AnthroBiology Podcast

Dr. Brian Villmoare of the University of Nevada - Las Vegas shares how his team found teeth in Ethiopia and what those teeth might mean in terms of who was around when in the evolutionary record.

Recommendations

Dr. Villmoare's University of Nevada - Las Vegas staff profile
Dr. Villmoare's Human Paleontology Lab
Villmoare, B., Delezene, L.K., Rector, A.L. et al. New discoveries of Australopithecus and Homo from Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia. Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09390-4
Kalb, J. (2013). Adventures in the Bone Trade: The Race to Discover Human Ancestors in Ethiopia's Afar Depression. Copernicus.
Wood, B. (2019). Human Evolution: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. [Ian Tattersall's books + Ian Tattersall's website
Jablonka, E. & Lamb, M.J. (2014). Evolution in Four Dimensions, Revised Edition: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life. Bradford Book.
Sapolsky, R.M. (2023). Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will. Penguin Publishing Group.
Rachel Kushner's books
Reiss, T. (2006). The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life. Random House.
Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club series

Keri Porter, a PhD candidate at Notre Dame University, joins the show to discuss their research on patterns of violence in a Bronze Age urban center in the Southern Levant. They focus on cranial trauma and what it can reveal about humans attempting to live together along with what it might reveal about who suffers violence. They also share some excellent recommendations for how to think about grad school, whether or not to go, and tips for applying.

Recommendations

Keri Porter's Notre Dame profile page
Martin, D.L., Harrod, R.P., & Pérez, V.R. (Eds.) (2013). The Bioarchaeology of Violence. University Press of Florida.
Regev J, De Miroschedji P, Greenberg R, Braun E, Greenhut Z, Boaretto E. Chronology of the Early Bronze Age in the Southern Levant: New Analysis for a High Chronology. Radiocarbon. 2012;54(3-4):525-566.
Greenberg, R. (2019). The Archaeology of the Bronze Age Levant: From Urban Origins to the Demise of City-States, 3700-1000 BCE. Cambridge University Press.
Krakowka K. (2017). Patterns and prevalence of violence-related skull trauma in medieval London. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 164(3), 488–504. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23288
Krakowka, K. (2015). Understanding violence in medieval London: an examination of the skeletal evidence. [PhD thesis]. University of Oxford.
Gorn, E. J. (1985). "Gouge and Bite, Pull Hair and Scratch": The Social Significance of Fighting in the Southern Backcountry. The American Historical Review, 90(1), 18–43.
Collins, S. (2025). Sunrise on the Reaping. Scholastic Press.
Fox, J. (2025). Down the Drain. Simon & Schuster.
Green, J. (2025). Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection. Crash Course Books.
Reinhard, A. (2018). Archaeogaming: An Introduction to Archaeology in and of Video Games, Berghan Books.
Porter, K. (2022, November 4). Digging Up the Digital Past: Archaeogaming and Archaeological Practice in the Sims™ Franchise. UMMAA Brown Bag Lecture Series, Notre Dame University, Notre Dame, IN, USA.

Dr. Maria Nieves-Cólon and Jamie Zolik join the show to discuss their ancient DNA research in San Luis de Cañete and what it can reveal about the historical population of the town specifically and the African diaspora in South America generally. They share some of the exciting ways they've forged a partnership with the community in order to carry out the work as ethically as possible.

Recommendations

Dr. Maries Nieves-Colón's faculty page at the University of Minnesota
Nieves-Colón lab
Jaime Zolik's bio
Museo Afroperuano de San Luis de Cañete
Nieves-Colón MA, Ulrich EC, Chen L, Torres Colón GA, Rivera Clemente M, Corporación Piñones se Integra (COPI), Benn Torres J. Genomic variation in Puerto Rican Afro-descendants illustrates diverse histories of African diasporic populations. American Journal of Biological Anthropology.185(3), e25059.
Arbour, L., & Cook, D. (2006). DNA on loan: issues to consider when carrying out genetic research with aboriginal families and communities. Community genetics, 9(3), 153–160. https://doi.org/10.1159/000092651
Flewellen, A.O., Odewale, A., Dunnavant, J. et al. Creating Community and Engaging Community: The Foundations of the Estate Little Princess Archaeology Project in St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands. Int J Histor Archaeol 26, 147–176 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-021-00600-z
Ávila-Arcos, M. C., de la Fuente Castro, C., Nieves-Colón, M. A., & Raghavan, M. (2022). Recommendations for Sustainable Ancient DNA Research in the Global South: Voices From a New Generation of Paleogenomicists. Frontiers in genetics, 13, 880170. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2022.880170
Marciniak, S. Hunting for Pathogens: Ancient DNA and the Historical Record. (2016). In Mant, M., & Holland, A. (Eds.). Beyond the bones : engaging with disparate datasets. Elsevier Academic Press.
Harper, K. (2023). Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History. Princeton University Press.
Nieves-Colón, M.A. and Stone, A.C. (2018). Ancient DNA Analysis in Archaeological Remains. In Katzenberg, M.A. & Grauer, A.L. (Eds.). Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton. Wiley-Blackwell.
Kowal E, Weyrich LS, Argüelles JM, Bader AC, Colwell C, Cortez AD, Davis JL, Figueiro G, Fox K, Malhi RS, Matisoo-Smith E, Nayak A, Nelson EA, Nicholas G, Nieves-Colón MA, Russell L, Ulm S, Vergara-Silva F, Villanea FA, Wagner JK, Yracheta JM, Tsosie KM. Community partnerships are fundamental to ethical ancient DNA research. Human Genetics and Genomics Advances. 42(2): 100161.
Buffalo, V. (2015). Bioinformatics Data Skills: Reproducible and Robust Research with Open Source Tools. O'Reilly Media.
Ted Lasso (TV series)
Arcane (TV series)
Dungeons & Dragons (game)
Marques, G. G. (1967). One Hundred Years of Solitude. Harper & Row.
Wynn-Williams, S. (2025). Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism. Flatiron Books.
Osman, R. (2021). The Thursday Murder Club. Penguin Books.
Sterling, E. (2021). The Ex Hex. Avon Books.
Henry, C. (2022). Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga. Black Spot Books.

Dr. Eric Shattuck of Florida State University joins the show to discuss his research on sickness behavior. He wants to know how humans tend to act when they get sick and why they act that way.

Recommendations

Dr. Shattuck's faculty page at FSU
Dr. Shattuck's personal web page
Social Health and Immunology Research (SHIRE) Lab page
Dr. Shattuck's Google Scholar profile
Shattuck, E.C. and Muehlenbein, M.P. (2015), Human sickness behavior: Ultimate and proximate explanations. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol., 157: 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22698
Shattuck, EC. (2021). Networks, cultures, and institutions: Toward a social immunology. Brain Behav Immun Health. 18:100367. doi: 10.1016/j.bbih.2021.100367. PMID: 34761241; PMCID: PMC8566934.
Stockmaier S, Stroeymeyt N, Shattuck EC, Hawley DM, Meyers LA, Bolnick DI. Infectious diseases and social distancing in nature. Science. 2021 Mar 5;371(6533):eabc8881. doi: 10.1126/science.abc8881. PMID: 33674468.
Shattuck, Eric & Muehlenbein, Michael. (2020). Religiosity/Spirituality and Physiological Markers of Health. Journal of Religion and Health. 59. 10.1007/s10943-018-0663-6.
Human Relations Area Files (HRAF)
Scavenger's Reign
Common Side Effects
Primal
Weir, A. (2021). Project Hail Mary. Ballantine Books, New York.

Summary

Dr. Erin Blankenship-Sefczek of Creighton University joins the show to discuss her research examining the connection between developmental stress and accessory cusps in teeth. Her work focuses on the placement and appearance of extra cusps that occur with greater frequency among individuals who have suffered stress during key developmental periods in their lives.

Recommendations

Dr. Blankenship-Sefczek's staff profile page at Creighton University
Blankenship-Sefczek EC, Goodman AH, Hubbe M, Hunter JP, Guatelli-Steinberg D (2024) Nutritional supplementation, tooth crown size, and trait expression in individuals from Tezonteopan, Mexico. PLOS ONE 19(6): e0305123. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0305123
Bailey SE, Hublin J-J. "What does it mean to be dentally "modern"?" [links to pdf of chapter] In: Scott GR, Irish JD, eds. Anthropological Perspectives on Tooth Morphology: Genetics, Evolution, Variation [links to site]. Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology. Cambridge University Press; 2013:222-249.
Riga, A., Belcastro, M. G., & Moggi‐Cecchi, J. (2014). Environmental stress increases variability in the expression of dental cusps. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 153(3), 397-407.
Riga, A., Belcastro, M. G., & Moggi-Cecchi, J. (2013). Environmental influence on dental morphology. arXiv preprint arXiv:1301.7334.
Jernvall J, Thesleff I. Reiterative signaling and patterning during mammalian tooth morphogenesis. Mech Dev. 2000 Mar 15;92(1):19-29. doi: 10.1016/s0925-4773(99)00322-6. PMID: 10704885.
Jernvall, J. Linking development with generation of novelty in mammalian teeth. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 97 (6) 2641-2645, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.050586297 (2000).
Smith, T. (2023). The Tales Teeth Tell. MIT Press.
Heyer, G. (1949). Arabella. William Heinneman.
Wynn-Williams, S. (2025). Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism. Flatiron books.