Sausage of Science

Chris and Cristina chat with Dr. Ian Wallace, an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico, where he is the director of the Human Physical Activity Lab. As an Evolutionary Anthropologist, Ian's work focuses on how humans evolved to use their bodies and explores the costs and benefits of modern physical activity patterns for our health. He is particularly interested in populations transitioning from non-industrial to industrial and post-industrial contexts. Ian earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology in 2013 from Stony Brook University, where his dissertation examined how physical activity and genetics determine limb bone structure. Following graduate school and an initial postdoctoral position at Stony Brook, he completed his postdoctoral training in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard and started his own lab at UNM. There, he focuses on measures of locomotor biomechanics and their ties to the health and function of the musculoskeletal system. Recently, his fieldwork has focused on the Indigenous peoples of Peninsular Malaysia. In particular, he is interested in how their lifestyles are changing with the rapid expansion of industries, the market economy, and urban areas across Malaysia, as well as how these changes affect their health and risk of disease. ------------------------------ Find the papers discussed in this episode: Wallace, I. J., Worthington, S., Felson, D. T., Jurmain, R. D., Wren, K. T., Maijanen, H., Woods, R. J., & Lieberman, D. E. (2017). Knee osteoarthritis has doubled in prevalence since the mid-20th century. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 114(35), 9332–9336. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1703856114 Wallace, I. J., Lea, A. J., Lim, Y. A. L., Chow, S. K. W., Sayed, I. B. M., Ngui, R., Shaffee, M. T. H., Ng, K. S., Nicholas, C., Venkataraman, V. V., & Kraft, T. S. (2022). Orang Asli Health and Lifeways Project (OA HeLP): a cross-sectional cohort study protocol. BMJ open, 12(9), e058660. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-058660 ------------------------------ Contact Dr. Wallace: Website: https://www.ianjwallace.com/; E-mail: iwallace@unm.edu ------------------------------ Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and Human Biology Association: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc Chris Lynn, Host Website: cdlynn.people.ua.edu/, E-mail: cdlynn@ua.edu, Twitter:@Chris_Ly Cristina Gildee, Co-host, SoS Co-Producer, HBA Junior Fellow Website: cristinagildee.org, E-mail: cgildee@uw.edu

Dr. Amato is a biological anthropologist studying the influence of gut microbes on host ecology and evolution. Her research examines how changes in the gut microbiota impact host nutrition, energetics, and health. She uses non-human primates as models for studying host-gut microbe interactions in selective environments and for providing comparative insight into the evolution of the human gut microbiota. Her main foci are understanding how the gut microbiome may buffer hosts during periods of nutritional stress and how the gut microbiome programs normal inter-specific differences in host metabolism. In this realm, she is also interested in global variation in the human gut microbiome and its implications for local human adaptation. Dr. Amato obtained her A.B. in Biology from Dartmouth College and her Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She completed a postdoc at the University of Colorado Boulder. She joined the Department of Anthropology in 2015. She is also affiliated with the Interdisciplinary Biological Sciences Graduate Program and sits on the Executive Committee of the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems. Dr. Amato is the President of the Midwest Primate Interest Group, an Associate Editor at Microbiome, an Editorial Board member at Folia Primatologica, and a Fellow for the Canadian Institute of Advanced Research’s ‘Humans and the Microbiome’ Program. ------------------------------ Find the paper discussed in this episode: Mallott, E., Kuthyar, S., Lee, W., … & Amato, K. R. (2024). The primate gut microbiota contributes to interspecific differences in host metabolism. Microbial genomics, https://doi.org/10.1099/mgen.0.001322 ------------------------------ Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and Human Biology Association: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc Chris Lynn, Co-Host. Website: cdlynn.people.ua.edu/, E-mail: cdlynn@ua.edu, Twitter:@Chris_Ly Cristina Gildee, Guest Co-Host, HBA Junior Fellow, SoS producer. Website: cristinagildee.org, E-mail: cgildee@uw.edu, Twitter:@CristinaGildee Anahi Ruderman, SoS Co-Producer, HBA Junior Fellow. E-mail: aniruderman@gmail.com, Twitter: @ani_ruderman

Dr. Michael Muehlenbein is a prominent figure in anthropology and biology, currently serving as a professor at Baylor University. His academic journey has been marked by a deep commitment to understanding human evolution, behavior, and health through an interdisciplinary lens. Michael earned an MsPH in both Tropical Medicine and Biostatistics from Tulane University, and an MPhil and PhD in Biological Anthropology from Yale University. His research interests are diverse, encompassing topics such as the evolutionary basis of disease susceptibility, reproductive strategies, and the interplay between environmental factors and human physiology. At Baylor, he has contributed significantly to both teaching and research, mentoring students while also publishing extensively in peer reviewed journals. His work often integrates insights from evolutionary theory with practical applications in public health and medicine, making him a key contributor to discussions on how our evolutionary past shapes contemporary health challenges. Michael is also the Co PI on the NSF-funded project, “Shared markers of identity on inflammation and stress.” ------------------------------ Find the papers discussed in this episode: Muehlenbein MP, Gassen J, Nowak TJ, Henderson AD, Weaver SP, Baker EJ. (2023). Waco COVID Survey: A Community-Based SARS-CoV-2 Serological Surveillance Study in Central Texas. J Community Health, 48(1):104-112. doi: 10.1007/s10900-022-01143-y. Muehlenbein M, Gassen J, Nowak T, Henderson A, Morris B, Weaver S, Baker E. (2023). Age-Dependent Relationships Between Disease Risk and Testosterone Levels: Relevance to COVID-19 Disease. Am J Mens Health. doi: 10.1177/15579883221130195. ------------------------------ Contact Dr. Michael Muehlenbein: Michael_Muehlenbein@baylor.edu ------------------------------ Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and Human Biology Association: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc Chris Lynn, Co-Host, Website: cdlynn.people.ua.edu, E-mail: cdlynn@ua.edu, Twitter: @Chris_Ly Courtney Manthey, Guest-Co-Host, HBA Junior Fellow , Website: holylaetoli.com/ E-mail: cpierce4@uccs.edu, Twitter: @HolyLaetoli Anahi Ruderman, SoS Co-Producer, HBA Junior Fellow, E-mail: aniruderman@gmail.com, Twitter: @ani_ruderman

Dr Anna Marie Prentiss joins Host Chris Lynn to discuss the origins of institutionalised inequality. Anna is an archaeologist specializing in the ancient history of the Great Plains, Pacific Northwest, and Arctic regions of North America. She has a methodological specialty in lithic technology and theoretical interests in the archaeology of villages and towns, social inequality, hunter-gatherer mobility and technological organization, and the cultural evolutionary process. She is associate editor of the scholarly journal, Current Anthropology. Dr. Prentiss is actively engaged in a long term study of the evolution of complex hunter-gatherer-fisher societies on the interior of British Columbia. The current focus of this research is a multi-year excavation at the Bridge River archaeological site, located near the town of Lillooet, British Columbia. With funding from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Prentiss, along with her students and colleagues conducted major excavations during 2008 and 2009 to examine socio-economic and political changes that occurred during the occupation span of the village. Recent research (2012-2023) at Bridge River has been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation. ------------------------------ Find the paper discussed in this episode: Prentiss, A. M., Foor, T. A., Hampton, A., Walsh, M. J., Denis, M. & Edwards. A. (2023). Emergence of persistent institutionalized inequality at the Bridge River site, British Columbia: the roles of managerial mutualism and coercion. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 14;378(1883). doi: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0304 ------------------------------ Contact Dr. Prentiss: anna.prentiss@mso.umt.edu ------------------------------ Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and Human Biology Association: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc Chris Lynn, Co-Host Website: cdlynn.people.ua.edu/, E-mail: cdlynn@ua.edu, Twitter:@Chris_Ly Anahi Ruderman, SoS Co-Producer, HBA Junior Fellow E-mail: aniruderman@gmail.com, Twitter: @@ani_ruderman

Cristina and Anahi chat with Dr. Gonzalo Figueiro about his groundbreaking research in ancient DNA, kinship, and population genetics. Dr. Figueiro is a Professor of Biological Anthropology at the University of the Republic, Uruguay, and holds a PhD in Biological Sciences from the Basic Sciences Development Programme (PEDECIBA), Uruguay. His main research interests are the genetics of ancient and modern human populations and the bioarchaeology of prehistoric populations in Uruguay. He also reflects and writes on the ethics of working with DNA samples and human remains from the past. ------------------------------ Find the paper discussed in this episode: Figueiro, G. (2024). Simulating the effects of kinship and postmarital residence patterns on mitochondrial DNA diversity in mortuary contexts. American Journal of Biological Anthropology, e24910. ------------------------------ Contact Gonzalo via email: gonzalo.figueiro@fhce.edu.uy ------------------------------ Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and Human Biology Association: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc Cristina Gildee, Co-host, SoS Co-Producer, HBA Junior Fellow Website: cristinagildee.org, E-mail: cgildee@uw.edu Anahi Ruderman, Co-host, SoS Co-Producer, HBA Junior Fellow E-mail: aniruderman@gmail.com Twitter:@ani_ruderman

Cristina guest hosts her first episode with special guest Dr. Marina Watowich: an Evolutionary Biologist and current NIH F32 Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Watowich earned her Ph.D. in Biology in 2022 from the University of Washington, where she specialized in Data Science. Her research focuses on how environmental perturbations impact long-term health-related phenotypes and why some individuals are more resilient/susceptible to adverse conditions. To do this, she uses a combination of genomic approaches, computational techniques, and long-term observational data to understand how the environment 'gets under the skin' to result in phenotypic variation. Marina was recently awarded an F32 grant from the National Institutes of Aging to explore the consequences of differential immune investment on molecular aging phenotypes in subsistence-level populations. ------------------------------ Find the papers discussed in this episode: Watowich, Marina M., et al. "Natural disaster and immunological aging in a nonhuman primate." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119.8 (2022): e2121663119. Watowich, M. M., Arner, A. M., Wang, S., John, E., Kahumbu, J. C., Kinyua, P., ... & Lea, A. J. (2024). The built environment is more predictive of cardiometabolic health than other aspects of lifestyle in two rapidly transitioning Indigenous populations. medRxiv. ------------------------------ Contact Marina: website: https://mwatowich.github.io/; email: marina.watowich@vanderbilt.edu ------------------------------ Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and Human Biology Association: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc Cristina Gildee, Host, SoS Co-Producer, HBA Junior Fellow Website: cristinagildee.org, E-mail: cgildee@uw.edu

Maria Florencia Cesani es Licenciada en Antropología y Dra. en Ciencias Naturales por la Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Es investigadora independiente de CONICET y se desempeña como directora del Laboratorio de Investigaciones en Ontogenia y Adaptación (LINOA) de la Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, de la Universidad Nacional de la Plata, donde también es Profesora de Antropología Biológica. Sus temas de investigación giran en torno al estudio del crecimiento y estado nutricional infantil y adolescente y su relación con factores sociales, económicos y ambientales que los condicionan. Actualmente trabaja en barrios vulnerables localizados en la periferia urbana de La Plata (provincia de Buenos Aires). Maria Florencia Cesani holds a degree in Anthropology and a Ph.D. in Natural Sciences from the National University of La Plata. She is an independent researcher at CONICET and Director of the Laboratory of Research on Ontogeny and Adaptation (LINOA) of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Museum of the National University of La Plata, where she is also Professor of Biological Anthropology. Her research interests revolve around the study of growth and nutritional status in children and adolescents and their relationship to social, economic, and environmental factors. She is currently working in vulnerable neighborhoods in the urban periphery of La Plata (Buenos Aires Province). Find the paper discussed in this episode: Cesani, M. F., Montero, M. G., & Serrano, M. D. M. (2025). Anthropometric Studies of Schoolchildren During the First Decades of the 20th Century in Spain and Argentina. American journal of human biology, 37(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.24183 ------------------------------ Contact Dr. María Florencia Cesani: florcesani@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/florcesani ------------------------------ Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and Human Biology Association: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc Anahí Ruderman, Guest Co-Host, SoS Co-Producer, HBA Junior Fellow. E-mail: ruderman@cenpat-conicet.gob.ar. Twitter: @ani_ruderman Miguel Ochoa, Guest Co-Host E-mail: mochoa88@uw.edu, Cristina Gildee, SoS producer, HBA Junior Fellow Website: cristinagildee.org, E-mail: cgildee@uw.edu, Twitter:@CristinaGildee

Chris Lynn and Courtney Manthey discuss about the role of monkey bars in human development with Dr. Nathaniel J Dominy, an evolutionary biologist and Professor of Anthropology at Dartmouth. He study the behavior, ecology, and functional morphology of humans and nonhuman primates. His research philosophy is to integrate tropical fieldwork with mechanical, molecular, and isotopic analyses in order to better understand how and why adaptive shifts occurred during primate evolution. ------------------------------ Find the paper discussed in this episode: Luke D Fannin, Zaneta M Thayer, Nathaniel J Dominy. (2024) Commemorating the monkey bars, catalyst of debate at the intersection of human evolutionary biology and public health, Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, 12(1), 143–155, https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoae017 ------------------------------ Contact Dr. Nathaniel J Dominy: Nathaniel.J.Dominy@dartmouth.edu ----------------------------- Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and Human Biology Association: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc Chris Lynn, Co-Host Website: cdlynn.people.ua.edu/, E-mail: cdlynn@ua.edu, Twitter:@Chris_Ly Courtney Manthey, Guest-Co-Host, Website: holylaetoli.com/ E-mail: cpierce4@uccs.edu, Twitter: @HolyLaetoli Anahi Ruderman, SoS Co-Producer, HBA Junior Fellow E-mail: aniruderman@gmail.com

Meredith Aulds is a practicing birth doula, community health worker, and medical anthropologist at Purdue University. As a public health worker and anthropologist, she have had the pleasure to work with both governmental and nonprofit organizations that provide free community resources to pregnant people and their families in Indiana. She is also a senior researcher in the Laboratory for Behavior, Ontogeny, and Reproduction (LABOR) at Purdue, where she have supervised undergraduate research projects in maternal-child health. She have experience in program management, grant writing, community-based programs, and qualitative/quantitative research methods. She is also a devoted dog mom, gardener, and quilting novice. In the future, she would love to become a certified yoga instructor with a focus in prenatal yoga. Find the paper discussed in this episode: Aulds, M. (2024). Prevalence of sacroiliac joint fusion in females and males depending on parity status. American journal of biological anthropology, 184(4), e24951. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24951 Contact Meredith Aulds: maulds@purdue.edu Instagram: @meredith_aulds ------------------------------ Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and Human Biology Association: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc Chris Lynn, Co-Host Website: cdlynn.people.ua.edu/, E-mail: cdlynn@ua.edu, Twitter:@Chris_Ly Courtney Manthey, Guest-Co-Host, Website: holylaetoli.com/ E-mail: cpierce4@uccs.edu, Twitter: @HolyLaetoli Anahi Ruderman, SoS Co-Producer, HBA Junior Fellow E-mail: aniruderman@gmail.com

Chris and Courtney sit down with Dr. Thomas Wynn, the Hand Axe Man, AKA: CU Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Colorado. Colorado Springs, where he taught from 1977 until his retirement. Dr. Wynn specializes in the archaeology of the Lower Palaeolithic, led pioneering research in Tanzania, and introduced psychological theory—specifically Piagetian concepts—into Palaeolithic studies, laying the groundwork for evolutionary cognitive archaeology. Dr. Wynn has published over 100 papers and authored key books such as The Rise of Homo Sapiens (2009) and How to Think Like a Neandertal (2012), which he co-authored with Dr. Frederick Coolidge. In 2011, Wynn co-founded the UCCS Center for Cognitive Archaeology, offering online courses on human cognition's evolutionary development. His recent work includes curating First Sculpture, an exhibition on Acheulean handaxes and early aesthetics, which opened at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas in 2018. ------------------------------ Find the book discussed in this episode: Wynn, Thomas, and Frederick L. Coolidge. How to think like a Neanderthal. Oxford University Press, 2011. ------------------------------ Contact Dr. Wynn via e-mail: twynn@uccs.edu ------------------------------ Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and Human Biology Association: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc Chris Lynn, Host Website: cdlynn.people.ua.edu/, E-mail: cdlynn@ua.edu, Twitter:@Chris_Ly Courtney Manthey, Guest-Co-Host, Website: holylaetoli.com/ E-mail: cpierce4@uccs.edu, Twitter: @HolyLaetoli Cristina Gildee, SoS Co-Producer, HBA Junior Fellow Website: cristinagildee.org, E-mail: cgildee@uw.edu, Twitter:@CristinaGildee