Neanderthal in the Family

Big Picture Science

Science, Technology

4.6 • 986 Ratings

🗓️ 22 March 2021

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Back off, you Neanderthal! It sounds as if you’ve just been dissed, but maybe you should take it as a compliment. Contrary to common cliches, our Pleistocene relatives were clever, curious, and technologically inventive. Find out how our assessment of Neanderthals has undergone a radical rethinking, and hear about the influence they have as they live on in our DNA. For example, some of their genes have a strong association with severe Covid 19 infection. Plus, how Neanderthal mini-brains grown in a lab will teach us about the evolution of Homo sapiens. Guests: Svante Pääbo – Evolutionary geneticist and Director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Doyle Stevick – Associate professor of educational leadership and policies at the University of South Carolina. Beverly Brown – Professor emerita of anthropology, Rockland Community College, New York. Rebecca Wragg Sykes – Paleolithic anthropologist, author of “Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art.” Alysson Muotri – Neuroscientist and professor of pediatrics, cellular and molecular medicine at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:32.3	Get ready to geek out. The Wired Science Podcast explores all the
0:36.8	latest and greatest in science, everything from strange diseases and
0:40.6	biological breakthroughs to interesting tech and mysteries in outer space.
0:45.0	Listen to Wired Science today wherever you get your podcasts.
0:49.0	That's Wired Science wherever you get your podcasts. Your DNA reflects hundreds of thousands of years of hominid evolution, and encountering
1:08.6	Neanderthals was part of the story.
1:11.2	Your genes contain a record of that ancient liaison. You have a few percent of Neanderthal
1:15.6	DNA curled up in your cells. So why don't our Pleistocene kin get a little more respect?
1:22.4	There's no way any kind of missing link type thing.
1:26.0	And you know, some people may have an idea that they are super primitive
1:30.0	somewhere between, you know, other apes and us and they really not.
1:33.4	Negative cliches persist even while anthropological and genetic evidence about Neanderthals
1:39.4	is forcing a radical rethink about their capabilities and a role in human evolution.
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