Instant Genius The weird and wonderful science behind why humans are different
Oct 9, 2025
Join evolutionary anthropologist Herman Pontzer, a Duke University professor and author of 'Burn' and 'Adaptable', as he dives into human diversity and adaptation. He explains how our genes evolve, featuring intriguing examples like the Sama diving community's expanded spleens for breath-holding. Pontzer discusses the complex interplay of environment and genetics in traits like height and BMI. Learn why intelligence is shaped by culture, not just heredity, and discover fascinating adaptations like nose shapes developed for different climates.
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Why Organisms Adapt
- Almost all organisms adapt by reading environmental inputs and changing across a lifetime or generations.
- Evolution and lifetime plasticity both shape traits to improve survival and reproduction.
Three Layers Of Adaptation
- Adaptation occurs at three scales: developmental plasticity, genetic change across generations, and epigenetic marks that bridge both.
- Epigenetic marks can persist from prenatal stress and affect offspring decades later.
Sama Divers And Big Spleens
- The Sama people dive freehand for food and show selection for longer breath-holding across generations.
- That capacity is partly explained by a larger spleen that releases extra oxygenated red blood cells when diving.
