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Intelligence Squared

The Handshake: A Gripping History

Intelligence Squared

Intelligence Squared

News, News Commentary, Arts, Society & Culture

4.21.2K Ratings

🗓️ 23 July 2023

⏱️ 40 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Friends do it, strangers do it and so do chimpanzees - and it's not just deeply embedded in our history and culture, it may even be written in our DNA. The humble handshake, it turns out, has a rich and surprising history. In this week's episode palaeoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi speaks to science broadcaster Helen Czerski about a funny and fascinating voyage of discovery - from the handshake's origins (at least seven million years ago) all the way to its sudden disappearance in March 2020. We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be.  Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com or Tweet us @intelligence2.  And if you’d like to support our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations, as well as ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content, early access and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today. Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:09.0

A city-sized playground in a vast desert, where the tallest building in the world dwarfs

0:14.2

super-sized superyots, and there's no end to high-end shops.

0:21.0

So go big, go bold, go beautiful, and fly to Dubai with Virgin Atlantic, book now.

0:30.0

Hello, this is Jeremy Bowen, the International Editor of BBC News.

0:34.0

And I'm here because I want to talk to you about an event I'm doing

0:38.0

with Intelligent Square on the 2nd of November in London.

0:42.0

And I'm going to be talking about the more than 30 years that I've spent

0:46.0

reporting on major events in the Middle East.

0:49.0

With my great friend and colleague over many, many years, Justin Webb.

0:55.0

And I'm sure we'll talk about a few other things as well.

0:59.0

Justin and I started at the BBC on the same day in 1984.

1:05.0

So if you'd like to join us either in person or online,

1:10.0

then visit IntelligentSquared.com to find out more.

1:15.0

Hello and welcome to Intelligent Squared.

1:18.0

I'm senior producer Conor Boyle.

1:20.0

Today we're learning about the history of one of the most universal human gestures

1:24.0

of communication found throughout the world.

1:26.0

The Handshake, Paleo Anthropologist Ella Elshamahi,

1:29.0

joins science broadcaster and author Helen Chersky to discuss her book,

1:33.0

The Handshake Acripping History, the discussion originally aired in April 2021.

1:38.0

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