
56 episodes

Origin Stories The Leakey Foundation
-
- Natural Sciences
-
-
4.8 • 278 Ratings
-
What makes us human? How are we different from chimpanzees? Who are our earliest ancestors and how do we know? Origin Stories is The Leakey Foundation’s podcast about how we became human.
This award-winning show combines science and narrative to explore our human story and explain why we are the way we are. Listen and explore human evolution one story at a time.
-
Understanding Neanderthals
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.
-
Exercise
If exercise is healthy, why do so many people avoid doing it? Scientist and author Dan Lieberman joins us to explain the powerful instincts that cause us to avoid exercise even though we know it’s good for us. Learn how an evolutionary understanding of physical activity can help you keep your New Year's resolutions about fitness and exercise.
-
Ancestor (rerelease)
In 2017, Dr. Isaiah Nengo announced the discovery of a 13 million-year-old fossil ape found in Kenya. This remarkable fossil, nicknamed Alesi, was from a time period where there’s a big blank spot in the fossil record of our family tree. Alesi tells us something new about the early evolution of apes and shows what the common ancestor of humans and all the other living apes might have looked like.
-
Skin
Leakey Foundation grantee Dr. Nina Jablonski explains the evolution of human skin color and discusses some of the ways that harmful color-based race concepts have influenced societies and impacted social well-being.
-
Interview with María Martinón-Torres
September 30 is International Podcast Day and on this episode, we’re handing things over to producer Lucía Benavides, who sat down with Leakey Foundation grantee María Martinón-Torres for an interview about her life and career.
This bonus episode is entirely in Spanish. We’ll be back with an English-language episode in October. -
Detective of the Dead
Atapuerca is a place that holds the mystery of human evolution in Europe from 1.2 million years ago through recent times. It has the oldest human in Europe, the first murder in the archaeological record, and fossils that tell a range of stories from disturbing and grisly to tender and heartwarming.
Customer Reviews
So interesting and entertaining!
I got hooked and sucked in from the 1st episode!
Great
Wonderful science, captivating storytelling, great links, and sound design is first class.
Absolutely excellent
Thoughtful, deep stories that are always full of discovery and surprise.
Top Podcasts In Natural Sciences





