Sausage of Science

SoS 277: Catalina Fernández discusses a new causal model of human growth using temporally sparse data

In this episode, Dr. Catalina Fernández explains a new theoretical model of human growth and its opportunities for cross-sectional and diverse samples. Dr. Catalina Fernández is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Florida Atlantic University (United States). Her research focuses on the role of food and diet in human adaptation and evolution among contemporary populations. Drawing on evolutionary and biocultural frameworks and employing mixed methods, her work investigates how subsistence strategies, nutritional histories, and the environment shape genetic, physiological, and cultural adaptations. She is particularly interested in questions related to the consequences of global market integration for human health and well-being among rural and small-scale societies. She has experience working with rural and Indigenous communities in Latin America, addressing issues related to environmental and dietary adaptations, nutrition transition, chronic disease risk, and population genetics. Her most recent research project investigates the causes of variation in child growth trajectories among non-Western populations, aiming to better inform public health interventions using culturally and environmentally appropriate strategies. Building on this work, she is developing a research program that examines the life-course health outcomes related to water and food security resulting from the climate change–driven expansion of the mining industry among indigenous communities in Chile. Contact Dr. Fernández at catafernandezh@gmail.com ------------------------------ Find the paper discussed in this episode: John A. Bunce, Catalina I. Fernández, Caissa Revilla-Minaya; A causal model of human growth and its estimation using temporally sparse data. R Soc Open Sci. 1 August 2025; 12 (8): 250084. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.250084 ------------------------------ Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and the Human Biology Association: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org Chris Lynn, Co-Host, Website: cdlynn.people.ua.edu/, E-mail: cdlynn@ua.edu, X:@Chris_Ly Mecca E. Howe, Co-Host, E-mail: howemecca@gmail.com, LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mecca-howe/

SoS 276: When the Grandmother Hypothesis Speaks, Part Two

In part two of our conversation with Dr. Kristen Hawkes, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Utah, we pick up where we left off and turn to the broader evolutionary story that grandmothering helps tell. Building on her original grandmother hypothesis, this episode focuses on her paper "Life History Evolution Explains Features of Humanity," in which she argues that post-menopausal longevity set off a cascade of life history shifts that distinguish us from our closest primate relatives. Dr. Hawkes walks us through how grandmothering can explain features that often get treated as separate evolutionary puzzles: our unusually long childhoods, late maturity, short interbirth intervals, and extended lifespans. From there, the conversation moves into the social and cognitive consequences of this life history pattern, including pair bonding, cooperative behavior, and the distinctive intensity of human social life. She also revisits how comparisons with chimpanzees and ethnographic data from the Hadza continue to inform and constrain the hypothesis. ------------------------------ Find the work discussed in this episode: Hawkes, K., & Jones, N. B. (2018). Hunter-gatherer studies and human evolution: A very selective review. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 165(4), 777-800. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23403 ------------------------------ Contact Dr. Hawkes: hawkes@anthro.utah.edu ------------------------------ Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and Human Biology Association: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc Chris Lynn, Host Website: cdlynn.people.ua.edu, E-mail: cdlynn@ua.edu, Twitter:@Chris_Ly Cristina Gildee, Co-Host & Co-Producer Website: cristinagildee.com, E-mail: cgildee@uw.edu

SoS 275: La historia de Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo y el índice de abuelidad con Darío Pacha Cardozo

Darío Cardozo es Licenciado en Biología Molecular, egresado de la Facultad de Química, Bioquímica y Farmacia de la Universidad Nacional de San Luis (Argentina), y doctor en Arqueología de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires. Sus investigaciones se han centrado en Arqueología Histórica, uniendo el análisis de los documentos históricos, la información genética y los datos isotópicos de dieta y movilidad a partir de los restos arqueológicos humanos del Cementerio Indígena de Baradero. Posteriormente realizó un posdoctorado, donde investigó acerca de la ancestría de los restos encontrados en el cementerio de las ruinas de San Francisco de la provincia de Mendoza. En esta misma línea, realizó una pasantía en ADN antiguo y nuevas técnicas de secuenciación masiva en el laboratorio de Antropología de la Universidad de Kansas, EEUU. Ha sido docente de Biología Molecular y Genética en la Universidad Nacional de San Luis, la Universidad Maimónides y la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales de la UBA. Además, hace seis años que es docente de la cátedra de Antropología Biológica de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la UBA. Cursó la especialización en Genética, DDHH y Sociedad de la Universidad Nacional Tres de Febrero. Forma parte del grupo de Genética y Sociedad, conformado por antropólogues, biológues y estudiantes de antropología. En esta línea, ha comenzado a investigar acerca de los aspectos éticos legales y sociales de las nuevas técnicas de secuenciación masiva, en particular en torno a la genética forense. Hace dos años que forma parte del equipo de Biología Molecular y Genética Forense del Banco Nacional de Datos Genéticos, trabajando, principalmente, en el análisis genético de los restos óseos de familiares o posibles nietes. Trabajo discutido en el episodio de hoy: "LAS ABUELAS Y LA GENÉTICA” El aporte de la ciencia en la búsqueda de los chicos desaparecidos ------------------------------ Contact Dr. Cardozo: dcardozo@bndg.gob.ar ------------------------------ Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and Human Biology Association: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc Anahi Ruderman, SoS Co-Producer, HBA Junior Fellow E-mail: aniruderman@cenpat-conicet.gob.ar

SoS 274: Female competition and the power of gossip: from sororities to small-scale societies with Dr. Nicole Hess

In this episode, Chris interviews Dr. Nicole Hess about her research on female competition, indirect aggression, gossip, and “Informational Warfare” theory in U.S. sororities and small-scale societies in the Central African Republic. They also discuss the various challenges of field work, including personal and sociopolitical risks. Dr. Hess is a scholarly associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Washington, Vancouver. Dr. Hess studies gossip, friendship, cooperation, and coalitional competition. She conducted fieldwork in the Central African Republic and college Greek communities, and has conducted numerous experiments testing hypotheses derived from "Informational Warfare" theory, which proposes that coalitions may be useful in reputational competition (via, e.g., gossip) due to their improved abilities to collect, analyze, and disseminate relevant information. Trained as a multidisciplinary social scientist, Dr. Hess uses diverse quantitative and qualitative methods to explore human sociality and cognition, including psychological experiments, surveys, interviews, and ethnographic work. Dr. Hess received her PhD from UC Santa Barbara in biological anthropology and has worked for the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and the Institute for Theoretical Biology at Humboldt University. Contact Dr. Hess at nicolehess@wsu.edu ------------------------------ Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and the Human Biology Association: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org Chris Lynn, Co-Host, Website: cdlynn.people.ua.edu/, E-mail: cdlynn@ua.edu, Twitter:@Chris_Ly

SoS 273: When the Grandmother Hypothesis Speaks w/ Dr. Kristen Hawkes (Part 1)

In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Chris and Cristina are joined by Dr. Kristen Hawkes, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Utah and one of the most influential evolutionary anthropologists in the field. Drawing on decades of fieldwork with the Ache of eastern Paraguay and the Hadza of northern Tanzania, her work challenged long-standing assumptions about hunting, showing that men’s hunting often functions less as direct provisioning and more as social signaling. Dr. Hawkes is also the architect of the grandmother hypothesis, a foundational idea in evolutionary anthropology. This framework argues that grandmothers play a critical role in supporting offspring when mothers have new infants, helping to drive key features of human life history, including longer lifespans, slower development, and shorter birth intervals. By integrating ethnographic data, comparative primate evidence, and formal modeling, her research has reshaped our understanding of human longevity, menopause, and social behavior. In this episode, we focus on her paper “Revisiting the Grandmother Hypothesis and Human Longevity,” where she returns to the core logic of grandmothering and its role in explaining why humans live so long compared to other apes. Part 2 (airing in a few weeks) zooms out to explore how these dynamics scale up to explain broader features of human life history and social evolution. ------------------------------ Find the work discussed in this episode: Hawkes, K., & Jones, N. B. (2018). Hunter-gatherer studies and human evolution: A very selective review. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 165(4), 777-800. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23403 Hawkes, K. (2025). Revisiting “Grandmothers and the Evolution of Human Longevity,” 2003 AJHB https://doi.Org/10.1002/ajhb.10156. American Journal of Human Biology, 37(4), e70045. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.70045 Hawkes, K. (2025). Life history evolution explains so many features of humanity. In Reference Module in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology (Chapter 27). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-27380-3.00027-0 ------------------------------ Contact Dr. Hawkes: hawkes@anthro.utah.edu ------------------------------ Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and Human Biology Association: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc Chris Lynn, Host Website: cdlynn.people.ua.edu, E-mail: cdlynn@ua.edu, Twitter:@Chris_Ly Cristina Gildee, Co-Host & Co-Producer Website: cristinagildee.com, E-mail: cgildee@uw.edu