CARTA - Anthropogeny (Video)

119 episodes listed below

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Human origins, close to the evidence.

The gist

CARTA - Anthropogeny (Video) is a science show built from research presentations and symposium Q&A about what makes humans human. Its recent range runs from Denisovan genomes and ancient dispersals to fatherhood, grandmaternal care, pair bonding, hatred, and early tools.

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About CARTA - Anthropogeny (Video)

CARTA - Anthropogeny (Video) frames human origins as an active scientific investigation. It is not a personality-led science chat. The show is built around research talks, symposium discussion, and questions that move carefully through evidence. Recent episodes range from Denisovan genomes and archaic introgression to the biology of fatherhood, grandmaternal love, pair bonding, hatred, and early human construction of environments. The scope is wide, but the center holds. Each topic asks how bodies, brains, behavior, and social life came to take recognizably human forms. Ancient DNA appears as a tool for tracing dispersals, admixture, and the still-incomplete picture of Denisovan diversity across Asia. Caregiving becomes an evolutionary question. Speakers examine fathers' hormones, grandmothers' biological signatures, and the cooperative networks that may have mattered for human success. Love is treated biologically without being flattened into sentiment. Pair bonding, oxytocin, vasopressin, dopamine receptors, prairie voles, seahorses, titty monkeys, and other monkeys all appear as comparative evidence. The show also makes room for darker social questions. A talk on hatred connects attachment, fear, group identity, and intervention work in conflict settings. Archaeology brings the discussion back to material traces: shaped logs, stone tools, hafting, raw materials, reference collections, and the difficulty of proving intention from remains. The pacing is lecture-like and methodical. It rewards patience. Claims are often qualified, mechanisms are explained step by step, and uncertainty is treated as part of the research rather than a weakness. Q&A sessions make the show more porous, letting terms such as oxytocin neurons, experimental archaeology, and social buffering receive direct clarification. CARTA - Anthropogeny (Video) suits listeners who want science close to the source, with less packaging and more of the texture of actual scholarly exchange.

Made for: Suits a listener who wants human evolution, anthropology, and biology presented with seminar-level detail. It fits someone comfortable with technical terms, careful qualifications, and research questions that remain open.

What sets it apart: Unlike broad science shows that compress findings into tidy takeaways, CARTA - Anthropogeny (Video) keeps the research scaffolding visible. Talks and Q&A preserve the methods, caveats, comparisons, and unresolved questions behind claims about human origins.

In their own words

Multidisciplinary researchers explore the origins of humanity and the many facets of what makes us human.

Why you'd press play

A Denisovan finger bone and a prairie vole can both ruin your neat theory of human nature.

Press play if you want

  • to see how fathers' caregiving and testosterone relate, without declaring biology destiny
  • to rethink love through pair-bonded monkeys, prairie voles, and seahorses
Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
human evolutionancient DNA and Denisovanshuman dispersalspair bonding and lovefatherhood and caregivinggrandmaternal careneurobiology of hatredexperimental archaeology

Talks about

Best episodes of CARTA - Anthropogeny (Video)

Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.

CARTA: Archaic Introgression Reveals Human Dispersals with Janet KelsoNov 24, 2025

A clear, careful look at how Denisovan DNA is reshaping the story of human movement through Asia.

Ancient DNA gives this single episode a clear path through Denisovan history, turning scattered evidence into a story about movement across Asia.

CARTA: Origins of Love - Questions Answers and Closing RemarksMar 29, 2025

A probing Q&A on oxytocin, pair bonding, seahorses, and the limits of what science can yet conclude.

The closing Q&A turns questions about social behavior into questions about mechanism. Oxytocin is treated less as a simple social shortcut than as a clue that still needs context: finding or giving a hormone does not establish which receptors matter, or where the effect is…

CARTA: Love Monogamy and Fatherhood in Latin American Monkeys with Eduardo Fernandez-DuqueMar 24, 2025

A measured look at monkey pair bonds, infant care, and the outside adults that can unsettle them.

Monogamy comes across as both practical and vulnerable: a working bond with a pressure point. In Latin American forests, one adult male and one adult female move as a unit, sharing eating, sleeping, mating, and infant care, with little sexual dimorphism and a durable pair bond.

Podcasts like CARTA - Anthropogeny (Video)

Episodes

  1. 1

    CARTA: The Evolution of Powerful Yet Perilous Immune Systems with Andrea Graham

    ·19m
  2. 2

    CARTA: Lucy - Questions Answers and Closing Remarks

    ·1h 19m
  3. 3

    CARTA: Naming Lucy: Taxonomic Reasoning in Paleoanthropology with Andra Meneganzin

    ·21m
  4. 4

    CARTA: The Evolution of the Human Brain through Shifts in Gene Regulation with Miles Wilkinson

    ·23m
  5. 5

    CARTA: Human Brain Specializations Related to Language and Theory of Mind with James Rilling

    ·18m
  6. 6

    CARTA: Hominin Paleoneurology During the Stone Age - and Before! with Dean Falk

    ·22m
  7. 7

    CARTA: Human-specific Alterations in Brain Cellular Proportions with Genevieve Konopka

    ·25m
  8. 8

    CARTA: The Idea Organ - Welcome and Opening Remarks

    ·7m
  9. 9

    CARTA: Neanderthalizing Brain Organoids with Alysson Muotri

    ·22m
  10. 10

    CARTA: Ancient DNA: New Revelations - Questions Answers and Closing Remarks

    ·43m
  11. 11

    CARTA: Population Genetics of Latin America and Oceania with Andrés Moreno-Estrada

    ·20m
  12. 12

    CARTA: Genetic History of Humans and Animals in South Asia with Maanasa Raghavan

    ·22m
  13. 13

    CARTA: Central Asian Population Genetics and Natural Selection with Ainash Childebayeva

    ·19m
  14. 14

    CARTA: The Genetic History of Europe with Johannes Krause

    ·20m
  15. 15

    CARTA: Ancient DNA - New Revelations Welcome and Opening Remarks

    ·12m
  16. 16

    CARTA: Human Population History in North and East Asia with Choongwon Jeong

    ·18m
  17. 17

    CARTA: Human Microbiome Evolution with Christina Warinner

    ·22m
  18. 18

    CARTA: Evolutionary Switches - How Regulatory Variants Shaped Human Evolution with David Gokhman

    ·18m
  19. 19

    CARTA: Archaic Human Genomes with Diyendo Massilani

    ·18m
  20. 20

    CARTA: Archaic Introgression Reveals Human Dispersals with Janet Kelso

    ·19m
  21. 21

    CARTA: Mismatch: Human Origins and Modern Disease - Questions Answers and Closing Remarks

    ·1h 16m
  22. 22

    CARTA: Three Smokes in the Evolution of the Human Exposome with Caleb Finch

    ·18m
  23. 23

    CARTA: The Industrialized Gut Microbiome with Justin and Erica Sonnenburg

    ·20m
  24. 24

    CARTA: The Industrialized Gut Microbiome with Justin and Erica Sonnenberg

    ·20m
  25. 25

    CARTA: Biocultural Reproduction: The Human Style of Hyper-cooperation with Barry Bogin

    ·18m
  26. 26

    CARTA: Osteoarthritis Back Problems Difficult Birth - Scars of Our Evolution? with Martin Häusler

    ·20m
  27. 27

    CARTA: Primate Skeletal Gene Regulation: Risks of Human Skeletal Disease Specifically Osteoarthritis with Genevieve Housman

    ·22m
  28. 28

    CARTA: Does the Placenta Drive the Evolution of Cancer Malignancy with Günter Wagner

    ·20m
  29. 29

    CARTA: From Cave to Architecture: Settling Down in Southwest Asia with Trevor Watkins

    ·21m
  30. 30

    CARTA: Mismatch: Human Origins and Modern Disease - Welcome and Opening Remarks

    ·8m
  31. 31

    CARTA: Cancer is Normal Development Spun Out of Control with Steve Frank

    ·17m
  32. 32

    CARTA: Origins of Love - Questions Answers and Closing Remarks

    ·1h 9m
  33. 33

    CARTA: The Biology of Fatherhood in Humans: Evolutionary Origins and Cross-Cultural Perspectives with Lee Gettler

    ·23m
  34. 34

    CARTA: Love Monogamy and Fatherhood in Latin American Monkeys with Eduardo Fernandez-Duque

    ·18m
  35. 35

    CARTA: The Biology of Grandmaternal Love with James Rilling

    ·17m
  36. 36

    CARTA: Love Loss and Luminance with Karen Bales

    ·22m
  37. 37

    CARTA: Oxytocin's Pathway to the Origins of Speech and Dance with Constantina Theofanopoulou

    ·27m
  38. 38

    CARTA: Is Vasopressin the Key to Unlocking Our Understanding of Autism? with Karen J. Parker

    ·25m
  39. 39

    CARTA: Origins of Love - Welcome and Opening Remarks

    ·7m
  40. 40

    CARTA: The Healing Power of Love: The Oxytocin Hypothesis with Sue Carter

    ·23m
  41. 41

    CARTA: How Humans Came to Construct Their Worlds - Questions Answers and Closing Remarks

    ·24m
  42. 42

    CARTA: Toward a Smart Architecture of Habitats in the Age of Human-AI Symbiosis in an Eco-Aware World with Michael Fox

    ·23m
  43. 43

    CARTA: The Architecture of Informality with Kristine Stiphany

    ·20m
  44. 44

    CARTA: Göbekli Tepe with Ricarda Braun

    ·18m
  45. 45

    CARTA: Deep Time Evolution of the Indigenous Peoples and Architectures of Australia with Paul Memmott

    ·18m
  46. 46

    CARTA: How People Learned to Live in Cities with Michael Smith

    ·19m
  47. 47

    CARTA: Evolving the Construction-Ready Brain with Michael Arbib

    ·20m
  48. 48

    CARTA: How Humans Came to Construct Their Worlds - Welcome and Opening Remarks

    ·9m
  49. 49

    CARTA: Bird Nests: Adaptive Variation on Innate Bauplans with Susan Healy

    ·18m
  50. 50

    CARTA: Energy in the Balance with Barnabas Calder

    ·21m
  51. 51

    CARTA: The First Paleo-Rock Star: Is Lucy Still an Influencer? with Ann Gibbons

    ·21m
  52. 52

    CARTA: Lucy African Heritage and ‘Paleodoms’ with Job Kibii

    ·20m
  53. 53

    CARTA: Lucy’s Contribution: Understanding the Sequence of Steps Leading to Human Uniqueness with Kim Hill

    ·21m
  54. 54

    CARTA: Lucy's Legacy and the Past and Future of Primate Research with Melissa Emery Thompson

    ·20m
  55. 55

    CARTA: How Did Lucy Become a Fossil? Investigating the Life Death and Preservation of a Famous Hominin with Anna Behrensmeyer

    ·21m
  56. 56

    CARTA: How the Paleo Diet Worked for Lucy-and Led to Us with Jessica Thompson

    ·20m
  57. 57

    CARTA: Lucy - Welcome and Opening Remarks

    ·4m
  58. 58

    CARTA: Lucy and Evolution of Hand Dexterity and Tool Use with Tracy Kivell

    ·20m
  59. 59

    CARTA: What Was Lucy’s Impact on our Understanding of Bipedality Diet and Encephalization? with Carol Ward

    ·20m
  60. 60

    CARTA: The Savanna Hypothesis: Tracing an Enigmatic Idea Through Time with Kaye Reed

    ·16m
  61. 61

    CARTA: What Was Lucy’s Impact on Our Understanding of Other Australopith Relatives? with Bernard Wood

    ·20m
  62. 62

    CARTA: Lucy's Children and Human Origins with Zeray Alemseged

    ·22m
  63. 63

    CARTA: The Discovery and Initial Interpretation of ‘Lucy’ as a Tipping-Point in Paleoanthropology with Ian Tattersall

    ·17m
  64. 64

    CARTA: Before Lucy: The State of Knowledge on Human Origins with Donald Johanson

    ·12m
  65. 65

    CARTA: Body Modification - Questions Answers and Closing Remarks

    ·1h 23m
  66. 66

    CARTA: Lip Plates in Ethiopia with Shauna LaTosky

    ·24m
  67. 67

    CARTA: The Recent History of Piercing Practices in Europe and North America with Paul King

    ·17m
  68. 68

    CARTA: Permanent Body Modification in Mesoamerica and Central America with Rosemary Joyce

    ·19m
  69. 69

    CARTA: Female and Male Genital Modification with Ellen Gruenbaum

    ·19m
  70. 70

    CARTA: Dental Ablation and Facial Piercing in Late Pleistocene Southwestern Asia and Africa with John Willman

    ·19m
  71. 71

    CARTA: Permanent Body Modification: Archaeological and Early Historical Evidence with Brea McCauley

    ·19m
  72. 72

    CARTA: A Multistep Evolutionary Scenario for the Culturalization of the Human Body with Francesco d'Errico

    ·16m
  73. 73

    CARTA: Body Modification - Welcome and Opening Remarks

    ·11m
  74. 74

    CARTA: The Recent History of Tattooing in Europe and North America with Matt Lodder

    ·20m
  75. 75

    CARTA: Footbinding: A Gene-Culture Co-evolutionary Approach to a One Thousand Year Tradition with Ryan Nichols

    ·15m
  76. 76

    CARTA: CompAnth - Questions Answers and Closing Remarks

    ·34m
  77. 77

    CARTA: CompAnth - Welcome and Opening Remarks

    ·12m
  78. 78

    CARTA: Comparative Anthropogeny - Language: Uniqueness Out of the Ordinary with Eva Wittenberg

    ·23m
  79. 79

    CARTA: Comparative Anthropogeny - Did Humans Evolve Concealed Ovulation? with Pascal Gagneux

    ·23m
  80. 80

    CARTA: Comparative Anthropogeny - The Evolution of Shorter Inter-birth Intervals in Humans with Corinna Most

    ·19m
  81. 81

    CARTA: Comparative Anthropogeny - Insight into Human-specific Adaptations to High Altitude with Tatum Simonson

    ·20m
  82. 82

    CARTA: Comparative Anthropogeny - How Special are Our Neanderthal Genes? with Andrew Schork

    ·18m
  83. 83

    CARTA: Comparative Anthropogeny - Social Complexity: Why Modern Humans are More Like Ants Than Chimpanzees with Mark Moffett

    ·22m
  84. 84

    CARTA: Comparative Anthropogeny - Ethnology as a Tool for Understanding Human Evolution with Mark Collard

    ·21m
  85. 85

    CARTA: Comparative Anthropogeny - Delayed Neuronal Maturation in Humans with Carol Marchetto

    ·21m
  86. 86

    CARTA: Comparative Anthropogeny - A Weakly Structured Stem for our Origins in Africa with Brenna Henn

    ·20m
  87. 87

    CARTA: The Role of Myth in Anthropogeny - Questions Answers and Closing Remarks

    ·38m
  88. 88

    CARTA: The Role of Myth in Anthropogeny - The Salience of Animals and the Trickster in San and Hunter-gatherer Mythology with Mathias Guenther

    ·21m
  89. 89

    CARTA: The Role of Myth in Anthropogeny - Topologies of Belief: Folklore Conspiracy Theories and Threat with Timothy Tangherlini

    ·26m
  90. 90

    CARTA: The Role of Myth in Anthropogeny - Writing Plague: Myth Morality and Modernity with Mark Honigsbaum

    ·19m
  91. 91

    CARTA: The Role of Myth in Anthropogeny - Stories of Fire: Origins Interactions and Futures with Michael Chazan

    ·19m
  92. 92

    CARTA: The Role of Myth in Anthropogeny - All the Stories Animals Don't Tell with Daniel Povinelli

    ·20m
  93. 93

    CARTA: The Role of Myth in Anthropogeny - Symposium Welcome and Opening Remarks

    ·11m
  94. 94

    CARTA: The Role of Myth in Anthropogeny - Hunting Hypothesis and Male Myths in Anthropogeny wth Karen Kramer

    ·20m
  95. 95

    CARTA: The Role of Myth in Anthropogeny - Firelit Stories: Creating Imaginary Communities with Polly Wiessner

    ·21m
  96. 96

    CARTA: The Role of Myth in Anthropogeny - Why Humans Tell Stories with Brian Boyd

    ·19m
  97. 97

    CARTA: The Transformational Potential of Computer-assisted Brains with Joseph Paradiso

    ·22m
  98. 98

    CARTA: The Evolution of the Human Brain through Shifts in Gene Regulation with Miles Wilkinson

    ·23m
  99. 99

    CARTA: The Biology of Hatred: Why Love Turns to Hatred and What We Can Do About It with Ruth Feldman

    A researcher presents a neurobiological model of hatred, exploring its evolutionary and psychological roots.

    ·20m
  100. 100

    CARTA: Is There a Point to Periods? The Evolutionary History of Menstruation and Implications of Women's Health with Deena Emera

    A researcher explains the evolution of menstruation and its implications for women's health, focusing on the hormonal cycle and decidualization.

    ·24m
  101. 101

    CARTA: Fifty Years Since Lucy’s Discovery: Advances in Scientific Knowledge on Human Origins and the Development of African Paleosciences with Yohannes Haile-Selassie

    A researcher discusses Lucy's impact on African paleosciences and human origins at a symposium.

    ·24m
  102. 102

    CARTA: Combinatorial Technology and the Emergence of the Built Environment with Larry Barham

    A researcher introduces combinatorial technology and its role in human evolution, covering seven million years of hominin development and climate change.

    ·21m
  103. 103

    CARTA: Archaic Introgression Reveals Human Dispersals with Janet Kelso

    Hidden gem

    Janet Kelso describes how ancient DNA and proteins have reshaped the study of human origins, including the timing of Neanderthal admixture and the spread of Denisovans across Asia.

    Nov 24, 2025·19m·1 clip
  104. 104

    CARTA: Origins of Love - Questions Answers and Closing Remarks

    Hidden gem

    Sue Carter, Karen Bales, Jim Rilling, Konstantina, Eduardo, and Ruth Feldman field audience questions on oxytocin, vasopressin, pair bonding, and social behavior across humans and animals.

    Mar 29, 2025·1h 9m·4 clips
  105. 105

    CARTA: The Biology of Fatherhood in Humans: Evolutionary Origins and Cross-Cultural Perspectives with Lee Gettler

    Hidden gem

    Lee Gettler’s CARTA talk argues that human fatherhood is biologically unusual because men in humans, unlike most other mammals and great apes, often provide intensive care, provisioning, and co-sleeping.

    Mar 28, 2025·23m·1 clip
  106. 106

    CARTA: Love Monogamy and Fatherhood in Latin American Monkeys with Eduardo Fernandez-Duque

    Hidden gem

    Eduardo Fernandez-Duque uses owl monkeys and titty monkeys in Argentina, Peru, and Ecuador to study monogamy, pair bonds, and fatherhood.

    Mar 24, 2025·18m·1 clip
  107. 107

    CARTA: The Biology of Grandmaternal Love with James Rilling

    Mar 10, 2025·17m
  108. 108

    CARTA: Love Loss and Luminance with Karen Bales

    Hidden gem

    Karen Bales found opposite dopamine and vasopressin effects in male and female titi monkeys.

    Feb 28, 2025·22m·1 clip
  109. 109

    CARTA: Origins of Love - Welcome and Opening Remarks

    Feb 19, 2025·7m
  110. 110

    CARTA: The Biology of Hatred: Why Love Turns to Hatred and What We Can Do About It with Ruth Feldman

    Feb 14, 2025·20m
  111. 111

    CARTA: How Humans Came to Construct Their Worlds - Questions Answers and Closing Remarks

    Larry describes comparing Kalambo Falls logs with experimental tool marks to assess intentional shaping.

    Dec 15, 2024·24m·2 clips
  112. 112

    CARTA: Toward a Smart Architecture of Habitats in the Age of Human-AI Symbiosis in an Eco-Aware World with Michael Fox

    Michael Fox says buildings and their operation account for one third of energy use, making architecture a meaningful place to reduce climate impact.

    Dec 13, 2024·23m·2 clips
  113. 113

    CARTA: The Architecture of Informality with Kristine Stiphany

    Dec 11, 2024·20m
  114. 114

    CARTA: Göbekli Tepe with Ricarda Braun

    Dec 1, 2024·18m
  115. 115

    CARTA: Deep Time Evolution of the Indigenous Peoples and Architectures of Australia with Paul Memmott

    Nov 20, 2024·18m
  116. 116

    CARTA: How People Learned to Live in Cities with Michael Smith

    Nov 16, 2024·19m
  117. 117

    CARTA: Evolving the Construction-Ready Brain with Michael Arbib

    Nov 11, 2024·20m
  118. 118

    CARTA: Combinatorial Technology and the Emergence of the Built Environment with Larry Barham

    Nov 6, 2024·21m
  119. 119

    CARTA: How Humans Came to Construct Their Worlds - Welcome and Opening Remarks

    Oct 29, 2024·9m