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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

How do humans fit into the story of life? This was one of the most memorable conversations I've had during the four years of running On Humans. My guest was Jonathan Loh, conservation biologist and author of the remarkable new book, "Life Story". Enjoy!

How Do Humans Fit Into the Story of Life?

“What a chimera then is man! What a novelty! What a monster, what a chaos, what a contradiction!” — Blaise Pascal

On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Should vegetarians use leather? A common modern dilemma, but here's an ancient echo: Chinese buddhist monks debating whether to wear silk or not. What a title by the way: "Bald head Destroyers of Living Things" www.jstor.org/stable/26571...

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Orangutans playing kazoos?! Funny, but apparently very significant, too. "The observation that orangutans can exercise active voicing and have a degree of online control over the larynx suggests that the roots of this ability within the human clade are much older than previously thought."

wrap.warwick.ac.uk

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

"Humans are the animal kingdom's ultimate omnivores" - Daniel Lieberman onhumans.substack.com/p/beyond-pal...

On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Have you ever wondered why humans are the only animals who cook their food? And what can a culinary history of humanity tell us about healthy eating? What a joy to chat about these questions with Dan Lieberman, author of Fed Up! [Fed Up is out now, published by @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social]

Beyond Paleo: A Culinary History of Humanity

How did food shape the human journey? And what lessons can ancestral diets give us about healthy eating? Harvard professor Daniel Lieberman explains.

Alex Mesoudi @alexmesoudi.com · 01/09/2026

Reposted by On Humans Podcast

Including podcast episodes in my Evolution & Human Behaviour module for the first time this year. I have episodes from @manymindspod.bsky.social , @epthepod.bsky.social , @ilarimakela.bsky.social & @thedissenteryt.bsky.social . Any others I've missed?

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CAGE Research Centre @cagewarwick.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

New resources are now available to accompany our economics podcast which delves into lessons from the past to help inform our future. 🎧 In this series hosted by @ilarimakela.bsky.social leading experts discuss why the West became the richest corner of the early modern world. buff.ly/wvoRhlv

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

What a pleasure to finally have Valerie Hansen on the show! 👏 A lot of fascinating topics here, from Silk Roads in Africa to Viking explorers in the Americas. Hansen also finished with a wonderful reflection on some of the surprisingly mundane forces that have long driven the story of humanity.

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

"The continued attraction of the ‘human revolution’ perhaps comes from the fact that for a generation of researchers the notion of a revolution separating ‘modern’ humans from ‘archaic’ hominins was axiomatic." www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... >>@huwgroucutt.bsky.social

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Brad Delong at his best, reminding econ historians to pause at times, and look deeper than growth, institutions, or early modern pin factories. braddelong.substack.com/p/hoisted-fr... @braddelong.bsky.social

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

A highlight from the recent episode with Ken Pomeranz, together with @cagewarwick.bsky.social #history onhumans.substack.com/p/why-the-west

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CAGE Research Centre @cagewarwick.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

“The Industrial Revolution happened after the Scientific Revolution, and that's probably not a coincidence.” In this episode of our #economichistory podcast Joel Mokyr, 2025 Nobel laureate explores the many ways science contributed to Europe’s economic rise. 🎧️ Listen at: buff.ly/lbfDqgF

Did science and enlightenment give Europe the edge? with Joel Mokyr

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

It's been a privilege working on this! I read Pomeranz's "The Great Divergence" as a first-year master student at Pekiing University, and was awed. This was the kind of history I had always wanted: It wasn't about kings and courts. It was about the forces that shape the everyday -- still today.

On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Why was Europe the birthplace of industrial modernity? Why not China, the land of paper and gunpowder? In his iconic, "The Great Divergence", Kenneth Pomeranz offered a surprising answer: American colonies & English fossil fuels. Is he right? 🎧 54min 📖 10min @cagewarwick.bsky.social #history

Was the rise of Europe powered by colonialism, inventions, or something else entirely? And what happened to China? Kenneth Pomeranz explains.

Why the West?

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MU-Peter Shimon 🀄 @mu-peter.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Genome-wide genealogies reveal deep admixtures forming modern humans🏺🧪 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Shows both Neanderthals and ancestral modern humans are formed through a mixture of these two lineages, with no evidence of gene flow from the PRDM9-A-carrying group into Denisovans.

Human to Neanderthal gene-flow and deeper structure in Humans

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MU-Peter Shimon 🀄 @mu-peter.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

The evolution of symbolic artefacts: How function shapes form🏺🧪 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Experimental work that systematically addresses the relation between properties of intentional markings and their cognitive implications to support inferences about their past functions.

Examples of engravings and how they evolved over time with older items shown to the left and younger to the right. Top row: outlines of the Blombos ochre engravings dated to the period c. 100.000–70.000 BP (Henshilwood et al., 2009). Bottom row: outlines of the Diepkloof ostrich egg engravings dated to the period c. 109.000–52.000 BP (Texier et al., 2013)...

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CAGE Research Centre @cagewarwick.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

🎧️ Listen to our new economic history podcast exploring the great divergence between Europe and Asia. Hosted by @ilarimakela.bsky.social our first series hears from leading experts discussing the roles colonialism, technology and institutions play in the making of the modern world. buff.ly/aiSOJUJ

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

It's out! 👏 Our new series explores one of history's great questions: Why did the West get rich? And what happened to the medieval might of China—or India? Colonialism, science, fossil fuels: we cover it all with superb guests, including a 2025 Nobel laureate 🏆 with @cagewarwick.bsky.social

Why did the West get rich?

The Great Divergence

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

No, Britain did not destroy a prosperous Mughal rule in India. When EIC took Bengal, India was deep in a century-long economic depression. But this does not let the British off the hook — and the effects are still felt today. 🙏 Bishnupriya Gupta Read or listen: substack.com/home/post/p-...

Dr. Sarah A Lacy @professorlacy.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Reposted by On Humans Podcast

I love reading John's substack, but this one has me particularly chuffed since he is highlighting the part of this new paper that got me most excited (and was ignored in a lot of the coverage). He gives a great summary of identifying matrilineal kin networks/ -based migration in the human genome.

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Where did humans evolve? What was the scenery like? And what should we make of the "savanna hypothesis"? What a pleasure to find so much clarity on these questions! My brilliant guest was Denise Su at ASU's Institute of Human Origins! @asuiho.bsky.social. 🎧 Enjoy!

Gazing at the Changing Nature of the Garden of Eden

Where Did Humans Evolve?

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Zach Garfield @zhgarfield.com · 07/03/2026

Priceless interview for all anthropologists and fieldworkers. Thank you, @ilarimakela.bsky.social & RB Lee!! Lee’s discussions on establishing new field sites closely parallel my experiences in the Omo in Ethiopia with the @omovalleyresearchproject.org

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

It's out: the first ever podcast interview with Richard B. Lee! 🥁 We discuss the 60 year legacy of Man the Hunter conference, including: The Original Affluent Society The Dawn of Everything The choice of the term "Man" in the conference name. Enjoy!

open.substack.com

The Original Affluent Society? Lessons from 60-Years of "Man the Hunter" Research

To mark the 60th anniversary of the 1966 'Man the Hunter' symposium, On Humans is proud to publish the first-ever podcast interview with Richard B. Lee.

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

What can shamanism teach us about religion -- and the human mind? What a pleasure to share this excellent conversation to the listeners of On Humans! The hard work was done by @manymindspod.bsky.social and @manvir.bsky.social 🙏 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/4nhm3fG... Apple 👇

podcasts.apple.com

What Can Shamans Teach Us About Religion? | Many Minds with Manvir Singh

Podcast Episode · On Humans · 01/21/2026 · Bonus · 1h 20m

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

What a pleasure to do this swap with one of my favourite shows, Many Minds! Do check their work out if you haven't already. And stay tuned for my turn in an hour or so ;)

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

The talk was superb, do check it ou!

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

"Rather than framing cooperation as a moral innovation or a product of stable communal life, [the] researchers propose that cooperation may actually flourish when the world is unstable." www.anthropology.net/p/when-the-w... by @anthropology.net

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

The trilogy ends! The final episodes of Decoding Our Story traces the last miles in the human journey out of Africa: South America in the west, Polynesia in the east, and .... Can you guess? 🙏 @morestrada.bsky.social & @anthropogeny.org Listen >> open.spotify.com/episode/16l1...

What happens when you marry the art of archaeology with the science of genetics?

Decoding Our Story

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

How cool! "The long coexistence of humans and leopard cats is one of the most overlooked relationships in East Asian zooarchaeology. Yet it represents a case where a wild species began down a pathway toward domestication but never reached the final steps." www.anthropology.net/p/strangers-...

On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

The top artists amongst On Humans listeners in 2025 -- a surprising mix 😂 I guess this speaks about a diverse crowd. Glad if so 👏 Thanks to everyone who've been listening!

On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Yes, there are genetic differences between human populations. But how big are they? Diyendo Massilani's lab has produced a fascinating analysis on this. What a pleasure to have him on! open.spotify.com/episode/043H...

open.spotify.com

Beyond Race: A New Outlook on the Shape of Humanity ~ Diyendo Massilani

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

It’s live! 👏 Decoding Our Story is a three-part series on how genetics is rewriting the human story🏺 Recorded at the @salkinstitute.bsky.social's CARTA symposium on ancient DNA, these episodes take you behind the scenes of one of the most exciting frontiers in modern science. Enjoy!

What happens when you marry the art of archaeology with the science of genetics?

Decoding Our Story

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

If David is right, you should check this out too 😉 onhumans.substack.com/p/can-we-tel...

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

A telling graph about climate change and human origins. onhumans.substack.com/p/can-we-tel... #PaleoSky

On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

"Why did violence break out all across the LBK at the same time, and with such lasting consequences?" Very interesting reminder of how early European farming was quite peaceful -- until it wasn't. www.science.org/content/arti...

science.org

Headless bodies hint at why Europe’s first farmers vanished

Wave of mass brutality accompanied the collapse of the first pan-European culture

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Chris Stringer @chrisbstringer.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

And many thanks to @dremmabird.bsky.social for help with this!

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

Why do we exist? The science of human origins keeps producing new theories. But are we any closer to telling a true story of human origins? Or are we simply drowning in data? I think we have a story--a story centered on calories, childhoods, cooperation, and climate. Here is the story.

Can We Tell a (True) Story of Human Origins?

The science of human origins keeps producing new theories. But are we any closer to telling a true story of human origins? I think so. Here is the story.

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

You decided to read this. But could you have chosen otherwise? Are we ever free to choose? 🧠 A short episode on a big topic! Read or listen at onhumans.substack.com/p/is-the-bra.... 🙏 Thanks to @timcoulson.bsky.social from @biology.ox.ac.uk!

Is the Brain Free to Choose?

You decided to read this. But could you have chosen otherwise? Tim Coulson thinks so.

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On Humans Podcast @ilarimakela.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

"New research at Semiyarka is challenging long-held ideas about mobility, metallurgy, and the unexpected shape of early cities in Eurasia." www.anthropology.net/p/city-of-th... @anthropology.net