logo
episode-header-image
Dec 2024
29m 19s

Where to meet a Neanderthal

Vox
About this episode
We know Neanderthals and early modern humans coupled up. But when did they meet, exactly? And where? Some fossilized smoke and a baby tooth might hold clues. Guest: Adam Cole of HowTown For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable ... Show More
Up next
Yesterday
Everyone does it. Why can’t I?
I’m about to burst. Guests: Laryngologist Dr. Robert Bastian and Noel King, co-host and editorial director of the Vox daily news podcast Today, Explained For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to sign up for our newsletter, view show transcripts, and read ... Show More
39m 35s
Feb 4
Mysterious objects near the beginning of time
Astronomers are putting together a new picture of the early universe. It involves a lot of very weird black holes, and it could help us understand how our own galaxy formed. Guest: Caitlin Casey, astronomer at UC Santa Barbara ⁠ For show transcripts, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠v ... Show More
26m 16s
Feb 2
Cloud atlas
It’s surprisingly hard to predict how clouds form, move, and change, but it’s essential to try. Because how clouds react to a warming world helps determine how hot our future will be. Guests: Vox contributor Umair Irfan, scientists Scott M. Collis, Angeline Pendergrass, and autho ... Show More
29m 2s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2024
Understanding Neanderthals
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 Ki ... Show More
43m 9s
Feb 2025
The Last Neanderthals
<p>For hundreds of thousands of years Neanderthals have roamed the lands of what is today Europe and western Asia. But how did they survive, and what caused their decline?</p><br><p>Tristan Hughes delves into the fate of the last Neanderthals and continues our Ice Age mini-series ... Show More
53m 57s
Feb 2025
Could You Survive Living With Other Hominin Species?
Today, we Homo sapiens are used to being the only hominin on the planet, but in the Early Pleistocene Epoch, other upright-walking, tool-wielding, large-brained hominins roamed the Earth. In a time when behavior might be the key tool to survival, could you?--Eons is a production ... Show More
1h 11m
Sep 2025
Skull rewrites story of human evolution; Autism and Tylenol; discovery of wind coming from black hole
Episode 322 An ancient skull discovered in China may have just rewritten the story of human evolution. It’s widely accepted that the common ancestor of Homo sapiens, Denisovans and Neanderthals came out of Africa. But this skull upends that assumption - potentially showing human ... Show More
33m 57s
Aug 2025
Selects: What Were the BONE WARS?
A pair of old timey fossil hunters had a rootin’ tootin’ rivalry that spilled from academic journals into the American Wild West - where fossils were dynamited and employees turned double agent. Learn about the two-fisted origins of American paleontology in this classic episode.S ... Show More
53m 4s
Aug 2025
Chikungunya Outbreak, Glacial Outbursts and a New Human Ancestor
The chikungunya virus is rapidly spreading in China. Could it make its way to the U.S.? Meanwhile in Alaska a glacial lake outburst flooded the nearby Mendenhall River to record levels. And in Ethiopia fossilized teeth reveal a new species of Australopithecus—one that possibly li ... Show More
10m 50s
Jun 2022
Focus – Learning Language
How do we learn to talk? When do babies first understand language? And how do scientists study language learning in the lab? In this Focus episode of How We’re Wired, join producer Dr Eva Higginbotham as she visits the Oxford Brookes Babylab to understand how babies make sense of ... Show More
19m 55s
Feb 2025
Sample Return Missions - What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
This time Dr Becky Smethurst and Izzie Clarke discover why it’s touch and go when it comes to returning asteroid samples to Earth and hear how we’ve been exchanging spit with Mars since the dawn of the Solar System. The team is joined by Dr Sara Russell, a meteorite researcher at ... Show More
46m 40s
Sep 2024
Epigenetics & The Full Story of Inheritance with Bianca Jones Marlin
<p>Was Lamarckian evolution actually right? Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chuck Nice, & Gary O’Reilly learn about the new field of epigenetics and how the lived experiences of past generations can get passed down genetically with neuroscientist & epigeneticist Bianca Jones Marlin.</p><p>N ... Show More
50m 3s
Mar 2025
New Research on The Evolution of Intelligent Life
<p>The guests today are co-authors of a new paper in <em>Science Advances</em> titled: "A reassessment of the 'hard-steps' model for the evolution of intelligent life."</p> <p>Jennifer Macalady is a Professor of Geosciences at the Pennsylvania State University. Her research is fo ... Show More
1h 12m