Sausage of Science

Chris and Mallika check in with Dr. Crystal Patil, (Ph. D. Anthropology from Ohio State University) whose research focuses on how the social world becomes embodied and expressed as health, illness, or suffering. The motivation for her research stems from a concern for social justice. Her research draws on ecological and social determinants frameworks to make sense of complex health-related problem...

In this episode, Mallika and Chris chat with Dr. Jason DeCaro, Professor and Chair of the University of Alabama's Anthropology Department. Dr. DeCaro studies the intersection of cultural models, everyday practices, and human physiology in the production of differential well-being across the life course, especially but not exclusively focusing on children. His Developmental Ecology and Human Biolog...

What happens when hypercapitalism intersects with human fertility? Professor Diane Tober joins Chris and Mallika to reveal some of the nuances of Assisted Reproductive Technologies, with a focus on egg donation. ------------------------------------- Diane Tober is Associate Professor at the University of Alabama Department of Anthropology and Institute for Social Science Research. She is a medical...

Welcome Sausage of Science's newest host Dr. Mallika S. Sarma! Mallika joins Chris as co-host while Cara is out on sabbatical. In this episode, Mallika and Chris chat with Dr. Paula Tallman about several aspects of water insecurity, notably an important overlap with gender-based violence. Dr. Paula Skye Tallman is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Loyola University Chicago. Her research ex...

Chris and Cara discuss underappreciated athletes before unpacking Big Data with Dr. Elizabeth Miller, an Associate Professor at the University of South Florida. Dr. Miller is a biological anthropologist interested in evolutionary and biocultural approaches to maternal and child health. Her research program spans the study of human milk composition and infant feeding practices, infant immune functi...

On this show Dr. Asher Rosinger joins Cara and Chris to discuss his new paper in the American Journal of Human Biology (AJHB) titled “Cross-cultural variation in thirst perception in hot-humid and hot-arid environments: Evidence from two small-scale populations.” Dr. Rosinger’s paper is available here:  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajhb.23715  For more insight on this topic please s...

Chris sits down with Dr. Emily Pollock, a Prevention Effectiveness Fellow at the CDC in the Division of Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention, where she brings a more robust understanding of human behavior to the challenges of STI modeling for public health. Dr. Pollock earned her PhD in Biological Anthropology from the University of Washington, with a certificate from the Center for Studies in...

Prof. Lynnette Leidy Sievert joins Chris and Cara to discuss how hot flashes, and other symptoms of menopause, vary around the world. Stick around for "offboarding" career advice and a conversation about fish! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lynnette Leidy Sievert has studied variation in age at menopause and symptoms at midlife for more than...

Cara interviews Dr. Monica Keith, an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Vanderbilt University and Data Scientist who studies longitudinal health and child growth in a biosocial framework. Monica uses Bayesian models to assess predictors of growth and health outcomes and integrates health, socio-ecological, and genetic data to study human variation and health disparities in diverse contexts. Mo...

Cara returns to join Chris in interviewing Kathy Wander, a biological anthropologist and epidemiologist working at the intersection of human evolutionary biology and health. Much of Dr. Wander's research seeks to understand how humans (and in particular, children) cope with nutritional and infectious disease stress and the impact of malnutrition and infectious disease on the protective and patholo...

Ale Geisel-Zamora is an undergraduate student at Dartmouth College working under the direction of Prof. Zaneta Thayer. Ale won the Hilde Spielvogel Award for Outstanding Presentation by an Undergraduate Student at this year's HBA meeting for her poster "Social support promotes postpartum mental health among US-based participants during the COVID-19 pandemic." The poster, and supplements, can be fo...

Dr. Alison Murray joins Chris and Cara to discuss how activity levels during puberty have lifelong effects on bone structure in human females. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Murray’s research examines the evolutionary and behavioral mechanisms shaping variations in human bone and body composition, as well as sex differences within it. To...

Chris triumphs in a battle with technology while interviewing our gracious guest Rachael Anyim, a Clifford D. Clark Diversity Fellow and PhD candidate in anthropology at Binghamton University. Rachael and Chris discuss her recent abstract submission, "The effects of milk cortisol on immune responses to in vitro bacterial stimulation" and her work with immune biomarkers in infants and breastmilk. R...

Dr. Amanda Veile is a biological anthropologist, and her research broadly examines human birthing and breastfeeding behaviors and outcomes, and several epidemiologic factors that shape cross-cultural variation in child development. She currently maintains field research projects in Mexico and Peru. She is an Assistant Professor of Biological Anthropology, the Director of LABOR (Laboratory for Beha...

Cara cannibalizes pickles before she and Chris interview Dr. Zachary Cofran, an assistant professor of Anthropology at Vassar College who is affiliated with the Center for the Exploration of the Deep Human Journey at the University of Witwatersrand. Dr. Cofran received his Ph. D. from the University of Michigan in 2012 (GO BLUE!). Zachary studies human evolution, growth, and development and has be...

SoS 171: Behold! Natalia Reagan Behold! Natalia Reagan joins Chris and Cara to talk science engagement, precarity in academia, and ...phallic grapes?! Natalia Reagan is an anthropologist, primatologist, actor, producer, writer, host, and comedienne. She is a comedy writer and correspondent on Neil deGrasse Tyson’s StarTalk on Nat Geo and is also a StarTalk All-Star podcast host. She was the co-hos...

Dr. Lara Durgavich is a visiting lecturer in the Anthropology Department at Boston University. In 2013, Lara received her Ph. D. from Boston University as well. Her research focuses on ovarian function, mating behaviors, and life history in captive orangutans. A strong proponent of science communication and outreach, Lara is also heavily involved with March Mammal Madness, a topic of discussion on...

Andrea Silva-Caballero joins Chris and Cara to discuss her studies of adolescent sleep patterns in urban and rural Mexico. Silva-Caballero completed her BA in Biological Anthropology in 2013 at the National School of Anthropology and History, Mexico City. Since then, she has specialized in medical anthropology with a focus on the pediatric population. She holds an MSc in Evolutionary Medicine awar...

Our last guest of the season is Dr. Kristen Knuston, an Associate Professor of Neurology (Sleep Medicine)and Preventative Medicine (Epidemiology) at the Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Knutson studies the associations between sleep, circadian rhythms, and health. She chats with Chris and Cara about the different health outcomes between morning and night persons and tells us how a misalignment wit...

Blast from the past! In this episode we bring you an interview with Amy Anderson from Spring of 2021. Chris and Cara talk to her about her dissertation research on health as reflected through the human skeleton and biomarkers of bone turnover. She is currently a Ph. D. Candidate at The University of California Santa Barbara. You can contact her via her website: https://www.amyandersonskeletonreade...

Dr. Alyssa Crittenden joins us today for an excellent conversation (despite internet connectivity issues) about her work with Hadza community members, community-based work, and reconsidering biological sample collection. You can find her recent paper “Who Owns Poop? and Other Ethical Dilemmas Facing an Anthropologist Who Works at the Interface of Biological Research and Indigenous Rights” https://...

Dr. Holly Horan is a clinical, biocultural, and medical anthropologist at the University of Alabama studying how lived experiences contribute to perinatal health and birth outcomes . She chats with Chris and Cara about how her experience as a trained doula parallels her research investigating maternal stress and how her fieldwork has shaped the direction of her studies. You can find Dr. Horan's AJ...

Chris and Cara are joined today by Dr. Bonnie Kaiser, anthropologist, global health researcher, and Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of California San Diego. On today's episode, they discuss her recent work on the relationship between mental health and medical pluralism in Haiti, idioms of distress, oncofertility, the power of team-based projects, and taking the time to un-pac...

This week's guest is Dr. Heather Shattuck-Heidorn, an Assistant Professor of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Southern Maine. Dr. Shattuck-Heidorn is also the Director of Engaged Communications at the Harvard GenderSci Lab. She tells Chris and Cara about the importance of interdisciplinary collaborations and critical thought in producing and communicating good science. She also delv...

Dr. Glorieuse Uwizeye is an Assistant Professor at The Western University of Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. Today, Chris and Alex talk to her about her work on the health impacts of the Rwandan genocide on youth. In particular, they discuss her recent paper entitled “Double Jeopardy: Young adult mental and physical health outcomes following conception via genocidal rape during the 1994 genoci...