0:00

You're listening to Brains On, where

0:02

we're serious about being curious. Brains

0:05

On is supported in part by

0:07

a grant from the

0:09

National Science Foundation. Hey

0:13

you! Yes you! Tired

0:15

of the same old same old? Looking

0:18

for something new under the sun? Have

0:21

you seen humans and thought, is that all

0:23

there is? Well have I

0:25

got a treat for you. Get

0:27

ready for other humans. Why

0:30

stick to one flavor of human when you

0:32

can taste the tree, the family tree that

0:34

is. Tired of boring

0:37

old homo sapiens? Try

0:39

Homo neanderthalensis. Neanderthals

0:41

are like homo sapiens, funky,

0:43

fresh, super distant cousins. These

0:46

hardy humans were stocky, muscular, roamed

0:48

around parts of Europe, and they

0:50

go great with a waffle cone.

0:53

Or want something extra cold? Try

0:56

Homo denisoba. This variety of human

0:58

lived in chilly places like Siberia,

1:00

the Tibetan Plateau, and across Asia.

1:03

Break me off a piece of that tasty

1:06

treat. Humans, now in

1:08

more flavors! You

1:10

might be saying, wait, are they actually

1:12

talking about eating humans, or do

1:14

they mean eating fossils? What's

1:16

going on here? To which we say, who

1:19

knows? This is just a metaphor

1:21

that we've stretched so thin it's

1:23

about to snap. But before it

1:25

does, get yourself a super scoop

1:27

of humans, now in more flavors!

1:39

You're listening to Brains On from APM

1:41

Studios. I'm Molly Bloom, and joining

1:43

me today is Audrey from Sammamish,

1:45

Washington. Hi Audrey! Hey Molly! So

1:47

Audrey, you inspired this whole episode

1:49

with a question you sent in

1:51

to us. What was that question?

1:53

I wanted to know what happened

1:55

to the neanderthals. I love

1:57

it. Such a good question. What

2:00

who might not know? can you

2:02

explain with any advice or new

2:04

good for when different species of

2:06

humans. Oh so they were like

2:08

are they still around today. Now.

2:11

Okay so they're like an

2:13

extinct kind of human relatives

2:15

Was a huge spam it

2:17

yeah Css Humans, you and

2:19

me we are type of

2:21

human called Homo Sapiens and

2:23

Neanderthals were a species called

2:25

Homo Neanderthal and says and

2:27

I saw say one thing

2:29

sauce Neanderthals is written any

2:31

A and D R T

2:33

H A L S so

2:35

Neanderthals but we've learned in

2:37

talking to our colleagues that

2:40

it's actually pronounced. Neanderthals because

2:42

it's named after a place

2:44

in Germany and they said

2:46

tall there. So today we

2:49

will stay both Neanderthal any

2:51

under tall and I think

2:53

they're both correct to can

2:55

pronounce the under fall or

2:57

neanderthal to every once. Scientists

3:00

think neanderthals look a lot

3:02

like but they were a

3:04

little shorter and my muscular.

3:06

It's. Sort of while to think

3:09

about, but at one point the

3:11

Under Tall and Homo Sapiens were

3:13

both living at the same time.

3:15

the even crossed paths. But for

3:17

some reason our species survived and

3:20

the Neanderthals went extinct about forty

3:22

thousand years ago. And I want

3:24

to know wise, So. Audrey What

3:26

got you interested in the underdogs? Ah,

3:28

my dad was reading a book. About

3:32

early humans saw the different kinds

3:34

of humans. Yeah, so do

3:36

you ever imagine what it will be

3:38

like to meet. In the anything. You

3:42

would. Do it with

3:44

their everyday life and what the hell would

3:46

say? he. How and pay heed their

3:48

feet away if we didn't If you

3:50

could go back in time and hang

3:52

out with them what would like one

3:54

of the activities you want to do

3:57

with them be I would see if

3:59

they hit. Any a it

4:01

if you are let activity

4:03

couples have club or mine

4:05

and. My all the time. I think

4:08

I would want to have a meal with

4:10

the neanderthals see what their cooking up. C

4:12

S I found a delicious. Or growth

4:14

so. Maybe

4:16

I can do Sunday Cheetos of

4:18

I we have an idea. well

4:20

for see if we can answer

4:22

your question Today you know who

4:24

would be created that our pal

4:27

and a goal field size thought

4:29

you'd never ask. A

4:31

man of the fact that I had been

4:33

camped out behind their plant for weeks waiting

4:35

for this topic to come up is an

4:37

important. What is important Is this right here

4:40

in my hands. Against.

4:42

People. Not just any stack

4:45

of papers, If. My dissertation.

4:47

Like a dissertation. It's

4:49

very science he and important research paper.

4:51

I spent years of my life writing.

4:54

Yeah. It is a big deal.

4:56

in addition to helping us here

4:59

at Brains On in a goal

5:01

field actually has a Phd in

5:03

archaeology. see spent years studying ancient

5:05

things and her specialty is Mad

5:07

at Us. My dissertation here was

5:10

all about Neanderthals. This is literally

5:12

to my area of expertise is

5:14

my jam and my toast strike

5:16

my whole sandwich. Actually, I love

5:19

Neanderthals. Well, thats awesome. I know

5:21

here. I've printed copies of my

5:23

dissertation for each. Of you. it's very

5:25

heavy. Oh

5:27

thanks on. Islam?

5:29

Yeah. And the printers? Tiny.

5:32

Enjoy. I've

5:34

been preparing for this day for

5:36

so long. I have my heart

5:38

Neanderthals shirt on, I reviewed all

5:40

the relevant literature I have to,

5:42

backpacks full of footnotes and I

5:44

even brought my neanderthal doll his

5:46

name is Paul. Say. Hi I'm

5:49

Paul. My

5:51

name's pose. For

5:58

any. And are hard. I

6:00

wasn't expecting you to bring a doll,

6:02

Anna, or do a squeaky voice

6:04

for him to make it sound like he's

6:07

talking. Oh yeah, and when

6:09

I move him around like this, it's

6:11

like he's moving on his own. I am

6:13

moving, Al! What's the main abundance?

6:16

He's cute! Like an American Girl doll,

6:19

but with big muscles, messy hair,

6:21

and a fur-skin outfit. Where'd you

6:23

get him? In a

6:25

Neanderthal's doll at the Neandermall last

6:27

fall. Wait, really? No, I got

6:29

him online. Neandermall just sounds cool.

6:32

Anyway, you asked me to explain everything there

6:34

is to know about Neanderthals all at once

6:37

in one breath. I'm ready! Uhhhhh... We

6:40

didn't ask that. Ugh. Yeah,

6:43

why don't you start with the basics? Tell

6:45

us about how they were discovered. Okay,

6:48

let me set the scene. It's

6:52

Europe in the mid-1800s. The

6:54

world was a pretty different place back then.

6:57

No cars, no phones, no

6:59

electricity. People got around on foot,

7:01

on horses, or maybe trains. The

7:03

style for women at the time were these

7:06

big poofy dresses with lots of lace, and

7:08

men wore long coats and maybe a

7:10

top hat. Ooh, fancy! Yep,

7:12

but also stinky. Plumbing

7:15

wasn't great back then. Anyway, it

7:17

was during this period that a couple of

7:19

miners in Germany were digging for limestone.

7:21

They were clearing out a cave when

7:24

they discovered something strange. Wow,

7:28

bones. You think these

7:30

are important? They look super old. Sort

7:32

of like human bones, but also

7:34

not. They're probably really rare and

7:37

full of secrets of the past. Yeah,

7:40

that's what I thought too. Total junk.

7:42

Let's toss them. Bye-bye, bonesies! Wait,

7:46

they just tossed them? Ooh, yeah,

7:48

but luckily, a local schoolteacher found

7:50

them nearby and realized they were

7:52

special. It's like I

7:54

always say, one person's junk

7:56

is another person's world-changing paradigm-shifting

7:59

archaeological f- Couldn't

8:01

have said it better myself, Neanderthal. But

8:03

you're making his voice, so you

8:06

did say it? Anyway, eventually these

8:08

bones made their way to some scientists

8:10

who started studying them. They

8:13

mostly agreed that the skull looked human, with

8:15

lots of space for a big brain, like

8:17

ours. But the skull's shape

8:19

was longer at the back, and the brows were

8:21

much thicker. The hole where the

8:23

nose would be was bigger and wider than it is

8:25

for us, and the jawbone didn't have much of a

8:27

chin. So did they think it was a new human?

8:29

Mmm, not right away. Remember,

8:33

this was around the same time

8:35

Charles Darwin was proposing a wild new

8:37

idea called evolution. It was very

8:39

cutting edge and new to think animals

8:41

changed over time. The idea that

8:43

we humans also changed over time would

8:46

have been super out there. So

8:49

if scientists didn't think it was another

8:51

species of human, how did they explain

8:53

it? Oh, they had theories.

8:56

Clearly, this is just the skull of an ape.

8:59

Hug, Swallop. It's a human skull,

9:02

like mine or yours. But this

9:04

person was in pain because they had

9:07

weak bones, so they furrowed

9:09

their brow and the bones got

9:11

thicker. No, no, no. Those brows

9:13

are just part of the normal

9:15

range of human brows. I

9:17

bet if we looked at more skulls, we'd see

9:19

this isn't unusual at all. Here,

9:22

let me look at your skull. I'll

9:24

show you. Gah, get off me. Stand

9:27

still. I'm feeling your brow to prove

9:29

a point. Ah, let's go.

9:33

But after more examination, some scientists

9:35

did think these bones represented a

9:37

whole new type of human. One

9:40

of those people was a guy named William King. He

9:43

was a professor of geology and mineralogy in Ireland

9:45

at the time. In

9:47

1863, he gave a talk claiming

9:50

these bones belonged to... Hear

10:00

me outside, pals. I think these bones

10:02

are from a heretofore, undiscovered type of

10:04

human. My

10:07

clone, am I right? He

10:09

wasn't the first to suggest this, but

10:12

he was the first to propose a

10:14

name, and it stuck. Wow. Wow indeed,

10:16

Mommy. The scientific community

10:19

at the time was shook. That's

10:21

right, Neanderpaul. Some people rejected

10:23

the idea that the bones were from a

10:25

new kind of human because it conflicted with

10:27

their religion. Others said there just

10:29

wasn't enough evidence. But soon,

10:32

scientists identified more Neanderthal

10:34

remains, and it started to seem

10:36

like a pretty solid explanation. At

10:39

this point, all they really had were bones.

10:41

But that didn't stop people from making

10:43

huge assumptions about Neanderthals. Like

10:46

what? Well basically, people assumed

10:48

Neanderthals were strong but dim-witted

10:50

oafs. Even William King thought this.

10:52

Quite so. I mean, just look at this skull.

10:55

Is that not the skull of a brute or

10:57

what? I'm no brain scientist,

10:59

but I can tell that the brain

11:01

inside this skull was not tough shelf.

11:03

If you get my drift. To

11:06

be clear, you can't tell how smart

11:08

someone was just by looking at their

11:10

skull. But this idea started

11:12

to spread, and some scientists decided that

11:14

Neanderthals went extinct because they just weren't

11:17

as smart and capable as us homo

11:19

sapiens. Which is a really unfair thing

11:21

to say about us Neanderthals. They didn't

11:24

even know us. It wasn't

11:26

fair, Paul. Yeah, but

11:28

luckily, scientists did what scientists

11:30

do best. They gathered

11:32

more evidence. And over

11:34

the next hundred years, pretty much everything

11:36

we knew about Neanderthals was turned upside

11:38

down. We even found out there

11:40

were other humans besides them too. I'll

11:43

tell you about that after the break. Oh,

11:46

a cliffy in there! Nice one, Anna!

11:48

Nice ball. Now if you'll excuse me, I have

11:51

to go prepare something for the next leg of

11:53

our journey through history. See you in a bit! One

12:02

question scientists are still pondering.

12:05

Did Neanderthals have good hearing like

12:07

we do? If so, they'd

12:09

probably love the... Audrey,

12:17

are you ready for the mystery sound? Yes.

12:20

Here it is. Well,

12:31

I have no idea what this one is either. What

12:34

is your guess Audrey? It sounds

12:36

like a low mowing.

12:39

Hmm, yes, I can see

12:42

that. Like one of those

12:44

phone calls that, well, I've never had

12:46

a phone, so like... But

12:49

like a vibration, like when your phone rings?

12:51

Yeah, the vibration. That's a great guess. It's an

12:53

old fashioned one. Makes that low noise. Yes, an

12:55

old fashioned phone that makes that low noise. Do

12:57

you want to hear it again? Yes.

13:02

Alright, what else

13:04

did we

13:09

hear this time? I heard

13:11

like a table scratching. Ooh,

13:16

yes. It almost felt

13:18

like there was a switch being turned off and on. I

13:20

don't know. This is tough. Alright,

13:22

we're going to listen again at the end of

13:25

the show, get another chance to guess and hear

13:27

the answer. So stick around.

13:33

We are working on an episode about

13:35

cavities. Those tiny holes we sometimes get

13:37

in our teeth. Nobody likes

13:39

getting cavities, but locally brushing

13:41

your teeth helps keep them from swelling.

13:44

So listeners, we want to hear from

13:46

you. If you could design the

13:48

toothbrush of the future, what would it look

13:50

like? Would it have lasers? Does

13:52

that black off your teeth? Or tiny little

13:54

speakers? You could listen to music while you

13:57

brush. Audrey, what would you own toothbrush

13:59

of the future? future be able to do? I

14:02

would like it to look deeper, it

14:04

would look kind of fine. And

14:07

I would like it to be fine, so I don't

14:09

have to hold it. And

14:11

I also want to use the speed, so

14:14

I can do it in a

14:16

second. Oh, yes. Okay, so

14:18

it's see through, super fast,

14:21

fine toothbrush. Yes.

14:23

I am into it. Inventors, please get

14:25

going. So we can have the Audrey

14:27

Brush 5000, but

14:29

I'm going to name it. I

14:31

love it. Well, listeners record yourself describing

14:33

your toothbrush of the future and send

14:35

it to us at parainzon.org slash

14:38

contact. And while you're there,

14:40

you can send us a mystery sounds, drawing

14:42

some questions. Like this one. Why

14:44

is the earth

14:46

so flat, but

14:48

in outer space, it's a

14:51

circle. Again, that's

14:53

parainzon.org/contact. And

14:55

keep listening. You're

14:59

listening to Rainzon. I'm

15:06

Audrey. And I'm Molly. We've

15:08

been talking about our ancient relatives,

15:10

the Neanderthals. Tens of thousands

15:13

of years ago, there were other types of

15:15

humans living at the same time in different

15:17

places all over the world.

15:19

When Neanderthal bones were first discovered, people

15:21

had a hard time believing that there

15:24

could be another type of human. Right.

15:27

Eventually they came around to the idea,

15:29

but they figured there's no way these

15:31

Neanderthals could be anything like us. They

15:33

must have been total bozos. Yeah.

15:36

So what changed and how? Did

15:40

somebody say paper mache? No,

15:42

not even close. Hey Anna,

15:44

welcome back. Oh, beans. I had

15:46

a whole transition thing based on you saying

15:48

paper mache. Can we try it again? Why

15:51

don't you just tell us what you wanted

15:53

to tell us? Okay, okay, okay. Cool. I'm

15:55

so excited. Aren't you excited, Neanderthal? My

15:58

Neanderthal. I'm just a doll. I

16:00

don't feel feelings. Right. Well,

16:03

archaeology has come a really long way in

16:05

the hundred and fifty-ish years since the first

16:08

Neanderthal bones were discovered. Archaeologists

16:10

in Europe kept digging and they found more

16:12

and more things that gave us a glimpse

16:14

into the lives of the Neanderthals. Cool.

16:16

Like what? Well, I could tell you.

16:20

Or I could show you with paper mache.

16:23

See, there was a reason I wanted to get to that.

16:25

Come on, follow me. Where

16:28

are we going? You know, there are so many

16:30

hallways and brains and headquarters, even I get lots

16:33

of time. Here we go! Whoa.

16:38

How'd you get such a big stone door into

16:40

the building? Oh, she's not that

16:42

strong. It's just paper mache, Audrey.

16:45

Yeah, I used a bunch of copies

16:47

of my dissertation. Turns out

16:49

people don't really want to have their own copy

16:51

like I thought. I tried using

16:53

them as stocking stuffers, but they somehow all mysteriously

16:55

ended up back at my house. But

16:58

hey, they make great paper mache. Anyway,

17:01

welcome, my friends, to the Neanderthal,

17:04

home of the Neanderthal! Ooh.

17:08

Whoa. Incredible!

17:10

I've created exact paper mache replicas

17:12

of some of the most amazing

17:14

things archaeologists have found that gave

17:17

us clues about how Neanderthals lived.

17:19

It's like a Neanderthal museum in here.

17:21

Wow, there's a lot of paper mache

17:24

in here. How many copies of your

17:26

dissertation did you print? The one thousand

17:28

copies I printed aren't important. What is

17:30

important is what they've become. Like

17:33

this replica of a stone hand axe. Bop,

17:35

bop, bop. Hands off the axe, Anna. No

17:38

touching. Wait, Sandin? Have you been

17:40

here the whole time? Oh,

17:42

I'm the Neanderthal Museum

17:44

Docent. Every

17:47

museum needs a docent to lead tours and give

17:49

directions. And I love telling people

17:51

what to do, so it's a perfect job for me.

17:54

I get to say, hey you, stand back.

17:57

Stop breathing on the displays. Hey,

17:59

chew your gumgum. quieter. It's

18:01

great. Plus, I'm obsessed with

18:03

ancient humans. They're my second favorite kind

18:06

of human. What's your favorite kind of

18:08

human? Uh, the me kind of

18:10

course. Now, let's admire this

18:12

hand axe from a safe distance. When

18:15

archaeologists discovered this, they were

18:17

amazed. Yeah, it meant that

18:20

Neanderthals probably used tools. Oh,

18:22

and check out this chunk of bison bone. See the

18:24

marks on it? They show that Neanderthals

18:26

used their stone tools to cut meat off

18:28

the animals they hunted. We're not so brutish

18:30

now, huh? Oh, hey, Neanderthal. I didn't

18:33

see you there, buddy. Good

18:36

to see you. Hey, let's do our special

18:38

handshake. Of course, little buddy.

18:40

Up top. Down low. Bump

18:44

heads. Go

18:46

humans. We're

18:49

so cool. Anyway, evidence

18:51

like this taught scientists that

18:54

Neanderthals were actually quite crafty.

18:56

And if you follow me to

18:58

our next display, we'll see that

19:00

Neanderthals had rich diets too. Check

19:03

out these chompers. Um,

19:09

are those somebody's teeth? Nope,

19:11

still just paper mache. But

19:14

they're a replica of actual

19:16

Neanderthal teeth researchers found. Yeah,

19:18

and boy did those teeth teach us a

19:20

lot. So you know how when

19:23

you go to the dentist, sometimes they use

19:25

that pointy little scraper to get some of

19:27

the gunk off your teeth? Yeah, and the

19:29

gunk is called plaque, right? It is. And

19:32

if you never, ever go to the dentist

19:35

or brush your teeth because it's 80,000 years

19:37

ago, that plaque stays on your teeth

19:39

and builds up over time. As it

19:41

builds up, it hardens and it can

19:43

trap tiny bits of things that go into your mouth.

19:46

Archaeologists found this hardened tooth gunk on

19:48

tooth fossils. When they looked at it

19:50

under a microscope, they got a glimpse

19:52

at what Neanderthals were eating. Gross,

19:55

but cool. Who knew our

19:57

poor dental hygiene would be so helpful to

19:59

science? You said it,

20:01

Neanderpaul. Thanks to Neanderthal plaque,

20:03

scientists learned that Neanderthals not

20:05

only ate meat, but starchy

20:07

plants too. And we

20:09

think they even cooked some of their meals.

20:12

Neanderthals could cook? Molly,

20:14

we were the mayors of flavor town!

20:17

Oh yeah, Paul? Then

20:19

how come last time you made nachos they

20:21

were blander than cotton balls in lukewarm water?

20:23

What can I say? I like my nachos

20:26

mild and my paper mache wild.

20:29

Wait, when did you

20:31

two have nachos together? Never

20:33

mind. But yes, we can't be

20:35

sure that all Neanderthals cooked their

20:37

food all the time, but there

20:39

are tons of Neanderthal archaeological sites

20:41

that have preserved ashes, burned bones,

20:43

and other remains of fires. If

20:46

they had fired, they were probably cooking stuff with it.

20:48

Whoa. Yeah, it's just more

20:51

evidence that Neanderthals weren't all that different

20:53

from us. We think they

20:55

often lived in small groups. We have

20:57

evidence that they helped care for the young

20:59

and disabled and elderly. They used

21:01

tools to make things like clothes. Some

21:04

made art. Some buried their dead. Overall,

21:07

it seems like different Neanderthal groups

21:09

had small but fairly developed societies.

21:12

That's so cool! So they actually were

21:14

a lot like early humans. But then,

21:16

why did we stick around and they

21:19

disappear? That's a great question.

21:21

The answer is, um, it's

21:24

because... Uh,

21:26

you know, Anna can answer this one. Honestly,

21:29

we don't know the answer yet. Archaeologists

21:31

think it was a combination of things. First,

21:34

there weren't that many Neanderthals to begin with.

21:37

They were spread out over a large area of

21:39

Europe and Western Asia. When there

21:41

were changes in the climate or a couple

21:43

bad years with food shortages, it might have

21:45

hurt their numbers. But scientists

21:47

also think we homo sapiens might have had

21:49

something to do with it. Homo

21:52

sapiens might have caused the Neanderthals

21:54

to go extinct? Did we fight

21:57

or something? Maybe.

21:59

It doesn't seem like that was a big

22:01

factor. No, what scientists think probably happened was

22:03

that about 50,000 years ago, Homo sapiens moved

22:07

into the same areas as Neanderthals.

22:10

So there were more mouths eating the same food.

22:13

Neanderthals' bodies were more muscly than ours.

22:16

More mussels means they needed more food to

22:18

stay alive. Yeah, it takes a

22:20

ton of calories to look this pumped up

22:22

all the time. With Homo sapiens

22:24

around hunting the same animals and eating the

22:26

same plants, some groups of Neanderthals

22:28

just couldn't survive. But they

22:31

kind of live on in us. Wait,

22:34

in us? How? Well,

22:37

back when both groups were together in

22:39

the same place, some Homo sapiens and

22:41

Neanderthals had babies. And those babies

22:43

grew up and had more babies. Over

22:46

time, those Neanderthal relatives just became part

22:48

of the Homo sapiens population. So even

22:50

today, when we look at the genetic

22:52

instructions that make us who we are,

22:54

you can see the DNA.

22:56

We sometimes see bits of Neanderthal DNA

22:59

in there. Wait! So

23:01

I could be a teensy-smidge Neanderthal? Just

23:03

like my pal, Paul the Neanderthal? Whoa!

23:06

Um, technically he's a doll,

23:09

so no. So cool!

23:13

Neanderthals are cool. And they were

23:15

misunderstood for a long time, so I'm so glad I

23:17

got to share my love of them with you all.

23:19

And get this, in the past 20 years,

23:21

we've found there were other groups of humans

23:24

too, called Denisovans. They lived way

23:26

up north in Western Asia. So ancient

23:28

humans were much more diverse than

23:30

we once believed. How cool

23:32

is it to imagine a world with different

23:34

species of humans living in different places? Super

23:37

cool. And it's also wild to imagine

23:40

those different groups meeting each other. Yeah!

23:43

Thanks for sharing all this with us,

23:45

Anna, Sandin, and Paul the Neanderthal. It

23:47

was my pleasure, Molly! Oh, by the

23:49

way, Paul, you still want to meet up for Nacho Night on

23:51

Tuesday? You know it! Wait,

23:54

Paul, you go to Nacho Nights without me? How

23:57

is that even possible? I'm the one making your voice

23:59

and moving- you around to pretend you're talking. If

24:02

I'm not there, who does the

24:04

voice? Wait, I thought Paul was doing your

24:06

voice, Anna. If it's not Paul, who's doing

24:08

your voice right now? I

24:10

do my voice. Can't you see my lips move

24:13

when he talks? I am literally

24:15

holding Paul and shaking him around. That's

24:17

your arm holding him? Huh. I

24:19

thought that was Paul's tail. Okay, I'm getting

24:21

very confused. Yeah, this is weird. Maybe it's

24:24

a good time for us to duck out

24:26

of here before this gets any weirder. Look,

24:29

you could come to the next nacho

24:31

night, Anna G. You're definitely a better

24:33

cook than Neanderthal. Hey, now, Neanderthals didn't

24:35

have nachos. Neanderthals

24:42

were a type of human that once lived in

24:44

Europe. When they were first

24:46

discovered, lots of people had trouble believing

24:48

that another type of human could have

24:51

existed. So they assumed that

24:53

Neanderthals couldn't have been as smart or

24:55

skillful as homo sapiens. It's

24:57

taken decades, but archaeologists have

25:00

learned a lot from excavating

25:02

Neanderthal sites. Like what

25:04

they ate, the tool-sangers, and how their

25:06

families cared for each other. Tens

25:09

of thousands of years ago, some homo

25:11

sapiens and Neanderthals had babies

25:13

together. Neanderthals went extinct, and

25:15

archaeologists aren't sure exactly why.

25:17

There were probably lots of

25:20

reasons. But a part of

25:22

our Neanderthal relatives is still with us in

25:24

some of our DNA. That's it for

25:27

this episode of Brains On. This

25:29

episode was written by Sandin

25:31

Totten and Anna Goldfield. It

25:33

was produced by Molly Bloom,

25:35

Daisy Dupont, Anna Goldfield, Adeline

25:37

Woldeslaughey, Anna Wegle, Phoebe

25:39

Gathry, and Mark Sanchez. Our

25:42

editors are Sandin Totten and Shayla Farzon, sound designed

25:44

by Rachel Breeze, and we had

25:46

engineering help from Josh Navagio and Robert Jacob

25:48

Sprayer. Beth Gruman is our

25:50

executive producer, the executive in charge of

25:52

APM Studios, our Chandra Kavati, Alex Shaffer,

25:55

and Joanne Griffith. Special thanks to Kourushit

25:57

Alam, Brett Miller, Nick Lyon, and

25:59

Alex. Brainzon is

26:01

a non-profit public radio program.

26:04

There are lots of ways to support the

26:06

show. Subscribe to Brainzon Universe on YouTube, where

26:08

you can watch animated versions of some of

26:11

your favorite episodes, or head to

26:13

brainzon.org. While you're there,

26:15

you can send us mystery sounds, drawings, and

26:17

questions. And you can subscribe

26:19

to our Smarty Path. It gives you

26:22

a special ticket to Brainzon Universe bonus

26:24

content, plus ad-free episodes. Alright,

26:26

Audrey, are you ready to hear

26:28

that very tricky mystery sound again? Yes. Me

26:31

too. Let's hear it. Okay,

26:42

any new thoughts? It still

26:44

reminds me of a phone call. Okay, so

26:47

you're here because it's kind of like rhythmic,

26:49

is that why? Yeah. Okay, so

26:51

you're thinking phone call. Okay,

26:53

I'm gonna guess, I'm gonna go way out

26:55

there, I'm gonna guess it is a hamster

27:00

mowing the lawn with

27:02

a teeny tiny lawnmower.

27:06

Makes sense, right? I

27:09

guess. Your guess

27:11

is probably more reasonable. Okay, let's, you ready to

27:13

hear the answer? Yes. Okay,

27:15

let's hear it. Hello, I'm

27:17

Owen from Satado, Illinois, Dallas,

27:19

the sound of a ditching

27:22

radio transmission. Oh,

27:24

a glitchy radio transmission.

27:26

I knew it, it sounded like

27:28

some old-fashioned thing. Yes,

27:31

you were totally right. When you said old-fashioned

27:33

phone, you were very close. It was an

27:36

old-fashioned radio. Old-fashioned radio. So you were very

27:38

close, I was not close at all. That

27:41

makes sense. I'll just guess. Thanks

27:44

for that sound, Owen. Very nicely done. Now

27:56

it's time for the brains honor roll. These are the

27:58

incredible kids who keep the show up. So going with

28:00

their questions, I dance from Mystery House times and

28:02

high fives. New

29:00

York City, Cecilia from Baltimore, Theo from St.

29:02

Charles, Illinois, Max from Las Vegas, Aldor from

29:04

Seattle, Logan from Bedford, Pennsylvania, Elsa from

29:06

Austin, Texas, Amelia and Coraline from

29:08

L'Hare-Stettin, Germany, Wyatt and Everett from

29:10

Smyrna, Delaware, Tobias from Woodbury, Minnesota,

29:12

Elijah from Indianapolis, Sydney and Danny

29:14

from Coldbrook, Nova Scotia, Pia from

29:17

Melbourne, Australia, Charlotte from Santa Rosa,

29:19

California, Lucien from Winterport, Florida,

29:21

Audrey from Bloomington, Indiana, Sophie from

29:23

Cincinnati, Jackson, Maine, Ruby and Ollie

29:25

from Toronto, Asha from Madison, Wisconsin,

29:27

Piper from White Salmon, Washington, Quincy

29:29

from Oakland, California and Thora from Anderson,

29:31

Nevada. We'll

29:39

be back next week with an episode all

29:41

about cavities and how to keep our chompers

29:44

strong. Thanks for listening!