Origin Stories – Details, episodes & analysis

2025 was another exciting year in human origins research! In this episode, four scientists and Leakey Foundation grantees (and one podcast host) share their picks for the top discoveries of the year.

Support this show and the science we talk about. Your tax-deductible gift to The Leakey Foundation will be matched! Click here to donate. 

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Links to learn more

All research articles are open-access and free to read

New research reveals the hand of Paranthropus boisei

Earliest evidence of making fire

Complete sequencing of ape genomes

Highly selective cannibalism in the Late Pleistocene of Northern Europe reveals Neandertals were targeted prey

Denisovan mitochondrial DNA from dental calculus of the >146,000-year-old Harbin cranium

This episode features two stories from the Science Podcast. First, Science writer Ann Gibbons tells the story of three ancient hominin species that lived side-by-side in South Africa's Cradle of Humankind. Then, anthropologist Melanie Beasley discusses her new study on why chemical signals in Neanderthal teeth and bones make them look like hypercarnivores. Her research suggests they were just eating a lot of maggots!  

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to funding human origins research and sharing discoveries. 

The Science podcast is a weekly show from the journal Science and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Search for Science Magazine in any podcasting app to subscribe. Learn more at https://www.science.org/podcasts

Origin Stories is audience-supported. Additional support comes from Jeanne Newman, the Anne and Gordon Getty Foundation, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.

 

Why do humans have most of our hair on our heads, not our bodies? Why do we have so many varieties of hair color, thickness, and curliness? Dr. Tina Lasisi is a biological anthropologist whose work explores these evolutionary mysteries. In this episode, she shares her research into why humans have scalp hair as well as her insights on why curly hair is uniquely human. 

Links to learn more:

• Dr. Tina Lasisi's website
• Why Am I Like This? - PBS Terra series
• Dr. Lasisi's AMNH/Leakey Foundation SciCafe lecture
• Why Care About Hair? Leakey Foundation event
• Quantifying variation in human scalp hair - research paper

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to human origins research and education.

Donate to support the show. Your gift will be quadruple-matched! Click here to give!

This episode was produced by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle, additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.

 

Music is universal in all human cultures, but why? What gives us the ability to hear sound as music? Are we the only musical species–or was Darwin right when he said every animal with a backbone should be able to perceive, if not enjoy music? Professor Henkjan Honing is on a mission to find out.

Learn more

• Henkjan Honing's website
• Music Cognition Group Blog
• The Evolving Animal Orchestra - Henkjan Honing
• What makes us musical animals - Henkjan Honing lecture
• Henkjan Honing TedX Amsterdam
• Snowball dancing to the Backstreet Boys
• Ronan the sea lion
• Songs to make the forest happy
• It turns out we were born to groove - beat perception study

Support the show

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Credits

This episode was written and produced by Ray Pang and Meredith Johnson. Sound design, mixing, and scoring by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle, additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere. 

This episode uses many sounds from Freesound.org, including:

Neon Dreams: A Retro-Futuristic Synthwave Track - Instrument 02 by Robbnix  - License: Attribution 4.0

Music Box, Happy Birthday.wav - by InspectorJ - License: Attribution 4.0

 

 

What is it like to be responsible for the safekeeping of the ancestors of everyone in the world? In this episode, we travel to the National Museum of Ethiopia to see our most famous fossil relative – Lucy – and meet Yared Assefa, the person who takes care of her and all of our Ethiopian fossil ancestors and relatives. 

If you love fossils, you won't want to miss this episode!

Special thanks

Thanks to Yared Assefa, Dr. Berhane Asfaw, and Dr. Mulugeta Feseha, who hosted The Leakey Foundation at the National Museum of Ethiopia.

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Links to learn more

President Obama's speech to the African Union
Lucy: A marvelous specimen
Top ten human evolution discoveries in Ethiopia
Rare 3.8 million-year-old fossil skull recasts origins of iconic Lucy 
Ethiopia is top choice for the cradle of Homo sapiens

The Leakey Foundation

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and outreach.

Funding provided by the Foundation has made many of the fossil hominin discoveries in Ethiopia possible. In addition, Our Baldwin Fellowship program has been building scientific capacity in Ethiopia and other countries since 1978. We also have a new program called the Francis H. Brown African Scholarship Fund that provides up to $25,000 for East African students or early career researchers in botany and geology. Learn about all of our grant programs at leakeyfoundation.org/grants

Lunch Break Science

Lunch Break Science is The Leakey Foundation's online series featuring short talks and interviews with Leakey Foundation grantees. Feed your brain with Lunch Break Science every third Thursday at 11 am Pacific on Facebook, YouTube, and leakeyfoundation.org/live.

Credits

Host and Producer: Meredith Johnson
Editor: Audrey Quinn
Theme Music: Henry Nagle

Additional Music:

Lee Rosevere "Tech Toys" and music from Blue Dot Sessions.

Sponsors

Origin Stories is made possible by support from Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund, and donors like you!

Travel through 50,000 years of human history following clues hidden inside beads made from ostrich eggshells. In this episode, researchers Jennifer Miller and Yiming Wang share how these tiny artifacts reveal a sweeping story of ancient social networks, cultural connections, and human adaptability.

Support the show

Help us make more episodes! All tax-deductible donations to Origin Stories will be quadruple-matched!

>>>> Please click here to make a one-time or monthly donation. 

Guests

• Dr. Jennifer Miller
• Dr. Yiming Wang

Links to learn more

• Ostrich eggshell beads reveal 50,000-year-old social network in Africa (open access)
• An ancient social safety net in Africa was built on beads
• Are these snail shells the world's oldest known beads?
• Zambezi basin (Wikipedia)
• Paleoclimatology info and interactive paleoclimate map (National Centers for Environmental Education

Sponsors and credits

This episode was generously sponsored by Leakey Foundation Fellow Eddie Kislinger in honor of his wife, jewelry designer Cathy Waterman. Her designs are inspired by nature and influenced by her study of and connection with ancient human history. We are grateful to them for making this episode possible.

Additional support comes from Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund, and our listener-supporters.

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.

2023 was another exciting year in human origins research! Fossil discoveries and long-term primate studies expanded our understanding of what makes us human. In this episode, four Leakey Foundation scientists shared their favorite human evolution discoveries from the past year.

Help us make more episodes! All tax-deductible donations to Origin Stories will be quadruple-matched!

>>>> Please click here to make a one-time or monthly donation. 

Guests

• Briana Pobiner
• Emma Finestone
• Nasser Malit 
• Risa Luther

Links to learn more

• Top 13 Discoveries in Human Evolution, 2023 Edition
• Hunting and processing of straight-tusked elephants 125,000 years ago: Implications for Neanderthal behavior (open-access research paper)
• Neanderthals lived in groups big enough to eat giant elephants
• Evidence for the earliest structural use of wood at least 476,000 years ago (open-access research paper
• Early Homo erectus lived at high altitudes and produced both Oldowan and Acheulean tools (open-access research paper)
• The surprising toolbox of the early Homo erectus
• Demographic and hormonal evidence for menopause in wild chimpanzees (open-access research paper)
• Wild chimpanzees experience menopause
• Chimpanzee menopause revealed ft. Melissa Emery Thompson (Lunch Break Science on YouTube)

Sponsors and credits

Origin Stories is sponsored by Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation,  and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund. 

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.

Sibling relationships can include everything from love and support–to tension, competition, and conflict. They might also play a fundamental role in the evolution of our species. In the final installment of our three-part series on family relationships, researchers Karen Kramer, Cat Hobaiter, and Rachna Reddy explore surprising new science about the role of siblings in primate and human evolution.

Links to learn more:

• Why are there so many humans?
• Children and social learning
• Karen Kramer
• Cat Hobaiter
• Rachna Reddy

Support Origin Stories and help us explore human evolution one story at a time.

Your tax-deductible gift makes our show possible. Click here to donate!

Credits:

This episode was produced by Leo Hornak. Sound design and production by Ray Pang. Host and executive producer, Meredith Johnson. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle, additional music by Lee Roservere and Blue Dot Sessions.

Sponsors:

Dana LaJoie and Bill Richards, Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.

Humans invest enormous amounts of time and energy into bringing up our babies. This unique investment is a fundamental part of what it means to be human. In this episode, the second in a three-part series on family relationships, researchers Lee Gettler, Stacy Rosenbaum, and Sonny Bechayda explore how our species' approach to fatherhood may have shaped some of the most important traits that set us apart from other mammals.   Leo Hornak produced this episode. Sound design by Ray Pang. Host and executive producer, Meredith Johnson. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle, additional music by Lee Roservere and Blue Dot Sessions. Sounds effects provided by Kevin Luce by way of freesound dot org
Support the show! Every donation makes a difference and helps us create new episodes.  Click to make a tax-deductible donation today!   This episode was generously sponsored by father and daughter Bill Richards and Dana Lajoie. Additional support from the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, Jeanne Newman, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.   Links to learn more:

• Fatherhood, pairbonding and testosterone in the Philippines
• Fathers' care in context
• Who keeps children alive?

Humans invest enormous amounts of time and energy into bringing up our babies. This unique investment is a fundamental part of what it means to be human. In this episode, the first in a three-part series on family relationships, researchers Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Stacy Rosenbaum, and Amy Scott explore how our species' approach to motherhood may hold the key to some of the most important traits that set us apart from other mammals. 

Links to learn more:

• Sarah Blaffer Hrdy - Childrearing in Evolution (video)
• Sarah Blaffer Hrdy - Mothers and Others (article)
• Citrona Walnut Farm
• Grantee Spotlight: Amy Scott
• Stacey Rosenbaum - Gorilla group structure
• Stacey Rosenbaum - Gorillas, humans, and early life adversity
• The Birth Bliss Academy

Support Origin Stories

Origin Stories needs your support. Your donation helps bring the untold stories and latest research in human evolution to thousands of curious minds worldwide. Your gift, no matter the amount, makes a big difference! Click here to support the show.

Credits:

This episode was produced by Leo Hornak. Sound design by Ray Pang. Host and executive producer, Meredith Johnson. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Recording assistance Catherine Monahon. Theme music by Henry Nagle, additional music by Lee Roservere and Blue Dot Sessions.

Sponsors:

Dana LaJoie and Bill Richards, Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.