Until very recently, Homo sapiens - our species - was only one of several varieties of humans on this planet. As our ancestors spread outward from Africa in their great migration, they encountered those other species. The results of those encounters left us a genetic legacy that is still with us today.
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Yesterday
Recent Discoveries in the Ancient Americas: Professor Shane Miller Returns
Every year, new archaeological discoveries claim to rewrite what we think we knew about the ancient Americas, but how much can we trust the initial reports we see? Professor Shane Miller, now of the University of Alabama, joins me again to place the White Sands footprints and oth ... Show More
52m 41s
Jan 1
Interview with Professor Tom Birkett on "Runes: A Concise History"
Runic writing carries connotations of magic and fantasy, but it was a widespread, useful, and long-lasting system of writing. Professor Tom Birkett has written a fantastic overview of runic writing that returns it to the real time and place in which it existed - Runes: A Concise ... Show More
42m 48s
Feb 2019
Neanderthals: Death of a Human Species
Mo welcomes his friend Michael Ian Black – comedian, author, podcaster, and, as it turns out, Neanderthal (we’ll explain). Mo talks to Michael and the world’s leading researchers about why our extinct human cousins Neanderthals have gotten such a bad rap for so many many years, a ... Show More
41m 23s
Aug 2018
Revolution | The Populist | 6
<p>Millions immigrated to the United States after its founding, entranced with the promise of a better life. But the country they found was rough and tumble, less developed than the land they left, and had some serious issues. Last week we looked at slavery, and today we'll go in ... Show More
37m 28s
May 2018
History Through Innovation | Interview with Steven Johnson | 7
<p>The phone in your hand is more powerful than all of the computers that put a man on the moon, combined. In the age of supercomputers, driverless cars, and mail-order DNA testing it’s easy to forget that the journey to these incredible innovations was a lot of surprising moment ... Show More
40m 41s
Apr 2022
Our Mysterious Planet: Humans
What was life like for our earliest ancestors? Which of our qualities are uniquely human, and which are just... primal? From the discoveries of paleoanthropologists, to the experiments of evolutionary biologists, today we’re examining the mysteries of our species — and what exact ... Show More
39m 10s