Search
Human Evolution
8mins
The oldest bones in Britain share almost no DNA with anyone alive today. Here’s what that tells us about human history, genetics, and ethnic “homelands."
53mins
Sam Kean examines how rogue archaeologists are recreating the sounds, tastes, smells, and practices of the ancient past.
A big open question in 21st-century science is how life began here on Earth. The metabolism-first scenario just might be the best one.
The unanswered questions about sex, love, and pregnancy in space could shape the future of humanity more than we think.
18mins
"It's this modern idea of doing voluntary discretionary, physical activity for the sake of health and fitness."
Physicist Daniel Whiteson challenges the notion that all intelligent species would eventually uncover the same laws of nature. Do you agree?
3mins
Language is a huge part of human development, even the language we keep to ourselves. Three experts explain how words and beliefs can change our brains and our lives:
Unlikely Collaborators
In this excerpt from "When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows...," Steven Pinker examines how crying may have evolved as part of a suite of emotional expressions aimed at strengthening social bonds.
In this excerpt from "The Story of CO2," Peter Brennan explains how changes in the Earth's ecosystem led to fire, which in turn led our ancestors to become the "fire apes."
7mins
“The idea of evolution by natural selection is, for me, probably the most beautiful idea in biology.”
In “The Secret History of Denisovans,” Silvana Condemi and François Savatier trace the story of our mysterious hominin ancestor.
2mins
Astrobiologist Betül Kaçar on why the simple act of asking questions (without needing a reason) is one of the most powerful things a human can do.
19mins
“So many things could have happened in a different way that we wouldn't be here at all, both individually, for sure, and certainly as a species.”
In "The Headache," Tom Zeller Jr. explores one of the human brain's most enduring, and painful, enigmas.
After more than a million years of separation, two branches of humanity reunited around 300,000 years ago, suggests new research.
Why do we fall in love with one person over another? The late biological anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher unpacks the evolutionary roots of romantic love, sex, and attachment. Using research […]
"The stars made our minds, and now our minds look back."
1hr 11mins
“It's a remarkable series of events that were required for us to be here, and that so many things could have happened in a different way that we wouldn't be here at all, both individually, and as a species.”
Science writer Matt Ridley joins us to discuss how “Darwin’s strangest idea” makes us all a bit feather-brained (in a good way).
In his book, "Birds, Sex and Beauty," Matt Ridley explores why learning isn't always nature versus nurture.
These books helped build the empirical case that life's origins differ from those described in myths and legends.
New research challenges old assumptions about the evolution of the human brain.
11mins
“We've engineered a volatile world where Starbucks is completely unchanging from year to year, but democracies are collapsing and rivers are drying up.”
“Could you create a god?” Nietzsche's titular character asks in "Thus Spoke Zarathustra."
When it comes to behavior, genetics may play a larger role than you think.
From tribal hunts to Stonehenge and into the modern day, the peer instinct helps humans coordinate their efforts and learning.
The controversial theory about magic mushrooms and human evolution gets a much-needed update.
Early modern humans interbred with Neanderthals — and scientists recently pinpointed a key site of contact.
From hunter-gathers to desk jockeys, we work best when short, intense sessions are followed by lighter fare.
Religion is a product of, and not a source of, our evolutionary moral dispositions.