Episode 09: Did Cooking Make Us Human? (Re-release)
Humans have evolved very differently from other primates. Is there one thing responsible for humans becoming human? Some evolutionary biologists think that the way we process our food, namely cooking it, could explain why our species developed so…
Episode 20: The Power Paradox – LIVE
The Power Paradox What is power? Where does social power come from? What happens in our bodies and with our behavior when we have power and when we don’t? What can we learn about lasting social power from small-scale hunter-gatherer societies?…
Episode 19: Being Human – Born and Evolved to Run
Humans and our recent ancestors have been accomplished endurance runners for more than a million years. Our evolutionary history as runners partly accounts for why aerobic exercise is such a key component of human health. In this talk, recorded in…
Episode 18: Empathy
Empathy has long been considered a uniquely human trait, but it’s an ability that has also been observed in apes and other animals. Primatologist Frans de Waal says that examples of empathy in non-human primates and other mammals suggest that…
Episode 04: How to Document a Society (Re-release)
Every day for 55 years a dedicated group of researchers, students, and field assistants have spent their days crawling through thorns and vines as they follow chimpanzees to observe their behavior. They write everything down in notes and on maps and…