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Origin Stories is The Leakey Foundation's podcast about how we became human. Listen and explore human evolution one story at a time.

Oct 8, 2024

Are humans the only animals that practice medicine? In this episode, two scientists share surprising observations of orangutans and chimpanzees treating wounds–their own and others'–with plants and insects. These discoveries challenge ideas about uniquely human behaviors and offer insights into animal intelligence,...


Aug 30, 2024

Over 50,000 years ago on what is now the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, someone climbed a towering rock formation and painted a mysterious image on a cave ceiling. The painting shows three half-human, half-animal figures and a large wild pig. The image, dated to 51,200 years old, is now the oldest known visual story...


Jun 6, 2024

Early prehistorians had little more than stones and bones to work with as they tried to piece together the story of the Neanderthals, but today’s researchers work in ways that early prehistorians could never have imagined.

Archaeologist and author Rebecca Wragg Sykes' new book Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Art,...


Apr 30, 2024

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...


Apr 2, 2024

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.

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