Top Human Origins Discoveries of 2025
Origin Stories
Meredith Johnson
4.8 • 554 Ratings
🗓️ 31 December 2025
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
2025 was another exciting year in human origins research! In this episode, four scientists and Leakey Foundation grantees (and one podcast host) share their picks for the top discoveries of the year.
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Links to learn more
All research articles are open-access and free to read
New research reveals the hand of Paranthropus boisei
Earliest evidence of making fire
Complete sequencing of ape genomes
Denisovan mitochondrial DNA from dental calculus of the >146,000-year-old Harbin cranium
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Origin Stories, the Leaky Foundation podcast. I'm Meredith Johnson. And today, it's time for our |
| 0:12.5 | annual Top Discoveries in Human Origins episode, where we look back at some of the most amazing things we've learned this year. |
| 0:20.2 | But before we get started, |
| 0:22.1 | I need to ask for your support. Discoveries like the ones you'll hear about today can't happen |
| 0:27.7 | without funding. At the Leaky Foundation, every grant we give is made possible by someone like you |
| 0:34.1 | who cares about science. And as federal funding is being slashed by the current |
| 0:39.5 | administration here in the U.S., scientists are turning to the Leaky Foundation in record numbers, |
| 0:44.9 | which really means they're turning to you. If you can, please pitch in. Our board of trustees will |
| 0:50.8 | match every dollar you give now through the end of January. |
| 0:59.0 | Go to leakyfoundation.org slash donate or use the link in your show notes. |
| 1:02.3 | Okay, so now let's get into the episode. |
| 1:06.9 | Origin Stories producer Ray Pang is here and he's going to surprise us with some favorite discoveries from 2025. |
| 1:09.1 | Hi, Ray. |
| 1:10.3 | Hi, Meredith. |
| 1:11.3 | It's great to see you. |
| 1:13.4 | As always, it's a pleasure to come on the show and, yeah, be front of house. |
| 1:19.7 | Excellent. |
| 1:20.3 | I love it, too. |
| 1:21.3 | I look forward to it every year. |
| 1:23.2 | If you haven't heard one of our top discoveries episodes before, the way it works is Ray works on this in secret and surprises all of us at the same time with the stories that he's gotten from Leakey Foundation grantees. |
| 1:37.8 | Yeah, that's right. Are you ready? |
| 1:40.3 | I'm so ready. What do you have? |
... |
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