All Episodes

#279 Daniel Lieberman: The Evolution of Bipedalism, and Modern Evolutionary Mismatch

Jan 9, 2020

Dr. Daniel Lieberman is Edwin M. Lerner II Professor of Biological Sciences, Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. He studies and teaches how and why the human body looks and functions the way it does. He started his career studying the evolution of the human head, but is now more focused on the evolution of human physical activity, and how evolutionary approaches to activities such as walking and running, as well as changes to our body’s environments (such as wearing shoes and being physically inactive) can help better prevent and treat musculoskeletal diseases. He’s the author of the books The Evolution of the Human Head, and The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease. More»
#278 Jerome Kagan: Temperament, Feelings, Emotions, and Personality

Jan 6, 2020

Dr. Jerome Kagan is Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Harvard University. Professor Kagan's research, on the cognitive and emotional development of a child during the first decade of life, focuses on the origins of temperament. He has tracked the development of inhibited and uninhibited children from infancy to adolescence. Dr. Kagan’s research indicates that shyness and other temperamental differences in adults and children have both environmental and genetic influences. A shy adult is more likely to have been high-reactive (fearful) in infancy and childhood than their bold and sociable counterparts, who were most likely low-reactive. He has served on the National Institute of Mental Health and on the National Research Council. His books include Galen’s Prophecy: Temperament in Human Nature and Three Seductive Ideas. More»
#277 Aaron Rabinowitz: Moral Realism, and Objective Morality

Jan 3, 2020

Aaron Rabinowitz is an Adjunct Professor (PTL) in the Rutgers Philosophy department and the Rutgers Honors College. He specializes in ethics, metaethics, and AI. His work focuses on developing a secular moral realism that is compatible with the problem of moral luck. He also hosts two philosophy podcasts: Philosophers in Space and Embrace the Void. The goal of both shows is to make philosophy accessible for everyone, using science fiction and existential horror. More»
#276 Daniel Everett: The Evolution and Varieties of Language, and the Pirahã

Jan 2, 2020

Dr. Daniel Everett is Trustee Professor of Cognitive Sciences at Bentley University. He holds a ScD and a Masters of Linguistics from the Universidade Estadual in Campinas (UNICAMP). He is well-known for his many years of field research among the Pirahã people of the Brazilian Amazon jungle. Dr. Everett's books include Dark Matter of the Mind: The Culturally Articulated Unconscious, and How Language Began: The Story of Humanity's Greatest Invention. More»
#275 Marco Del Giudice: Evolutionary Psychopathology, Attachment, And Life History

Dec 30, 2019

Dr. Marco Del Giudice is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of New Mexico. In his work he explores a wide range of topics at the intersection of human behavior, evolution, and development. His approach is interdisciplinary and driven by the quest for theoretical synthesis. Over the years he has developed some broad, integrative models: the Adaptive Calibration Model of individual differences in stress responsivity (with Bruce Ellis and Birdie Shirtcliff); an evolutionary-developmental model of sex differences in attachment styles; and a unifying life history framework for evolutionary psychopathology. Most of his current empirical work is devoted to testing, advancing, and refining these models with a variety of research methods. He’s the author of Evolutionary Psychopathology: A Unified Approach. More»
#274 Kevin Mitchell - Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are

Dec 27, 2019

Dr. Kevin Mitchell is Associate Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin. He is interested in the development of connectivity in the brain, specifically in how this process is controlled by genes and how mutations in such genes affect the connectivity of neuronal circuits, influence behavior and perception and contribute to disease. His research group uses genetic approaches in the mouse to address these questions, and they are also involved in collaborative research looking at the genetics and phenotypic manifestations of synaesthesia and schizophrenia in humans. He’s the author of a book that came out last year, Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are. More»
#273 David Puts: Sexual Dimorphism, Sexual Orientation, And Female Orgasm

Dec 26, 2019

Dr. David Puts is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Puts studies the neuroendocrine and evolutionary bases of human sexuality and sex differences, with special focus on behavior and psychology. His research topics include the influence of sex hormones on psychology, behavior, and anatomy; hormonal and genetic influences on sexual differentiation; sexual selection and the evolution of sex differences in voices, faces, bodies, brains, and behavior; the development and evolution of variation in sexual orientation; and the evolution of female orgasm. More»
#272 Peter Ungar: The Evolution Of Teeth, And Our Diet

Dec 23, 2019

Dr. Peter S. Ungar is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Director of Environmental Dynamics at the University of Arkansas. His research focuses on paleoecology and teeth. He’s the author of books like Mammal Teeth, Evolution’s Bite, and of textbooks like Human Diet: Its Origin and Evolution. More»
#271 Alice Eagly: The Psychology Of Gender, and Gender Equality

Dec 20, 2019

Dr. Alice H. Eagly is Emerita Professor of Psychology and of Management and Organizations at Northwestern University. She currently holds the James Padilla Chair for Arts and Sciences and a Faculty Fellowship for the Institute of Policy Research at Northwestern University. Her primary research contributions have been in the area of social psychology, as well as personality psychology and Industrial Organizational Psychology. Her research interests include the psychology of gender, especially sex differences and similarities in leadership, prosocial behavior, aggression, partner preferences, and sociopolitical attitudes. She’s also interested in the content of stereotypes; social role theory as a theory of sex differences and similarities and of the origins of sex differences in social behavior; and attitude theory and research, especially attitudinal selectivity in information processing. More»
#270 Christopher Stringer: The Past and Future of Human Evolution

Dec 19, 2019

Dr. Christopher Stringer is a British physical anthropologist noted for his work on human evolution. He is a Research Leader in Human Origins at the Natural History Museum. His early research was on the relationship of Neanderthals and early modern humans in Europe, but through his work on the Recent African Origin model for modern human origins, he now collaborates with archaeologists, dating specialists, and geneticists in attempting to reconstruct the evolution of modern humans globally. He has excavated at sites in Britain and abroad, and he directed the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project from 2001 until it finished in 2013. Now he’s co-director of the follow-up Pathways to Ancient Britain project, as part of their funding from the Calleva Foundation, which has also contributed to the foundation of their new Centre for Human Evolution Research. As well as many scientific papers, he’s also written a number of books, most recently, Britain: one million years of the human story (2014, with Rob Dinnis) and Our Human Story (2018, with Louise Humphrey). More»