The Insight: Recent Episodes
Insitome: Your guide to the story of you
Where did we come from? One of humanity's most basic questions, the answer is fascinating. Weaving together insights from the fields of genetics, archaeology, linguistics, and paleoanthropology, hosts Spencer Wells and Razib Khan take us on a grand tour of human history. Scientific storytelling at its best.
Razib discusses the new book Survival of the Friendliest: Understanding Our Origins and Rediscovering Our Common Humanity with one of the authors.
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B07ZC6XGGX/geneexpressio-20
Razib talks to evolutionary anthropologist Joe Henrich about his new book, The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous, https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B07RZFCPMD/geneexpressio-20
Razib talks to Stuart Ritchie about his new book, Science Fictions: How Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1250222699/geneexpressio-20
Razib and Spencer discuss the geography, prehistory, and genetics, of Siberia. Also, the time Spencer experienced a Siberian winter!
Razib and Spencer discuss why the geology and biogeography of Southeast Asia may explain why it is so important in the history of human evolution. Show notes: https://blog.insito.me/humanitys-second-cradle-in-southeast-asia-cbb26244f08a
Razib discusses revolutionary new work published in Nature that tells us that modern humans were present in the Americas 32,000 years ago with one of the authors, Lorena Becerra-Valdivia.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02190-y
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2509-0
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2509-0
Spencer and Razib talk about what we mean when we say "ghost population" in human genetics, and why it's so important to understand our origins.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2842210/
https://www.genetics.org/content/192/3/1065.short
Razib talks to Alex Ioannidis on the new paper which he is a first author of which argues that there is pre-Columbian Native American ancestry in Eastern Polynesia. Did the Polynesians bring them back from the mainland? Or did they voyage themselves?
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2487-2
Razib and Spencer talk about what a new ancient DNA paper from Neolithic Ireland suggests about radical inequality and power differentials in early agricultural societies, and what that says about the transition from hunting and gathering more generally https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2378-6
(also, coronavirus update!)
Spencer and Razib discuss what the humanities can offer to science with Kerim Yasar, professor of East Asian literature https://twitter.com/nihonkyo
Razib talks to Dr. Emily Deans on what's like to work in psychiatry today in a world with personal genomics. https://twitter.com/evolutionarypsy
Spencer and Razib discuss current events in the context of cultural evolution. The history of decline, the American "Empire", and Peter Turchin's thoughts on social disorder http://peterturchin.com/cliodynamica/the_2020/
This week Razib talks to Dan Crouch about what we know about the genetics of the variation shape and features. https://www.pnas.org/content/115/4/E676.short
Spencer and Razib discuss the latest ancient DNA work that sheds light on East Asian prehistory (and also some coronavirus status update) https://reich.hms.harvard.edu/sites/reich.hms.harvard.edu/files/inline-files/YangSciecne2020.pdf
(excuse the "sound effects" early in the podcast!)
Razib catches up with Chris Stinger on the state of paleoanthropology in 2020 and the ramifications of what genetics has taught us about the diversity in Denisovans in the past few years!
Razib talks to Chad Niederhuth at Michigan State on the promise of GMO agriculture! http://niederhuthlab.com/
Spencer and Razib discuss the state of the pandemic, why Spencer is skeptical of rapid vaccine development, and the political and cultural fallout of COVID-19. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/04/29/847755751/compared-to-china-u-s-stay-at-home-has-been-a-giant-garden-party-journalist-says
https://medium.com/@spwells
Spencer describes Wallace's encounter with Indonesia and his insight into evolution by natural selection.
Razib talks to Libby Copeland about her new book, The Lost Family: How DNA Testing is Upending Who We Are https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/lost-family_9781419743009/
Spencer and Razib discuss the updates to the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 as of mid-April. Spencer delves into the possible social and cultural ramifications, and they both discuss the trajectory internationally and into the future.
This week Spencer and Razib discuss the latest discoveries about the paleogenetic history of East Asia. Where did the Tibetans, Han, and Japanese come from? https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.25.004606v1 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.25.008078v1
Razib and Spencer discuss the state-of-the-pandemic at the end of March 2020. https://blog.insito.me/the-insight-show-notes-season-3-episode-13-pandemic-c6640de64d6b
Razib talks to Austin Reynolds about what he's discovered about adaptation in indigenous peoples of the New World. https://www.pnas.org/content/116/19/9312.short
An excerpt from Spencer's book Pandora's Seed about the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia in 1815.
Razib talks to Dr. Jessica Chong of the University of Washington about how genomics has changed how we view and understand rare disorders https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002929719302745
Razib talks to Dr. Sohini Ramachandran of Brown about her classical paper from 2005 which showed decreasing genetic diversity as a function of distance from Africa https://www.pnas.org/content/102/44/15942
Razib and Spencer talk about the history of ancient Egypt, and the insights genetics can shed on the origins of the ancient Egyptians https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15694
Razib and Spencer talk all things genetic and prehistorical Southeast Asia! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6476732/ https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-02185511/file/Science%20paper%20ORI.pdf https://insitome.libsyn.com/paradise-lost
Spencer and Razib discuss the evolutionary and historical context of zoonotic diseases, and their relevance to current events.
Razib talks to Melinda Mills about the intersection of demographics and genetics. https://www.rsfjournal.org/content/rsfjss/4/4/122.full.pdf
Razib talks to Anders Bergstrom of the Crick Institute about the genetic history of New Guinea https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5802383/
This week Spencer and Razib discuss the ramifications of a new paper which reports on the ancient DNA of West Africans who lived 8,000 and 3,000 years ago. https://reich.hms.harvard.edu/sites/reich.hms.harvard.edu/files/inline-files/Shum_Laka_published_online_0.pdf
This week Razib discusses the genetics and history of the Levant with Dr. Marc Haber. https://blog.insito.me/3-000-years-in-the-levant-8aba846b18ae
Spencer and Razib offer up 10 predictions for what genetics will bring in the 2020s, from free sequencing to going beyond "Out of Africa." https://blog.insito.me/top-10-human-genetics-evolution-predictions-for-the-2020s-c93f3ef74b4f
What was big in human evolution and genetics over the last 10 years? https://blog.insito.me/top-10-human-genetics-evolution-developments-of-the-2010s-1a8c5c213d35?
Talking the genetic history of Scandinavians with Torsten Günther. Show notes https://blog.insito.me/the-insight-show-notes-season-2-episode-33-scandinavian-genetics-d4e6e4deeaaf
Razib talks about a Denisovan finding from Tibet with Dr. Frido Welker. Show notes: https://pxlme.me/jcQr2gSy
Razib talks to a researcher who developed a method to predict extreme obesity looking at genetic profiles. Show notes: https://pxlme.me/76367O2I
Razib discusses the evolutionary and ecological context of human families with Dr. Rebecca Sear. https://blog.insito.me/the-insight-show-notes-season-2-episode-30-evolution-of-family-5f8db79194d9
Evolutionary biology and computer science don't seem to have much in common. But this week Razib talks to a geneticist who brings both together in his research. https://blog.insito.me/the-insight-show-notes-season-2-episode-29-deep-learning-and-population-genetics-ffebb7278bc8
Razib talks to Emilia Huerta-Sanchez about her finding that altitude adaptation in Tibetans is due to Denisovan admixture. https://pxlme.me/RECg03af
This week Razib talks to two researchers who have published a paper that reconstructs the relationships between a group of people who seem to have been killed in a conflict during the Neolithic in Poland. Show notes https://pxlme.me/Iy2T9T_T
This week Razib talks to Dr. John Greally on what epigenetics really is, and why it is important. Show notes https://pxlme.me/ZoXCz98p
Razib talks to Rodrigo Martinez of Veritas Genetics about what the age of "social genomics" will mean to us. https://pxlme.me/uWk0IqrZ
Spencer and Razib discuss who the Denisovans were, where they lived, and what it means for us as humans. https://pxlme.me/UPzHwYX6
Razib talks to evolutionary psychologist Steve Stewart-Williams about how the origins of our mind can inform how we interact with the world around us. Show notes: https://pxlme.me/cxm84D_0
Razib talks to Alexander Young on whether the missing heritability is solved, and what it is in the first place https://pxlme.me/LgByOD37
Razib discusses the genetics of Pleistocene Europeans with Cosimo Posth. https://pxlme.me/Rxv09mQ2
David Sloan Wilson talks about the application of evolutionary theory to policy and people, and his book, This View of Life: Completing the Darwinian Revolution. https://pxlme.me/PqJs9Qy6
Asya Pereltsvaig joins us to talk about historical linguistics, how language evolution relates to genetic evolution (or not), and what sorts of features are important in creating a phylogenetic tree of languages. https://pxlme.me/S7aXK2Bf
This week Razib talks to Dr. Lara Cassidy about what genetics can tell us about Ireland's history. https://pxlme.me/mUUwq7u9
This week we talk about behavior geneticists with one of the doyens of the field, Robert Plomin. Show notes: https://pxlme.me/wv1-WXQK
Archaeologist Jeff Rose talks about the incredible Paleolithic finds in Oman and their implications for the origins of modern humanity. Show notes: https://pxlme.me/l2uKidYt
This week we talked to evolutionary biologist Steve Phelps about love. Show notes: https://pxlme.me/Qe6cieei
This week Razib and Spencer talk to Judy Russell and Debbie Kennett about the recent controversy about Family Tree DNA's cooperation with law enforcement. Show notes: https://pxlme.me/QulNHrT_
This week Razib and Spencer talk to Bastien Llamas, a researcher at the University of Adelaide, about the recent expose about ancient DNA in The New York Times Magazine. Show notes: https://pxlme.me/4OULrz6S
This week Razib discusses cultural evolution with anthropologist Richard McElreath. Show notes: https://pxlme.me/HCVcxcZh
This week, Spencer and Razib discuss the stories which defined 2018 in genomics. Show notes: https://pxlme.me/35Tq7n7g
This week Razib and Spencer discuss the changes occurring in the genetics of Africa, and the ramifications for all of us. Show notes: https://pxlme.me/83LHp9kw
This week Razib and Spencer discuss the genetics of the HBO series Game of Thrones. Show notes: https://pxlme.me/6l7Cf6ZI
This week, Spencer and Razib talk about "CRISPR babies" in China with Antonio Regalado. Show notes: https://pxlme.me/w385xwhK
This week, Spencer and Razib talk about the genetics of taste. Show notes: https://pxlme.me/oB4DsDaI
This week, Spencer and Razib talk about the history and genetics of the Native Americans. Show notes: https://pxlme.me/ovEQFyCr
This week, Spencer and Razib talk about the intersection of Halloween and genetics. Show notes: https://pxlme.me/Jx54AZoN
This week Gareth and Razib talk about their impressions of the American Society of Human Genetics meeting for 2018. Show notes: https://pxlme.me/NebRLt1P
This week Spencer and Razib talk about the genetics of the Finns, and the Uralic people more generally. Show notes: https://pxlme.me/GYn1-9Jv
This week, Razib and Spencer discuss the history, genetics and anthropology of India.
Show notes: https://pxlme.me/lMHHXFZb
This week, Razib and Spencer discuss the genetics and peopling of Hawaii
Show notes: https://pxlme.me/HB8t-6GG
This week, Razib and Spencer review the legacy of the late L. L. Cavalli-Sforza.
Show notes: https://pxlme.me/sMSUF9il
This week, Razib talks to Dr. Austin Reynolds, an early career geneticist at UC Davis. They talk about how Austin got into genetics, and where he's going in the field.
Show notes: https://pxlme.me/d6LS3rfJ
This week Spencer & Razib have been ousted! The "interns" take over, as Mackenzie Finklea, Brianna and Isabelle discuss the relationship between genetics and attraction.
Episode 31 show notes.
Razib and Spencer discuss the genetics of educational attainment and cognitive performance with behavioral geneticist James Lee.
Episode 30 show notes.
Spencer and Razib discuss the history, genetics, and scientific future of China and the Han people.
Spencer and Razib discuss the history, psychology, and biology of violence and warfare, from Rousseau to Hobbes.
This week Spencer and Razib discuss the genetic and demographic history of the United States of America from the age of European colonization onward.
This week Spencer and Razib discuss the genetic and cultural importance of isolated and unique populations.
This week Spencer and Razib dive into three of the most important beverages in human history: coffee, milk and alcohol.
This week Spencer and Razib discuss the Y-chromosome as tool for studying human history, from early migrations out of Africa to Genghis Khan and Bronze Age bottlenecks.
This week Spencer and Razib talk to Patrick Wyman, host of the podcast 'Tides of History,' about the genetics of the barbarian invasions during the fall of the Roman Empire.
This week Spencer and Razib talk to renowned science journalist Carl Zimmer about his new book, She Has Her Mother's Laugh.
Razib talks to professor Matthew Hahn of Indiana University about population and molecular genetics, and how the two have combined to form one field.
Spencer and Razib talk to Kristen Hawkes, proponent of "The Grandmother Hypothesis," about the importance of mothers and grandmothers in human evolutionary history.
This week, Spencer and Razib talk to genetic genealogist Roberta Estes about the Golden State Killer case and how the rise of genetic genealogy and citizen science databases helped to track down the suspect.
Lee Berger sits down with Razib and Spencer to discuss his work in paleoanthropology, the discovery of Australopithecus sediba and Homo naledi, and the new era of "big data" in a field previously characterized by relatively few well-studied hominin specimens.
This week Spencer and Razib talk to Stuart Ritchie, a leading behavioral geneticist, about the genetics of intelligence and personality.
This week, Spencer and Razib discuss the genetics of Jewish populations. From an origin in the Fertile Crescent thousands of years ago to a worldwide diaspora, it's a fascinating story of faith, migration and admixture.
This week Spencer and Razib talk to James Lu, co-founder of Helix, about the past, present and future of the "app store for personal genomics."
This week, Razib talks with renowned paleoanthropologist Milford Wolpoff about how he was both wrong and right about human evolution.
Spencer, Razib and Gareth discuss the recent launch of breast cancer susceptibility (BRCA) testing by 23andMe, including the science behind the test and the policy challenges surrounding direct-to-consumer medical testing.
This week Spencer and Razib discuss the three great "Pleistocene Paradises" lost to rising sea levels at the end of the last Ice Age: Doggerland, Beringia and Sundaland.
This week Spencer and Razib discuss the Out of Africa theory, Neanderthal admixture, and The Human Revolution with Chris Stringer, Head of Human Origins Research at London's Natural History Museum.
This week, Spencer and Razib do a deep dive into the early history of the British Isles, focusing specifically on the famous "Cheddar Man." Who were the first Brits, and what did they really look like?
Spencer and Razib discuss Charles Darwin's scientific impact on our understanding of evolution, and delve into the mechanism by which selection - both natural and sexual - produces biological change.
15 years after the premiere of the PBS/National Geographic documentary ‘Journey of Man’ and the publication of Spencer’s book, Spencer and Razib talk about the impact they have had on the public’s understanding of genetics and human prehistory. This episode is an hour-long journey through the development of human population genetics, the startling insights provided by the Y-chromosome, and which 2003 population genetic ‘certainties’ have - and haven’t - held up to more recent scrutiny. Destined to be a classic.
Spencer and Razib discuss how geneticists infer ancestry from genomic data, with guest Joe Pickrell - geneticist, founder & CEO of consumer genomics startup Gencove. Find out why telling you you’re 6% Greek is harder than it seems…
Spencer, Razib and Gareth discuss the past, present and future of consumer genomics, from its early days as a cottage industry to where it goes in 2018 - and beyond.
Razib and Spencer discuss the genetic evidence for the migration of Bronze Age Indo-Aryan steppe nomads across Eurasia, including the political issues surrounding their impact on the Indian subcontinent.
Today, humans are the only species of hominin in the world. 50,000 years ago, however, we were not alone - our cousins, the Neanderthals and Denisovans, walked the Earth with us. Their legacy lives on in our genomes today. Razib and Spencer take us on a tour of how we became a few percent Neanderthal, including an interview with anthropologist John Hawks. (Part 2 of 2)
Today, humans are the only species of hominin in the world. 50,000 years ago, however, we were not alone - our cousins, the Neanderthals and Denisovans, walked the Earth with us. Their legacy lives on in our genomes today. Razib and Spencer take us on a tour of how we became a few percent Neanderthal, including an interview with anthropologist John Hawks.