The Deep Roots of Navajo Country Music
[no-caption] Marcel Hirshegger/SAPIENS What is it about certain musical traditions that cause them to take root in communities far away from where they originated? Anthropologist Kristina…
Author: Daniel Salas
Are Colors Universal?
[no-caption] Marcel Hirshegger/SAPIENS Remember the meme #TheDress? Was it white and gold, or blue and black? With the help of Nicola Jones, a freelance science journalist who writes…
Stringing Together an Ancient Empire’s Stories
For centuries, Andean people encoded messages in intricate patterns of knotted and colored strings known as khipus. Thanks to the collaborative approach of anthropologist Sabine Hyland and others,…
Where Have All the Denisovans Gone?
[no-caption] Marcel Hirshegger/SAPIENS The Denisovans have long been one of the most elusive ancient human cousins, until now. In May 2019, scientists revealed the first fossil evidence o…
Eating Insects and the Yuck Factor
[no-caption] Marcel Hirshegger/SAPIENS How come some people think eating insects is disgusting? Join SAPIENS hosts Jen Shannon and Chip Colwell as they dine on many-legged delicacies and …
Fat Gets No Respect (But That Should Change)
Every human has it. But nearly every human society sees it differently. Fat. What purpose does it serve? In this video, a collaboration between SAPIENS and Aeon, anthropological…
What 2018 Taught Us About Everything Human
In the fall of 2018, thousands of migrants, mainly from Central America, approached the U.S.-Mexico border, hoping for an opportunity to seek asylum in the U.S. Here, a…
Being Afghan in America: In the Field With Morwari Zafar
[no-caption] David Williams/SAPIENS How does an immigrant become an “American”? How does any newcomer join any group? SAPIENS host Esteban Gómez shares the story of Morwari Zafar, an…
Best of SAPIENS 2018
[no-caption] Sara López Gilabert Thanks to our excellent contributors, we had more than 80 articles to choose from in voting for our favorite SAPIENS pieces of 2018. After…
What’s the Cost of Quinoa?
SAPIENS host Jen Shannon goes on a mission to find out how quinoa travels from farmers’ fields in Huanoquite, Peru, to markets in Lima and the U.S. She…
How to Care for the Dead
Scientists have thought about burial—the act of interring a dead body—as a distinctly human behavior. So what happened when a group of paleoanthropologists discovered a primitive hominid that…
BONUS: What Carl Zimmer Learned About DNA, Identity, and Heredity
Surprise! As a special holiday treat, the SAPIENS team is presenting this unedited conversation between SAPIENS host Chip Colwell and acclaimed science journalist Carl Zimmer about DNA, identity,…
Is Space a Human Place?
[no-caption] David Williams/SAPIENS From space junk and the International Space Station to space colonization and SpaceX, space is becoming a more human place. What will it mean when…
Power Players: US Football and French Rugby
[no-caption] David Williams/SAPIENS Some athletes seem larger than life. They are revered and imitated—and they seemingly hold a lot of power. But whether they feel empowered in their…
The Mastodon in the Room
[no-caption] David Williams/SAPIENS Humans may have been in North America much earlier than previously thought. Here’s the evidence: chipped rocks, crushed mastodon bones, and reliable da…
Is Robot Empathy a Trap?
[no-caption] David Williams/SAPIENS Can robots care? And why should we care if they do? SAPIENS host Jen Shannon meets Pepper the robot, and host Chip Colwell goes on…
Is Your DNA You?
[no-caption] David Williams/SAPIENS What does your DNA have to do with who you are? On a journey for answers, SAPIENS hosts Chip Colwell, Jen Shannon, and Esteban Gómez…
Announcing SAPIENS: A Podcast for Everything Human
What makes you … you? Is it your DNA, culture, or environment? SAPIENS is releasing its first podcast series to explore our world in new ways through the…
Would You Like to Be a Columnist for SAPIENS?
Do you have stories to tell? SAPIENS is searching for new, talented writers from all fields of anthropology to share their experiences and insights with our worldwide readership.…
Ladders to Other Worlds
As a symbol of cultural continuity, the wooden pueblo ladder connects its users to their ancestors, the universe, their spiritual beliefs, and one another. Pueblo Indian communities in…
History Lost to Sea
On a bright and buggy day in July 2014, Max Friesen, whiskered and encased in denim and Gore-Tex, inched across a stretch of tundra overlooking the East Channel…
Out! “Curb” or “Truck”?
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond. Crown Publishers, March 2016. On the cool September day that Arleen Beale and her two boys moved…
Airplane Food
Late in January, I boarded a long-haul flight, 27 hours and 5 minutes, 9,405 miles, three connections. I packed emergency Larabars (food for quick energy), ordered gluten-free meals…
Martin Luther King Jr., in Sapphire
There are many ways to memorialize the immortal Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., the most famous and important civil rights leader of our time. Many, if not most,…