Origin Stories

Humans are the only animals that get dressed every day. Clothing is one of our most important inventions, yet we rarely even think about it as a technology. Nina Jablonski joins us to explore when and why our ancestors started wearing clothes, and what that decision meant for our survival, our migration across the planet, and our sense of self.
Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to funding human origins research and sharing discoveries. Please support our work at leakeyfoundation.org/originstories.
Links to learn more:
Nina Jablonski's website
Nina Jablonski lecture on "The Evolution and Meaning of Human Skin Color" 
The Oldest Sewn Hide
Origins of Clothing Lice
Blombos Cave Awls
Sewing Needles Reveal the Roots of Fashion

Biruté Mary Galdikas passed away on March 24, 2026, at the age of 79. She spent more than 50 years studying orangutans in Borneo and fighting to protect them. Before she began her work, orangutans were the least understood of the great apes. She changed that. Her research formed the foundation of what we now know about orangutans. She was the first to learn what they ate, how they lived, how they moved, their long interbirth intervals, and so much more. Including the many threats to their survival. Her lifelong dedication inspired generations to care about orangutans and their forests, and to pursue careers in the field she helped shape. ⁠
I had the honor and privilege of interviewing Birute Galdikas in 2021, on the fiftieth anniversary of her study. We're re-releasing this episode in her honor. 
Links:
Orangutan Foundation International
Ways to get involved
In Memory of Dr. Biruté Marija Filomena Galdikas: A remembrance by primatologist Erin Vogel
Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and outreach.
Support this show and the science we talk about. Your donations will be matched by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation. leakeyfoundation.org/donate 
Credits:
Produced by Ray Pang and Meredith Johnson. Sound design by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Thanks to Talain Blanchon for audio of Dr. Galdikas in the field and for recording our interview with Dr. Galdikas in his studio. And special thanks to Marcus Foley and Emily Patton for all their help.
Archival lecture audio is from The Leakey Foundation archive.
Music by Henry Nagle and Lee Roservere.

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.
Support this show and the science we talk about. Your tax-deductible gift to The Leakey Foundation will be matched! Click here to donate. 
Want more science between podcast episodes? Join our monthly newsletter for human origins news and updates from Origin Stories and The Leakey Foundation.
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
Highly selective cannibalism in the Late Pleistocene of Northern Europe reveals Neandertals were targeted prey
Denisovan mitochondrial DNA from dental calculus of the >146,000-year-old Harbin cranium

This episode features two stories from the Science Podcast. First, Science writer Ann Gibbons tells the story of three ancient hominin species that lived side-by-side in South Africa's Cradle of Humankind. Then, anthropologist Melanie Beasley discusses her new study on why chemical signals in Neanderthal teeth and bones make them look like hypercarnivores. Her research suggests they were just eating a lot of maggots!  
Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to funding human origins research and sharing discoveries. 
The Science podcast is a weekly show from the journal Science and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Search for Science Magazine in any podcasting app to subscribe. Learn more at https://www.science.org/podcasts
Origin Stories is audience-supported. Additional support comes from Jeanne Newman, the Anne and Gordon Getty Foundation, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.

This is a story about sweat, survival, speed, and the peculiar ways running may have shaped us as humans. Armed with a hydration vest, a dream, and paleoanthropologist Daniel Lieberman's endurance running hypothesis, filmmaker Nicole Teeny set out to push the limits of her own endurance. Nicole's mission takes her from the Kalahari Desert to Kansas to see if humans really did evolve to run. Along the way, she discovers humans' unusual superpower and asks, can a human outrun a horse?
This episode was written and produced by Nicole Teeny. Sound designed and produced by Ray Pang. Edited by Audrey Quinn. Our host and executive producer is Meredith Johnson.
Want more of this story? Listen to Nicole's four-episode series on ESPN's 30 for 30 podcast!
Support our show and the science we talk about! Until August 31, all donations to Origin Stories and The Leakey Foundation will be quadruple-matched by Leakey Foundation trustee Nina Carroll and the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.