in Atapuerca Europe's oldest fossil named after Pink Floyd Meet the first Neanderthal family Genetic insights into the social organization of Neanderthals Population genetics study of Strongyloides fuelleborni  The Leakey Foundation
Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing human origins research and outreach.

Want to support the show? Your donation will be matched by Leakey Foundation President Jeanne Newman who is matching up to $5,000 in gifts from Origin Stories listeners. Every dollar helps! leakeyfoundation.org/originstories23
Sponsors and credits
This episode was generously sponsored by Diana McSherry and Pat Poe. Origin Stories is also sponsored by Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, Camilla and George Smith, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund. Thanks as well to the Benevity Community Impact Fund for their support of the show.
Origin Stories is produced by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.
Join us for these events
February 8, 6 pm Pacific -  Where is the love?: Secrets of Chimpanzee Relationships - click to register
February 16, 11 am Pacific - Lunch Break Science with Tom Plummer - click to watch

We've been hard at work on a new season of stories about how we became human. Origin Stories returns on January 31 with monthly episodes!

In this episode, we explore five strange fossilized footprints found by Mary Leakey at the site of Laetoli in Tanzania. Decades after their original discovery, these footprints have revealed a new story about our ancient ancestors that expands our understanding of how hominins moved and interacted. 
Thanks
Thanks to Dr. Ellison McNutt and Dr. Charles Musiba for sharing their work. 
Thanks as well to Jim Carty and Pat Randall for generously sponsoring this episode. Jim is a long-time Leakey Foundation supporter who actually volunteered to work at Laeotli in the 1980s to help figure out a way to preserve the Laetoli footprints.
 

Learn more
Footprint evidence of early hominin locomotor diversity at Laetoli, Tanzania
 
Charming video of Dr. McNutt coaxing a baby bear to walk upright
 
Dr. Charles Musiba's website
Dr. Ellison McNutt's website
The Kilham Bear Center
 
Conservation of the Laetoli Footprints - a talk by Dr. Charles Musiba
 
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area Unesco World Heritage Site
 
Survey and Discovering Us giveaway

Click here to take our short audience survey, and you could win one of three free copies of Discovering Us: 50 Great Discoveries in Human Origins by Evan Hadingham.
Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and educational outreach.

Support this show and the science we talk about. Your donations will be matched by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.
leakeyfoundation.org/donate 
Lunch Break Science is The Leakey Foundation's web series featuring short talks and interviews with Leakey Foundation grantees. Episodes stream on the first and third Thursdays of every month.
leakeyfoundation.org/live
This episode was produced and sound designed by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.