Aug 31, 2026
Dr. Briana Pobiner of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's Human Origins Program joins the show to talk about cut marks. She discusses how we can tell what's a cut mark vs. other bone damage and how cut marks can illuminate human evolution along with illustrating migration and behavioral patterns in the...
Jul 29, 2026
Dr. Christiane Baigent of Colorado Mesa University runs the Forensic Investigation Resource Station (FIRS), which is the highest body farm in the world. We talk about how bodies decompose at high altitude and how it can differ from decomp at lower altitude. Dr. Baigent also shares some of the behind-the-scenes...
Jun 30, 2026
Dr. Raquel Fleskes of Dartmouth joins the show to talk about her work using ancient DNA to uncover the past in the Tidewater and South Carolina. Most people think about ancient DNA being used for, well, ancient skeletons, but ancient DNA can also be used in more recent contexts to illuminate the near past. We also...
May 29, 2026
Dr. Andrew Best of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts joined the show to talk about sweat -- what it is, when we do it, how we vary, and why it makes humans different from most other animals.
Apr 22, 2026
Ron Romano of Spirits Alive (a non-profit dedicated to preserving Eastern Cemetery and its history) joins the show to talk about gravestone symbolism, mortuary practices, cemetery organization and social status, and the evolution of gravestone creation in Eastern Cemetery of Portland, ME.
Cemeteries reveal a lot about...