Debunking yeti DNA, and the incredibly strong arms of prehistoric female farmers

Science Magazine Podcast

Science Podcast

News, News Commentary, Science

4.3 • 842 Ratings

🗓️ 30 November 2017

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The abominable snowman, the yeti, bigfoot, and sasquatch—these long-lived myths of giant, hairy hominids depend on dropping elusive clues to stay in the popular imagination—a blurry photo here, a big footprint there—but what happens when scientists try to pin that evidence down? Online News Editor David Grimm talks with Sarah Crespi about the latest attempts to verify the yeti’s existence using DNA analysis of bones and hair and how this research has led to more than the debunking of a mythic creature. Sarah also interviews Alison Macintosh of the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom about her investigation of bone, muscle, and behavior in prehistory female farmers—what can a new database of modern women’s bones—athletes and regular folks—tell us about the labor of women as humans took up farming? Listen to previous podcasts. [Image: Didier Descouens/CC BY SA 3.0; Music: Jeffrey Cook] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This podcast is supported by the Icon School of Medicine at Mount Sinai,
0:04.0	the academic arm of the Mount Sinai health system in New York City,
0:07.5	and one of America's leading research medical schools.
0:10.7	What are scientists and clinicians working on to improve medical care and health for women?
0:15.5	Find out in a special supplement to Science magazine prepared by the Icon School of Medicine
0:20.0	and Mount Sinai in partnership
0:21.6	with science. Visit our website at www.science.org and search for Frontiers of Medical
0:27.5	Research-Wedmen's Health. The Icon School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, we find a way.
0:42.8	Welcome to the science podcast for December 1st, 2017.
0:44.2	I'm Sarah Crespy.
0:51.6	In this week's show, David Grimm is up first with tales of Yeti and Sasquatch DNA or not.
0:58.2	And Allison McIntosh talks with us about what a new database of modern bone measurements from women can reveal about prehistoric farming women, their jobs, and
1:04.9	their incredibly strong arms.
1:15.8	Now we have Dave Grimm, online news editor. He's here to talk to us about Yeties and Sasquatches. I actually have trouble saying Sasquatch. I think it's because it's a made-up
1:22.0	thing. So why are we talking about these fanciful creatures, Dave?
1:28.1	Well, you know, these are animals that have been part of human folklore for a long time, not just in places like North America, where we call them Bigfoot or Sasquatch, but in places like Tibet and the Himalayas, where you might more likely find them referred to as
1:46.4	Yeti or Abominable Snowman.
1:48.6	And just for anybody who doesn't know what these creatures are supposed to be, these are sort of like giant.
1:55.2	Hominence.
1:55.8	Hairy humans.
1:56.9	Maybe they're white.
1:57.9	Maybe they're brown.
	...

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