Lunch Break Science

Lunch Break Science is The Leakey Foundation’s live-streamed web series. This series features interviews and short talks with Leakey Foundation grantees about the latest in human evolution research.

Take a break from your day and feed your brain with The Leakey Foundation. New episodes stream live the first and third Thursday of every month on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and here on this page!

Watch on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube if you’d like to participate in the Q&A session.

Featured Video

Meet Leakey Foundation grantee Nicole Thompson González and learn about the benefits of social connections during development in blue monkeys and chimpanzees.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was recorded live on April 15, 2021.

Upcoming Videos

April 22 at 11 am PT | 12 pm MT | 1 pm CT | 2 pm ET

Meet Leakey Foundation grantees Andrea Baden and Stacey Tecot on this special Earth Day episode of Lunch Break Science and learn about lemur behavior and ecology. Watch on Facebook, Twitter,  YouTube, or Leakey Foundation Live to participate in the Q&A session.

Recent Videos

Lunch Break Science #1 | Zarin Machanda

Explore the nature of chimpanzee communication and relationships with Leakey Foundation grantee and director of the Kibale Chimpanzee Project Zarin Machanda. 

This episode of Lunch Break Science was recorded live on June 25, 2020.

Lunch Break Science # 2 | Lauren Schroeder

Meet Leakey Foundation grantee Lauren Schroeder and learn what it takes to study the skulls of early human ancestors.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was recorded live on July 2, 2020.

Lunch Break Science #3 | Chalachew Seyoum

Meet Leakey Foundation grantee Chalachew Seyoum and explore the adaptation of early humans’ diet to their environments. He also discusses his discovery of the oldest Homo specimen, dated 2.8 Ma.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was recorded live on July 9, 2020.

Lunch Break Science # 4 | Jenny Tung

Learn about the need for connection and the lasting health impacts of social inequality with MacArthur Fellow and Leakey Foundation grantee Jenny Tung.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was recorded live on July 16, 2020.

Science Through Visual Stories | Sara ElShafie Workshop

Join Sara ElShafie, a global change biologist and science storytelling consultant, to learn how to create aesthetically pleasing and informative visuals for science storytelling. “Science Through Visual Stories” is part of our career development program for Leakey Foundation grantees and the wider science community.

This online workshop will help you create better presentations, figures, photographs, footage, and any other visual media you need for your science communication endeavors. This event was recorded live on July 22, 2020.

Lunch Break Science #5 | Rachna Reddy

Explore the social lives of chimpanzees with Leakey Foundation grantee Rachna Reddy.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was recorded live on July 23, 2020.

Lunch Break Science #6 | Hailay Reda

Meet Leakey Foundation grantee Hailay Reda and learn what it takes to use fossils to reconstruct paleoenvironments. Watch on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube if you’d like to participate in the Q&A session.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was recorded live on July 30, 2020.

Lunch Break Science #7 | Daniel Lieberman

Explore the intersection of human evolution and health with Leakey Foundation grantee Daniel Lieberman. Watch on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube if you’d like to participate in the Q&A session.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was filmed live on August 6, 2020.

Lunch Break Science # 8 | Anne Stone

Explore the evolution of pathogens with Leakey Foundation grantee Anne Stone. Watch on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube if you’d like to participate in the Q&A session.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was filmed live on August 13, 2020.

Lunch Break Science # 9

August 20 at 11 am PDT / 12 pm MDT / 1 pm CDT / 2 pm EDT

Meet Leakey Foundation grantee Caroline Schuppli and learn about orangutan cognition. This short interview is part of The Leakey Foundation’s weekly video series Lunch Break Science. Watch on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube if you’d like to participate in the Q&A session.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was filmed live on August 20, 2020.

Lunch Break Science # 10 | Ainash Childebayeva

August 27 at 11 am PDT / 12 pm MDT / 1 pm CDT / 2 pm EDT

Meet Leakey Foundation grantee Ainash Childebayeva and learn about interactions between our genes and the environment. Watch on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube to participate in the Q&A session.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was recorded live on August 27, 2020.

Lunch Break Science # 11 | Rachel Bynoe

Meet Leakey Foundation grantee Rachel Bynoe and learn about her work exploring a submerged Pleistocene site off Happisburgh, England.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was filmed live October 1, 2020.

Lunch Break Science # 12 | Margaret Crofoot and Grace Davis

Meet Leakey Foundation grantees Margaret Crofoot and Grace Davis and learn about leadership and decision making in primate societies.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was filmed live on October 15, 2020.

Unravelling the Genetic Past and Present of Island Southeast Asia | Irene Gallego Romero

Leakey Foundation grantee Irene Gallego Romero discusses the presence of Denisovan DNA in present-day Papuans. She also examines the positioning of Indonesia in the global human genetics landscape.

“Unravelling the Genetic Past and Present of Island Southeast Asia” was recorded live on October 20, 2020.

Lunch Break Science #13 | Catherine Markham

Meet Leakey Foundation grantee Catherine Markham and learn about social competition in primate groups and her science outreach program Shutterbug Science.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was recorded live on October 22, 2020.

This special episode of Lunch Break Science is part of the Bay Area Science Festival.

Meet Leakey Foundation grantee Christopher Gilbert and learn about primate evolution. He will also discuss his discovery of a new fossil ape in northern India.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was recorded live on November 5, 2020.

Meet Leakey Foundation grantee Jacinta Beehner and learn about her work studying gelada monkeys in Ethiopia.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was recorded live on November 19, 2020.

Meet Leakey Foundation grantee Isaiah Nengo and learn about his work uncovering fossil primates in Kenya.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was recorded live on December 3, 2020.

Meet Leakey Foundation grantee Eduardo Fernandez-Duque and learn about owl monkey fatherhood in the Formosa province of Argentina.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was recorded live on December 17, 2020.

Leakey Foundation grantee Daniel Lieberman discusses his latest book, Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding.

This lecture is presented by The Leakey Foundation, the Harvard Book Store, the Harvard University Division of Science, and the Cabot Science Library.

This lecture was recorded on January 5, 2021.

The Leakey Foundation’s Young Professionals Group hosts barber shop talk with two evolutionary biologists and hair enthusiasts, Tina Lasisi and Liz Tapanes. Learn more about hair from a practical perspective, from a social perspective, and from the many overlapping disciplines that have shaped how we think about hair.

This event was recorded live on January 12, 2021.

Meet Leakey Foundation grantee Amy Lu and learn about the effect of takeovers on gelada health and fitness.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was recorded live on January 21, 2021.

Meet Leakey Foundation grantee Yohannes Haile-Selassie, one of the world’s foremost experts in paleoanthropology, and learn about his work uncovering fossils in Ethiopia.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was recorded live on February 4, 2021.

Meet Leakey Foundation grantee Jeremy DeSilva and learn about the evolution of upright walking. Watch on Facebook, Twitter,  YouTube, or Leakey Foundation Live to participate in the Q&A session.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was filmed live on February 11, 2021.

The Leakey Foundation celebrates Darwin’s birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Descent of Man. This event brings together seven world-class scholars and science communicators to explore what Darwin got right and what he got wrong about the origin, history, and biological variation of humans.

This event was recorded live on February 13, 2021.

Meet Leakey Foundation Baldwin Fellowship Scholar Dagmawit Getahun and learn about the evolution of gelada monkeys and their ancestors.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was filmed live on February 18, 2021.

Meet Leakey Foundation grantee Naomi Cleghorn and learn about the archaeology of Knysna Cave in South Africa.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was recorded live on March 4, 2021.

Meet Leakey Foundation grantee Ashley Hammond and learn how fossils, especially the pelvis, are an indicator of locomotor evolution through time. Watch on Facebook, Twitter,  YouTube, or Leakey Foundation Live to participate in the Q&A session.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was recorded live on March 18, 2021.

Meet Leakey Foundation grantee Kate McGrath and learn what the teeth of our ancestors can tell us about their life histories.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was recorded live on April 1, 2021.

Meet Leakey Foundation grantee Nicole Thompson González and learn about the benefits of social connections during development in blue monkeys and chimpanzees.

This episode of Lunch Break Science was recorded live on April 15, 2021.