What’s Behind the U.S. War on Science?
Thousands of demonstrators joined the March for Science in Washington, D.C., in 2017 against then-President Donald Trump’s attacks on science. Astrid Riecken/The Washington Post/Getty Images …
Tag: Science
Chasing the Myths of Mexico’s “Superrunners”
Surrounded by torch-bearing supporters, runners kick a ball as part of a traditional rarajípare racing event practiced by the Rarámuri people of Mexico. Marcos Ferro On a mesa…
The World Health Organization (WHO): A Problem of Trust
Over the past twenty years or so, what has been the record of the World Health Organization when it comes to major public health crises? Has the WHO…
What Makes Injections Hard to Swallow?
Humanity’s long history with medicinal compounds might explain some of the preference for one delivery mechanism over another. Xathity Perm Prayochn/EyeEm/Getty Images If you’re watching …
An Archaeologist on the Railroad of Death
WWII Allied prisoners of war and civilian laborers worked in horrendous conditions to install a railway between Thailand and Burma. Australian War Memorial, P00406.026 In retrospect, I wa…
My Reflections Two Years After Surviving a Classroom Shooting
Today marks two years since a classroom shooting happened while teaching my final class at University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Six students were shot, two of which…
Archaeology in the Ashes of Notre Dame
The Notre Dame fire was devastating but has opened the door to research on building materials now available for study. Aurélia Azéma/Laboratoire de Recherche des Monuments Historiques The…
How Cellphones Make and Break Human Connections
Cellphones have become an integral part of many people’s lives. Towfiqu Barbhuiya/EyeEm/Getty Images Cellphones have come to occupy increasingly important roles in everyone’s lives, from …
Can Social Scientists Help Control Epidemics?
A poster in an Ebola response center breaks down the evolving response to the epidemic—including efforts to address social and cultural concerns. Annie Wilkinson On May 24, 2014,…
A Brief Lindbergh Update
One of my more popular posts of late has been The Fall and Rise of Lindbergh: A Javelina Story. In that post, I tell the story of a…
Why Are Black People’s Remains in Museums?
Many U.S. museums, including those housed at Harvard University, collected and currently still store human remains. Smith Collection/Gado/Archive Photos via Getty Images This article was …
How Scientific Taxonomy Constructed the Myth of Race
[no-caption] Hiroshi Watanabe/Getty Images As a graduate assistant in biological anthropology at the University at Buffalo, I was tasked with curating the primate skeletal collection. The…
Contested Truths over COVID-19 in Africa: Introduction by Jia Hui Lee
One of the most significant challenges to confronting and mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic concerns the manufacturing, circulation, and interpretation of what we call “contested truths.” By this term…
What’s Behind Match Day’s Algorithm?
The opening of Match Day letters at medical schools across the U.S., including Penn State College of Medicine (shown here), has become an annual rite of passage. Penn…
The Fall and Rise and Lindbergh: A Javelina Story
I have been working with javelinas in Texas for nearly a year. My first encounter with them occurred at Big Bend National Park and I have since visited…
Did a Magnetic Field Reversal Doom Neanderthals?
I remember exactly where I was when I first learned about magnetic field reversals: sitting in a lab as an undergraduate student in a geoarchaeology class. I knew…
Why Write for SAPIENS?
In the summer of 1960, Jane Goodall left England for what is now Gombe National Park in Tanzania. With the aid of legendary paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey, Goodall was…
The Phantom Forests That Built Mesa Verde
Mesa Verde National Park (MVNP) in what is today southwestern Colorado is a UNESCO World Heritage site dedicated to the preservation and presentation of the amazing cliff dwellings…
Mapping Human and Neanderthal Genomes
Back in 1990, researchers embarked on an epic project to map out all of human DNA: the Human Genome Project. Their first draft of the human genome was…
Is Love a Biological Reality?
Helen Fisher knows more about love than most. As a biological anthropologist who studies the topic, she has been a chief scientific adviser to the internet dating site…
Fields of Vision: On Biodynamic Farming, Ecological Entanglement, and the Nature of Knowledge
Editorial Note: This post is part of our series highlighting the work of the Anthropology and Environment Society’s 2020 Roy A. Rappaport Prize Finalists. We asked them to outline…
Time to Rethink Teeth
Tooth enamel growth starts before birth and continues until adult teeth are fully formed. Ksenia Chernaya/Pexels Four years ago, I found myself cataloguing some dusty containers of about…
Covid-19, Nordic trust and collective denial: Sweden and Norway compared
In March 2020, as the pandemic strengthened its grip around Europe and the world, I wondered how I would manage my weekly work commute from Stockholm to Oslo…
How to “Co-Live” With a Natural Hazard
Tungurahua, an active volcano in Ecuador, sits amid farming communities that have dwelled alongside it for generations. A.J. Faas As the Andes mountain range curves through Ecuador, it…