Is a “Sweet Tooth” Genetic?
An anthropologist explains the evolutionary origins of why so many people seem practically programmed to love sugar. This article was originally published at The Conversation and has been…
Tag: environment
Targets for pollution
If we are going to do maps, some sort of campaign aspect is implied. Here are ten areas of geocide to consider (a Daly is years of life…
Do Mountains Have Souls?
An anthropologist explores the resurgence of “new Animism”—interest in spiritual practices that recognize the interrelationships among animals, places, plants, and people. This article was originally…
Hunting Down the Facts About Paleo Diets
An evolutionary anthropologist argues that Paleolithic diets were much more varied than people think based on his research with the Hadza community, contemporary hunter-gatherers in Tanzania. This ar…
Book Review: Horizon Work: At the Edge of Knowledge in an Age of Runaway Climate Change by Adriana Petryna
In Horizon Work: At the Edge of Knowledge in an Age of Runaway Climate Change, Adriana Petryna explores ‘horizoning’ as a conceptual device that sets up new ranges and circumstances for…
How Can Societies Decolonize Conservation?
Two archaeologists reflect on how social hierarchies harm biodiversity and how to move away from conservation efforts based on colonialist values. ✽ When I (Tim) arrived in Hanalei,…
Why Indigenous Fire Management Works
Three researchers use a study of the cypress pine in Arnhem Land, Australia, to explain why large-scale, institutional fire management is inferior to sustainable cultural burning. This article…
Extracting Hominin Evolution From Fossilized Teeth
Two anthropologists explain how analyses of oxygen isotopes from 17-million-year-old ape teeth could lead to new insights on early human evolution amid environmental changes. This article was origina…
Was Our Skin Meant for the Sun?
An anthropologist examines the history of human skin under the sun, revealing how evolution and culture conspired to shape our outermost organ. This article was originally published at…
Platypod, Episode Three: Disability, Toxicity, and the Environment
Platypod In this episode, Platypod presents a conversation between Elizabeth Roberts (the University of Michigan) and Sophia Jaworski (the University of Toronto). They discuss the complexities of corp…
Book Review: Tigers are our Brothers: Anthropology of Wildlife Conservation in Northeast India by Ambika Aiyadurai
In Tigers are our Brothers: Anthropology of Wildlife Conservation in Northeast India, Ambika Aiyadurai offers an ethnographic study of wildlife conservation in Northeast India, examining the relations…
Food Sovereignty vs. Food Aid: Why Smallscale Farming Suffers
Traditional farming in al-Ahjur, Central Highlands (photography by Daniel Martin Varisco) The early major civilizations in the Middle East and Asia with their head start several millennia ago…
Book Review: Building on Borrowed Time: Rising Seas and Failing Infrastructure in Semarang by Lukas Ley
In Building on Borrowed Time: Rising Seas and Failing Infrastructure in Semarang, Lukas Ley offers a new ethnography exploring how people in Semarang, Indonesia, deal with the everyday threat of…
What Ended This Hub of Ancient Maya Life?
A bioarchaeologist reflects on how a team of scientists investigated various elements that contributed to the destabilization and ultimate breakdown of Mayapán. This article was originally published …
A Reader’s Question About Surviving the Ice Age
An anthropologist describes the multiple ice ages of the Earth’s past and how our species survived the most recent one. This article was originally published at The Conversation…
We are probably all black centipedes at heart
Dream note: I have to arrange my own boat, a massive crustacean-covered barge rowed with huge crab/octopus like mechanical oars and a front that folds over with a…
Counting on Montane Birds: Biologists, Verticality, and Territorial Defense in Colombia
This piece is about the unforeseen and sometimes overlooked connection between (i) birds living in the forests of Colombia’s high tropical Andes, (ii) local biologists supporting an anti-mining…
Book Review: Remaindered Life by Neferti X. M. Tadiar
In Remaindered Life, Neferti X. M. Tadiar examines ‘remaindered life’ that goes beyond the binary understanding of productive and disposable life propagated under global capitalism. This c…
Looking Into the World of Frog Gigging
The moon emerged out of the clouds at a few minutes past midnight, reflecting on the murky water of a forest pond. I watched as Wyatt*, the organizer…
Looking Into the World of Frog Gigging
Frog hunters, known as “giggers,” search for bullfrogs in southern Indiana. Saish Solankar The moon emerged out of the clouds at a few minutes past midnight, reflecting on…
What Ancient Stone “Swiss Army Knives” Mean
This article was originally published in The Conversation and has been republished under Creative Commons. Humans are the only species to live in every environmental niche in the…
What Ancient Stone “Swiss Army Knives” Mean
Multipurpose ancient stone tools harbor more clues about human sociality than initially meet the eye. Paloma de la Peñ This article was originally published in The Conversation and…
Sister Parks: North American Coloniality and the Monarch Butterfly
Monarch migration and the making of North America At the end of each summer, the northern prairies and Great Lakes regions of North America host a new generation…
Techno-geographies of digital phenotyping in mental health research by Jessy Williams
Can your phone keep you mentally well? Developments in digital phenotyping have brought new attention to forms of behavioural data collection that capitalise on the apparent ubiquity of…