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

Why Western Europeans are so WEIRD and why that matters!

Sep 8th, 2020 50m 21s

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/geneexpre

Why much of science is fiction

Sep 3rd, 2020 1h 20m

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

Siberian paleohistory

Aug 6th, 2020 1h 19m

Razib and Spencer discuss the geography, prehistory, and genetics, of Siberia. Also, the time Spencer experienced a Siberian winter!

Sundaland: a human evolutionary hearth

Jul 31st, 2020 1h 33m

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

Peopling the Americas 32,000 years ago

Jul 23rd, 2020 41m 55s

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

Ghost in the machine

Jul 16th, 2020 53m 42s

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.s

Native American admixture into Polynesia!

Jul 9th, 2020 44m 45s

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 thems

Will to Power and the Holocene transition

Jun 26th, 2020 1h 1m

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

Two cultures, humanities and science

Jun 18th, 2020 1h

Spencer and Razib discuss what the humanities can offer to science with Kerim Yasar, professor of East Asian literature https://twitter.com/nihonkyo

Psychiatry and genes

Jun 11th, 2020 48m 48s

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

American Downfall: Cultural evolution, Peter Turchin, and the return of history

Jun 3rd, 2020 1h 24m

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/

The genetic basis of facial variation

May 28th, 2020 58m 6s

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

Ancient DNA and China

May 21st, 2020 53m 30s

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

Chris Stringer on paleoanthropology in 2020

May 14th, 2020 1h 4m

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!

Genetically Modified Organisms

May 7th, 2020 50m 37s

Razib talks to Chad Niederhuth at Michigan State on the promise of GMO agriculture! http://niederhuthlab.com/

Coronavirus 2020: vaccination and the specter of revolution

May 1st, 2020 1h 4m

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-

Alfred Russel Wallace and the Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago

Apr 25th, 2020 26m 38s

Spencer describes Wallace's encounter with Indonesia and his insight into evolution by natural selection.

Genetics, genealogy, and secrets unknown

Apr 22nd, 2020 54m 15s

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/

Coronavirus 2020: preamble to Weimar?

Apr 16th, 2020 1h 17m

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.

Paleogenetics of East Asia

Apr 9th, 2020 52m 38s

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/con

Coronavirus pandemic of 2020

Mar 31st, 2020 1h 35m

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

Natural Selection among indigenous Americans

Mar 25th, 2020 41m 51s

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

The Importance of Summer

Mar 23rd, 2020 9m 43s

An excerpt from Spencer's book Pandora's Seed about the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia in 1815.

Genomics of Mendelian Conditions

Mar 19th, 2020 43m 29s

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