Sausage of Science

Water pirates, stigma, and books to come- this episode has a little bit of everything. This episode is a special feature with Drs. Alex Brewis and Amber Wutich, both President’s Professors in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University. We are fortunate to have them on to discuss the upcoming American Journal of Human Biology special feature on water insecurity. Drs...

Dr. Caity Placek, an assistant professor of anthropology at Ball State University, gives us "something to chew on" with this week's episode! Dr. Placek talks about her origin story and her recent work in India examining tobacco use among women of reproductive age. To find out more about Dr. Placek's latest project, "Healthy Moms, Healthy Communities", check out the project's website: https://anthr...

Chris and Cara chat with Dr. NIcky Hawley, an assistant professor of anthropology and epidemiology at Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Hawley's work focuses on the intergenerational transmission of chronic disease in Samoa, American Samoa, and South Africa. In this episode, she chats with Chris and Cara about her work with the Genome-Wide Association Study of Adiposity in Samoa. Her interview sheds li...

The latest episode of the Sausage of Science Hackademics delves into the American Journal of Human Biology with the new editor, Dr. Bill Leonard. Dr. Leonard discusses his vision for the future of the journal, the reviewing process, and new plans for science communication. To learn more about AJHB, check out the journal website through Wiley at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/15206300. To...

Dr. Frank Marlowe passed away on September 25, 2019. Marlowe has had an immense impact on our field through both his work with the Hadza and his mentorship. In this episode, we honor him and celebrate his life and work by interviewing two of his former students, Dr. Alyssa Crittenden and Dr. Peter Gray. To learn more about Marlowe's legacy, see the archive organized by colleagues and family at htt...

This week on the Sausage of Science, Chris and Cara chat with Dr. Jessica Hardin, an assistant professor of sociology and anthropology at Rochester Institue of Technology. Dr. Hardin's work focuses on the intersection of medicine and religion shapes lived experiences of chronic illness. In this episode, she chats with Chris and Cara about her work on religion and health in Samoa and the Samoan dia...

This week on our next installment of Hackademics, we discuss pedagogical practices in higher education with Dr. Susan Blum. This episode delves into classroom practices to promote learning, from (un)grading to physical environments. Dr. Blum is Professor of Anthropology at Notre Dame, whose research focuses on the big question, "What does the world look and feel like to people, and what are the fa...

This week on the Sausage of Science, Chris and Cara chat with Dr. David Sloan Wilson, Distinguished Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Anthropology at SUNY Binghamton. Dr. Wilson is a prolific scholar and has written widely on topics including natural selection, the evolution of ecological communities, and human evolutionary biology. In this episode, he chats with Chris and Cara about his theor...

This week on the Sausage of Science, we showcase our latest installment in our series, "Hackademics". We are so excited to be joined by Kate Wong, a science communication extraordinaire and journalist for Scientific American. Kate shares her journey with writing science for the public, as well as some of her favorite pieces so far. Additionally, she provides great advice for researchers interested...

Dr. Napoleon Chagnon passed away on September 29 of this year. Chagnon has had an immense impact on our field through both his work and mentorship. Chagnon is well-known for his extensive work among the Yanomamo. In this episode, we honor him and celebrate his life and work by interviewing one of his long-time colleague, Dr. Raymond Hames. To learn more about Dr. Hames, check out his webpage at th...

This week on the Sausage of Science, Chris and Cara chat with Jennifer Cullin, a doctoral student in the department of anthropology at Indiana University Bloomington. At IU Bloomington, Jennifer's research focuses on fat bias and the relationship between statistical norms and cultural norms. During her first year as a graduate student, she co-authored, "What Do Anthropologists Mean When They Use t...

On this week's #Hackademics installment, Chris and Cara chat with Adam Johnson, a former UNCC lecturer and current graduate student at UT San Antonio. #Hacakdemics aims to bring to light under-discussed issues in academics; this week, we cover an increasingly common phenomenon: school shootings. In this episode, Adam shares his personal experience with a fatal shooting in his UNCC class. We are so...

This week on the Sausage of Science, Chris and Cara chat with Tina Lasisi, a doctoral student in the department of anthropology at Penn State University. At Penn State, Tina's research focuses on human evolution, variation in hair morphology and pigmentation, and social justice issues that intersect with her research. In this episode, she chats with Chris and Cara about advancing the study of huma...

C. Loring Brace passed away on September 7 of this year. Brace has had an immense impact on our field through both his work and mentorship. In this episode, we honor him and celebrate his life and work by interviewing one of his former students, Dr. Shelley Smith. This podcast features topics from Dr. Smith's article, "Single (sub)species then and now: An examination of the non- racial perspective...

Dr. Young is an internationally recognized expert on impostor syndrome. Her clients include such diverse organizations as Apple, Boeing, Merck, IBM, Intel, Facebook, Microsoft, Chrysler, BP, Blizzard Entertainment, Procter & Gamble, Merck, McDonald’s (Europe), Google, NASA, the USStates embassy in Canada, Society of Women Engineers,the National Cancer Institute, the Conference Board, and many more...

This week on the Sausage of Science, Chris and Cara chat with Jelena Jankovic, this year’s recipient of the HBA Phyllis Eveleth Award for Outstanding Graduate Presentation or Poster. Jelena's poster titled, "Forced migration and chronic stress: A study of traumatic experiences, mental health, and cortisol among refugees in Serbia" was one of over 100 posters at the 2019 Conference. As a biocultura...

This week on the Sausage of Science, we are debuting our new series installment, "Hackademics". In this miniseries, we are going to be talking about under-discussed issues in academia, including imposter syndrome, mental health, and navigating hostile research environments. We are thrilled to start this series with Dr. Agustin Fuentes, the Edmund P. Joyce C.S.C. Professor of Anthropology at the Un...

This week on the Sausage of Science, Chris and Cara chat with Dr. Patricia Wright, a tropical biologist, conservationist, and primatologist at Stony Brook University. Dr. Wright shares her delightful origin story, involving a rock concert and night monkey in New York, in addition to her decades-long experience working with non-human primates in various regions, and words of wisdom for the future o...

This week on the Sausage of Science, Chris and Cara chat with this year’s recipient of the HBA Phyllis Eveleth Award for Outstanding Graduate Presentation or Poster for her talk entitled, "The flexibility of fetal tolerance: immune function during pregnancy varies between two ecologically distinct populations". Carmen is a doctoral student at the University of California Santa Barbara where she re...

Check out our newly updated short format episode with anthropologist and cohost extraordinaire Dr. Cara Ocobock. Dr. Cara Ocobock is now an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame and is actively looking for graduate students to become a part of her research team! Chris suggested the idea of this interview to Cara, who liked it, so we turned on the recorder and did an i...

This week on the Sausage of Science, Chris and Cara chat with Dr. Sarah Lacy, a researcher at California State University Dominguez Hills. Dr. Lacy is a biological anthropologist who explores differential frequencies of caries, periodontal disease, and antemortem tooth loss in Neandertals and early modern humans. In addition to her paleoanthropological pursuits, Dr. Lacy is involved in science out...

This week on the Sausage of Science, Chris and Cara chat with Dr. Eric Shattuck, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas, San Antonio who is also affiliated with the Institute for Health Disparities Research. Dr. Shattuck is a biocultural anthropologist whose research connects hormones, health, and behavior in humans. Dr. Shattuck discusses his interest in sickness behavior, evolution...

This week on the Sausage of Science, Chris and Cara chat with Dr. Kristin Krueger, an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Loyola University of Chicago. Dr. Krueger is a biological anthropologist who specializes in dental anthropology within paleoanthropological and bioarchaeological contexts. Dr. Krueger discusses her interest in understanding behavioral strategies of late members of the genus...

This week on this Sausage of Science, Chris and Cara chat with Vince Battista, a doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan. Though Vince's primary research interests include adaptation to cold weather and gene-culture coevolution, this interview contains so much more . Vince discusses his path to anthropology, appreciation of the four field approach, sports and anthropology, and the ways th...

This week on this Sausage of Science, Chris and Cara chat with Dr. David Geary, Curator's Professor of Psychology at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Dr. Geary is a cognitive and developmental evolutionary psychologist with interests in mathematical cognition and learning as well as the biological bases of sex differences. Dr. Geary discusses his path to these research topics, the applications...