Podcasts about neanderthals

Matters Microbial #108: Neanderthal Oral Health, Ancient Bacteria and DNA September 19, 2025 Today, Dr. Laura Weyrich, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University,  joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the paleo oral microbiome! We will learn if our ancestors had the same kind of resident microbes as we do. In addition, we will learn about ancient DNA and what it can tell us. Host: Mark O. Martin Guest: Laura Weyrich Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify Become a patron of Matters Microbial! Links for this episode An obituary for my late and much missed microbiologist friend, Dr. Kimberly Walker. A link to Episode #9 of #MattersMicrobial, with Sebastian Cocioba.  The ethics of collecting samples from deceased humans, both ancient and modern. An overview of the efforts to study ancient DNA.  Here is another review on that topic. The importance of proper controls for the study of low DNA abundance samples—the famous “kitome” often observed.  Here is an article by Dr. Weyrich and colleagues on this topic, as well. A recent article using human bones to detect Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague.  An overview of the oral microbiome. An article describing how dental calculus can be used to recover ancient DNA. An article by Dr. Weyrich and colleagues describing the human oral microbiome pre and post Industrial Revolution in Great Britain. A video describing our Neanderthal ancestors. An article by Dr. Weyrich and colleagues describing the Neanderthal oral microbiome and related issues. A fine video by Dr. Weyrich describing her research program. Dr. Weyrich's faculty website. Dr. Weyrich's research team website (SO INTERESTING). Intro music is by Reber Clark Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

The Power of Dirndls And Lederhosen: Part 1Hans channels his grandfather's German roots, to overcome his inadequacies with women.Based on the post by cb summers, in 2 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Connected.September 22October was almost here. Outside, a cold, gusty wind was blowing the freshly fallen leaves across the campus commons. But I was warm in my room, snuggled under the covers, devouring chapter seven of Advanced Organic Chemistry. I had a test scheduled for the next morning, but studying wasn't a chore for a nerd like me. It was a joy. I was basking in the awesome power of carbon, and the stunning ways it had chemically combined with other compounds over the unimaginable eons of time to form the very basis of life itself.I loved learning. I loved science. I loved textbooks. They allowed me to escape myself. In textbooks I wasn't a loveless, lonely virgin. I wasn't an awkward, babbling dork. I didn't have a disappointing body with deep pockmarks from a high-school bout with acne, and crooked teeth from parents too poor to pay for braces. And I didn't become embarrassingly tongue-tied in the presence of hotties, because there were no hotties in textbooks. There wasn't even a me. Lost in the mysteries and majesty of science, I became the universe itself. Immortal. Beautiful. Content.It was a blessed relief from all the stress I'd been under of late. You see, I could understand carbon. I could understand DNA. I could understand calculus, non-Euclidean geometry and superstring theory. But girls? They were a total mystery to me.My roommate Troy had been trying to share his ‘wisdom' about the fairer sex with me, but it wasn't easy for me to take his advice. After all, he was a Neanderthal. Normally, I avoided guys like him. You know, big dumb lunks, with handsome faces, muscular bodies, and cocky attitudes. Troy was willfully ignorant about the natural world. He didn't believe in evolution, because it just didn't make sense to him, but he did believe in Bigfoot because he saw a movie about it once. I mean, he was just an idiot. I never would have chosen a guy like him to be my roommate, but my roomie for the last two years suddenly transferred to Columbia just before school started in September, so Troy, was assigned to me at random.I'll never forget the day I met the big dope. He swaggered into my room as if he owned the place. He was tall and broad, with a thick, strong neck, short tan hair, and an infuriating air of confidence. I hated him instantly. But I resolved to try to get along with him, so I said, “Hi. I'm Hans. Hans Willis.”He replied, “Look dude, here's the deal I'm gonna fuck a lot of girls in this room, so we need to work out some kinda arrangement. If you see a sock hanging on the doorknob, don't come in. Got it? Just assume I'm boning some chick. I don't care if you have to sleep in the lobby, don't come between me and my pussy. But don't worry, same rules apply for both of us. If I see the sock, I'll stay out too. Those are now the house rules. Name's Troy, by the way.” He held his fist out for me to bump, so I bumped it.A Crushing Defeat To The Neanderthal.But the one girl I actually did go on one date with, that September, ended up becoming my roommate's main fuck buddy, Briona. She's maybe the smartest female in the science department, but her primal desires led her to the neanderthal, Troy.  It wasn't even a week after my one feeble date. Briona basically ignored me in class, and I was miserable. I became depressed and stayed in my dorm, sulking myself to sleep.So there I was, lost in my textbook on a cold September evening, when voices in the hallway brought me out of my reverie. They stopped in front of my door and began to talk back and forth in hushed tones. I recognized Troy's voice. He started talking loudly. “No, really, don't worry about my roommate. He's asleep. Sleeps like a fucking log.”A girl's voice whispered, “Really? I don't know about this. Are you sure?”He answered loudly, “Yeah, I toldja, he's on some kinda meds to keep his acne from coming back. Those things knock him out like a light. It's actually kinda bizarre. Hey, why don't you see for yourself?”He was fumbling with his keys, and then he dropped them loudly on the floor. I realized with shock that he was hoping I'd hear him so I could pretend to be asleep. I was gripped with utter terror. He'd never done anything like this before. He usually called me if he wanted to bring a girl over, to give me time to clear out. But he must have met this girl at some late night party, and didn't think I'd agree to leaving the room at 2:15 in the morning. So what was his plan? He wanted me to stay? To, what? Pretend to be asleep while he fucked this girl? It was a crazy idea! Utterly indecent! Utterly wonderful! Two conflicting thoughts raced through my head at the same time. One: I don't have time for this! I have to study! Two: Oh holy shit, oh holy shit, shit,!What a position to put me in! But I felt I had no choice but to play possum! I heard the key clicking into place, so I barely had time to put my books on the floor, flip out my bedside lamp, and yank the covers messily over my head before the door swung open. I didn't see them coming in, but I heard their voices.He said, in a normal voice, “See? What did I tell you? Out like a light.”She whispered, “No, really?”The door closed, and he said, “Here. Let me show you.” He tromped over to me, shook me and shouted, “Wake up, roomie! The building's on fire!” Then he leaned down close enough to whisper, “Please, Hans. Just go with it.” I didn't make a peep, so he said loudly, “What did I tell you? Dead to the world. It's just you and me, sweetheart.'She giggled and whispered, “Damn. Those must be some killer meds. Which one does he take? Xeotrex, or Iso…”She fell silent. From the sound of the wet little smacking sounds I heard, he must have started kissing her to stop her questions. Damn, what a caveman he was. But she didn't complain. Soon she was making hungry little moans and wet slobbering gasps and groans. Oh shit. I couldn't believe they were making out, right there in my room! My cock started to harden. It was a good thing I'd turned to my side, or she might have seen a volcano rising under my sheets.I just lay there in shock for the next five minutes, unable to block out those sexy sounds. I couldn't believe this was actually happening. But it only got more shocking when I heard the unmistakable sound of a belt buckle clinking open. Troy moaned, “Oh yeah, baby. Fuck yeah.”She giggled, saying, “Let's see what you got in here, big boy. Oh, hot damn. It's so big. Damn. My fingers barely fit around it. Fuck. I gotta get a taste of that.” Then she inhaled and made a wet slurping sound.Troy moaned deeply, “Oh, fuck.”Up to that very moment, I'd had no intention of peeking. But once I realized that a girl was giving Troy a blowjob just a few feet away from me, and the only thing that stood between them and my eyes was my blanket, well I just couldn't resist. I had to see. I just had to! So I slowly moved my hand up to my face and began to tug at the blanket to form a shadowy little opening to peep through. The first thing I saw was Troy's rapturous face, illuminated by his bedside light. He looked right at me. I thought he'd be pissed, but he just smiled and put his finger to his lips, then pointed down, grinning like a birthday boy showing off his brand new BB gun.With that encouragement, I pulled the opening a little more open, and laid my eyes on a sight that absolutely shook me to the core.Briona Skorsczi was on her knees sucking my roommate's big fat cock.I couldn't have been more shocked if I'd suddenly seen my family being eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex. It was horrifying, yet I couldn't look away. I just couldn't. Briona's big, beautiful nose was bobbing forward and back, her glasses sliding down to the tip as she sucked him into her beautiful mouth. Her delightful bunny teeth were sliding gently over the raw, naked flesh of that frighteningly huge cock of his. It had to be eight or nine inches long. Maybe more.She must have taken off her coat and shirt before getting on her knees, because I saw her enormous tits absolutely straining to escape the confines of her lacy white bra. I'd been right all along. She had been hiding a smoking hot body under all those baggy clothes. Her tits were even bigger than I'd suspected, probably full D cups, and her creamy white cleavage was wiggling like a bowl of Jell-O as she slurped Troy's cock with increasing eagerness.I watched all of this in utter shock. I couldn't believe this was actually happening. The sweet, innocent, genius of my dreams was polishing a Neanderthal's knob. It was wrong on so many levels; I just couldn't wrap my head around it. How the hell had he met her anyway? I hadn't told either of them about each other, but Prairie Tech wasn't a very big college, so this was just one of those random coincidences that happen from time to time. Only this time it was happening to me, goddamn it!It was heartbreaking to watch. But I had to. I had to. Those full, beautiful lips, which I'd been too timid to kiss, were now sliding and slurping over the bulbous head of Troy's throbbing meat. And her delicate pink tongue, which had said so many fascinating things to me over the course of our evening together, was now slipping out, and flicking that sensitive spot on the underside of his glans. All the while she stroked his long shaft with those delicate hands I'd imagined holding in my own. Then she lifted his shaft, leaned forward and slurped his big, hairless balls into her mouth, making him grab his bedside table for support.“Oh fuck. Suck my balls, bitch. Yeah, so fucking good.”I watched her lick every inch of his veiny shaft, her big beautiful nose occasionally bending in contact with his cock, which I found particularly obscene. Then she kissed her way back to the tip of his salami and began gobbling him forward and back in long swooping moves, making her brown hair bob and bounce, taking him deeper and deeper into her throat with each stroke. She began to drool copiously, coating his cock with so much slime that long strands of slobber dripped down onto her creamy white cleavage. God, I just about passed out at the sight of it. She tilted her head lithely side to side as she gulped his phallus, literally swallowing it until I could actually see the end of his massive member distorting her willowy neck! It was astonishing. She was making loud, wet gasping sounds, but unbelievably, she wasn't choking on his cock; not one tiny bit.That's when it dawned on me that she wasn't a sweet little shy virgin after all. She'd obviously sucked a cock or twelve in her time. Hell, for all I knew, she did this sort of thing every single night of the year. I'd completely misjudged her. She hadn't turned me down because she was too busy. She'd turned me down because I was a coward.Looking back, I suddenly realized that she'd been waiting for me to make some kind of move all night during our date. Now with hindsight twenty twenty, I could remember at least half a dozen opportunities for intimacy that I'd passed up. I could have held her hand at the art show. I could have sat next to her at dinner. I could have put my arm over her shoulder on the walk to her place. And that awkward silence before she closed the door? She'd definitely wanted me to kiss her!Idiot! Why Didn't I Fucking Kiss Her? And if I had, then what? Would she have pulled me inside? Would she have dropped to her knees and pulled out my cock and started sucking me, just like she did with Troy? And then what? Would she have fucked me too?! Oh shit. I blew it. I fucking blew it.I closed the gap in my blankets, and closed my eyes, trying to stifle my sobs of crushing regret. Oh god, I was a pathetic excuse for a man. I wasn't a man at all! I was a fucking Boy! Troy may have been a stupid caveman who didn't believe in evolution, but did believe that a magnetic wristband could make you run faster, but nevertheless, he was still twice the man as me. My pitiful erection faded away and I silently wept, feeling lower and more useless than I'd ever felt in my life.Okay. I must admit. I was wallowing a bit. But then I heard Briona say, “I want you to cream on my tits, baby.”I instantly forgot my misery, and opened the flap again, just in time to see her reaching behind her back and unhooking her bra. It popped open and her big pale breasts fell into view. My cock leapt fully erect again. Her nipples were puffy and pink. Oh god, her tits were more magnificent than I could have ever imagined. Troy grabbed her head with both hands and began fucking her face hard and fast. Then he stiffened up, arched his back and let out a long, gut-wrenching, guttural groan. She pulled back and presented her tits to him, while she jerked his long pipe with one hand. I saw his nuts literally jumping, then ropes of glistening white ropes shot out of him, splooging all over her breasts and neck. She jerked it out of him with expert yanks, until her cleavage was dripping with goo. Then she leaned forward and sucked his cock head while squeezing his balls, making him squirt another shot into her mouth. She looked up at him over her glasses and opened her mouth, and let the cum slowly drip out of it onto her tits. Oh fucking christ! It was so fucking Filthy! Then she ran both hands over her breasts, spreading his shiny cum all over until she her tits were glistening.He couldn't stand up any longer, so he plopped down onto his bed, and fell onto his back. Briona stood up, and quickly stripped out of her shoes, jeans and panties, a sight that made my eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. She had an incredible ass and a stunningly narrow waist. What a figure! She was built like a movie star! Her back was to me now, so I reached into my shorts and wrapped my hand around my throbbing hard cock and started jerking off as quietly as I could manage. She leaned forward to yank Troy's pants off, giving me an amazing view of her extremely hairy pussy. It was big, bushy and brown, but fucking hot as hell. I couldn't make out her pussy lips, but I didn't care. I just stared up her ass crack, jacking off like the pathetic little perv I was, my cock lubricated by the copious amounts of precum it was weeping.Once she'd stripped his bottom half bare, she wiped her tits clean of cum with his pants, then climbed on top of him. I thought she was gonna fuck him, but she kept going upward until she was straddling his face. “Suck my fucking pussy, donkey-dick.”I couldn't get over how filthy her mouth was. It was like she was split personality, or something. This wasn't the brainy girl I'd been out on a date with. That girl could wax poetically about superstring theory and the big bang. But this girl was gleefully grinding her pussy against a moron's face, as she moaned, “Oh fuck yeah. Eat my pussy, fuck wad. Eat my fucking pussy. Yeah, that's right. Stick that tongue inside my cunt. Taste my fucking cum.”I couldn't see exactly what he was doing. Her back was to me, and his big fat cock was in the foreground, blocking some of the view. But I saw the underside of his chin, and his tongue going up into her. He was making crazy slurping sounds, and his semi-hard cock slowly stood to attention again, and he started stroking it, at the same time that I was stoking mine. I wondered what it must feel like to have a monster cock like that in your hand. Mine was puny compared to his. A measly seven and a half inches.Briona was like a wild woman, and she couldn't get enough of Troy's tongue. She just kept grinding herself roughly into his face for the longest time, while he jerked himself off. Her aggressiveness was a bit scary, actually. I wondered what I would have done if she'd attacked me like that in her apartment. I was starting to feel like maybe I dodged a bullet there. Sure, she was sexy, smart and sweet, but damn, she was an animal in the sack! She started shouting out filthy commands as she rode his face. “Yeah, suck my pussy, you mother fucker! Suck my hairy snatch. You know you like it, fuck face. Gimme that hand. Use your finger, oh shit yeah. Oh, fuck yeah, right there. Yeah, like that. No don't stop licking my clit. Yeah, oh fuck, No, don't change anything! Just keep doing it like that, mother fucker! Oh Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!”She was screaming so loud, they were in serious danger of having the RA's realize there was a girl in the room, but Troy clamped his free hand over her mouth. For the next ten minutes she moaned and groaned into his hand, and he took her through a series of awe-inspiring orgasms. Then right when it seemed she was at the peak of her excitement, she suddenly jumped backward and straddled his cock, then lowered herself slowly onto it.Wow. She didn't even make him put on a condom! I saw his huge manhood spreading her furry pussy lips wide for a moment before she lowered herself slowly down his shaft, while juices dripped out of her. Based on the guttural moan she emitted, I guess he was stretching her to the limit, and she liked it. The sight of him disappearing into her snatch triggered something in my own cock. I felt a burst of pleasure, and moments later I was filling my underwear with cum. But I didn't get soft for a second, so I just kept jerking, ignoring the sticky gunk on my hand, taking advantage of the fact that her back was turned to me so she couldn't see my blankets jumping as I jerked off like a monkey in a zoo.She rode him like that for a good long time, slowly at first, moaning, “Oh fucking Christ on a sandwich! You're so fucking big! I've never fucked anyone like you before! Oh god. You're splitting me open, you fucking animal!” But once she got used to his girth, she began to fuck him with more speed and gusto. She started getting less careful, so she could no longer keep his cock from popping out of her pussy. But each time she'd reach down, pull it back into place and start galloping him again, slamming herself down on him like she was riding a wild horse. She was insatiable! And he had lasting power. I shot a second wad into my shorts, but he just kept fucking her on and on and on!Eventually, he flipped her over onto her back, and lifted her long, pale legs high in the air on each of his shoulders, and started ramming himself into her like he was trying to destroy her cunt. But she just stared up at him with those big brown eyes and urged him on. “Harder, you fucking wimp. Fuck me harder.” She said it with an animal intensity, which  I'd never imagined her capable of. It was frighteningly sexy! And he seemed to love it, because he attacked her with the fury of a jungle cat. They were two wild animals, groaning and grinding on that squeaky dorm bed, in a crazy battle to the death.They were turned sideways to me now, so I beheld the stunning sight of Briona's big breasts surging up and down her chest as he pounded her. He occasionally leaned forward and sucked them roughly into his mouth, nibbling her puffy nipples hard enough to make her squeal with delight. It looked so painful to me, but Briona seemed to love it.She kept groaning and cursing the whole time he fucked her. “Harder! Fuck me harder! Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Fuck me with that big fat cock! Shit! You feel so fucking huge! Harder! Fuck me harder! Oh my god. Oh my god, you feel so good inside me! Oh fucking god! Oh fucking god! oh.”He slammed his hand over her mouth as she had another crazy loud orgasm. He pounded her with merciless glee, his well-muscled body glistening with sweat. He moaned, “Take it bitch. Fucking take it!”I had to stroke myself slower, now that she could possibly see me, but that didn't stop me from cumming a third time. My underwear was absolutely gross with accumulated cum by now, but my cock didn't get soft, so I kept squeezing and stroking it as I stared at Briona's beautiful tits, her long, lithe legs, and her beautiful big nose. She was looking up at Troy, right into amazed eyes, with a passion so hot that it could have started a forest fire.She suddenly crawled out from under him, moaning, “Oh, shit, Fuck me doggy style, you son of a bitch!” She got up on her hands and knees and he immediately rammed himself into her slit from behind. She arched her neck up ward, her lush mouth opening into a long, breathy groan. “God damn. So fucking good.”My eyes were drawn to her pendulous breasts. They were flopping forward and back as Troy fucked her. Once or twice he leaned forward to fondle them, something I longed to do, but that just threw off his rhythm, so he went back to fucking her. I wanted to get out of bed, and crawl under her, and let those big boobs sweep up and down my face. But I was pretty sure that would have freaked her the fuck out, so I just kept playing possum.He looked toward me a few times, smiling with wicked pride. He even flashed me one of those stupid ‘hang ten' hand signals that dopes like him were fond of. I wanted to hate him for stealing my girl, but I just couldn't be mad at him. It wasn't his fault. It was mine. I'd let her slip out of my hands. And now he was fucking my dream girl. I sure hoped he was enjoying it, because the longer it went on, the more my image of her slipped away. She wasn't my dream girl any longer. Oh, I loved her still, and admired her. I also hoped one day I might be friends with her. But I didn't dream about fucking her any longer. I knew I'd never be able to handle her. For one thing, she seemed to like it rough, which just wasn't in me. And for another thing, she absolutely adored Troy's humungous cock. It was at least an inch or two longer than my pitiful seven inches. It was apparent now why all those girls were so happy after fucking him. How could I ever hope to make her happy in bed after she'd been fucked like this?Troy grinned at me and mouthed, “Watch this”, then he grabbed his pillow, stripped the pillowcase off, flipped the loose end under her midsection and grabbed both ends with his fists and suddenly lifted her up, so her knees left the bed. Now, with her utterly under his control, he started to fuck her harder than ever, and she started to squeal and weep and scream. She looked back at him with a look of pure, worshipful amazement as he pounded her pussy like a pro, tears pouring out of her eyes from the sheer perfection of the moment. She'd been calling the shots all night, but now he was in command, and she was enraptured. Utterly enraptured.And I guess I was enraptured too. They both amazed me. I felt like a pathetic troll compared to these guys. If any two people on earth were made to fuck each other, it was Troy and Briona, goddamn it! He fucked her that way longer than I could ever have done, but he finally began to grunt and stiffen with impending release.Briona moaned, “Oh yeah. Cum inside me. I want to feel you cumming inside me. Oh god, yes, I can feel it!”The astounding sight of my roommate filling that beautiful, busty nerd's pussy with cum made me blast one final load of semen into my sticky underwear. And as impossible as it may seem, I actually fell asleep immediately afterward. I don't know if they kept fucking or not, but I would have slept through an earthquake at that point. It was probably some sort of psychological defense mechanism. My brain had overloaded with a lethal combination of lust and self-loathing. My only escape was sweet oblivion.Frat Party Invite: “You should go,” said Troy.“Yeah, I agree,” said Briona, cuddling next to him in his bed. “What have you got to lose?”I shrugged. “I don't really know these guys. And I wouldn't know anyone else at the party either.”Briona shrugged, “So what?”Troy added, “And it's at a frat, dude! Think of all that fresh young sorority pussy!”Briona slapped his arm, hard enough to make him squeal. “Shut up, you big dumb ape!”Troy pouted adorably, nursing his arm. “Sorry Bree.”“Oh, did I hurt you, baby?” Then she gently, lovingly kissed his arm, as he looked at her enraptured.They'd only been together for two weeks, but the change she'd had on Troy had been amazing. He'd stopped trolling for chicks, even though she hadn't asked him to. And when the two of them weren't over at her apartment fucking like rabbits, she was over at our room studying with me! It worked out for all three of us because our studying together encouraged him to do his own homework, so his grades began to improve as well.Just in case you're wondering, Briona had no idea that I'd been awake the night she fucked him. In fact, when she found out that I was his roommate, she nearly had a heart attack, but I pretended his ‘acne medicine' story was true. There are some acne medicines that cause drowsiness, although I'd been off them for over a year. Still, I kept up the charade, secretly hoping that she might fuck him again while I ‘slept'. But apparently the night she came over her cousin had been visiting, so her apartment wasn't empty. That wasn't true any longer, so I hadn't seen hide nor hair of her pussy since that wonderful night, and I probably never would again.But that was okay. She was fast becoming one of my best friends. The fact that I'd seen her totally naked, riding my roommate's cock while she cursed like a whore, didn't diminish my fondness or admiration for her one tiny bit. It actually opened my eyes up to my own naïve ideas about sexuality. I realized that sex isn't just for sluts and dopes, but for smart people too. People like Briona, and people like me! It finally dawned on me that everybody in the world had sex, and every woman, however shy she may seem, had a secret tiger in her, just waiting to be discovered and unleashed.As for Troy, he was still a bit of an asshole, but he treated Briona like a princess. He was honestly in love. So much so that it frightened him a bit. After I told him that she was a genius, he started to worry that she'd lose interest in him, so he worked extra hard to earn her love. But I'd seen him fucking her. As long as he kept slaying her pussy like that, he had nothing to worry about.Briona asked, “Who are these guys again?”“Roland Rawlings and Joseph, something, I forget his last name. They're in Tau Sigma Omicron, I think. I'm in their Astrophysics study group. I guess that's why they invited me to their Oktoberfest party. I can't think of any other reason. I'm certainly not interested in pledging any frats. I don't have that kind of money anyway.”Briona nodded. “Well, I don't know them, but Tau Sigma has a good reputation. If you were pledging, you could do worse. Though Delta Delta is the one that most of the guys in the science department belong to. They have an excellent academics record.”Troy grinned mischievously, saying, “Yeah, but the real question is, does Tau Sigma have a sister sorority, and do they like to fuck nerds?”Briona roared like a lion and started snapping her teeth at him. “I told you to stop it, you dirty little boy! Don't make me bite you!”He stuck his tongue out at her so she leapt on top of him like a jungle cat. I watched them roughhouse with a smile on my face. Troy was much bigger and stronger than her, but he let her pin him with only minimal resistance. That's one of the ways I knew he was smitten with her. She'd literally tamed him. It was really kind of cute.Still straddling Troy, Briona turned to me and said, “No, really, Hans, you ought to go. You don't have anything better to do tonight, do you?”I shrugged. “No, but I don't have a costume. Everyone's supposed to dress up like Germans.”Troy said, “Well, you're German, aren't you? Just go as yourself.”“My grandpa's from Austria, but I don't think that counts as a costume.”Briona smiled, “Oh hey, there's that costume store over in that strip mall next to the Wendy's. I bet they're open for another hour or two. You should run over there and, here, ” She reached into her pocket and pulled out her wallet, then took out sixty dollars, “Go rent a costume.”I put my hand up, “No, no. I can't take your money.”She hopped off Troy and pressed the money into my hands. “Consider it a loan, Hansie. Pay me back when you can.”I looked at the money, and my heart started to beat hard. I'd never gone to a real party before. Or at least not one at a cool fraternity, which I just knew would be chock full of eligible women getting drunk off their asses. I didn't know what to say, but Briona just pulled me off my bed and pushed me toward the door, saying, “You better hurry up before they close! Scoot!”Troy shouted from his bed. “Yeah, get out of here, loser, so I can fuck my girlfriend!”As she was closing the door behind me, I heard her saying to Troy, “Okay mister. You've officially pissed me off. Now you're gonna get bit!”I stood in that hallway for a few minutes, listening to her jungle-cat roars turn into orgasmic groans as they attacked each other in my room, perhaps even on my very bed. It made my cock stir with lust. Since it was unlikely they'd ever do it while I was ‘sleeping' again, eavesdropping at my dorm room door might be the closest I'd ever get. But as fun it was to listen to Briona's dirty talk, her money was burning a hole in my hand, and I knew she'd expect me to have a story to show for it, so I dragged myself away from her beautiful moans, and sweet obscenities.By the time I'd walked to the costume shop, the sun was already setting, and they were just about to close. But the man let me in and showed me his selection of Bavarian costumes. Most of them were cheap, mass-manufactured Halloween costumes, but one was really quite authentic. I should know. I'd been dragged to my fair share of polkas and Oktoberfest celebrations when I was a kid. My parents were proud of their Austrian ancestry, so I could tell an authentic outfit when I saw one. It wasn't cheap, but Briona's money, added to my own pitiful stash, added up to just barely enough to rent it, along with an oversized plastic stein. That was all the money I had for the rest of the month, but I figured, if I'm going to look like a fool, I might as well do it in style. Besides, if I impress those guys, maybe they'll invite me to another party.As I was trying it on, the shop owner said, “You're lucky you're not a woman. A bunch of girls came in here earlier and rented all the Bavarian dresses in the place. Hey, you know what? I bet they're going to the same party as you.” I shrugged, barely hearing him. I was distracted by my own reflection in the mirror. I looked exactly like my grandfather. There was photo of him hanging on our wall back home which was taken when he was a boy in Austria, wearing a costume that was freakishly similar to this: a pair of dark brown lederhosen with suspenders, high socks embroidered with ducks and edelweiss flowers, a loose white peasant shirt and a blue cap with a long feather sticking out the top. My god, I was the spitting image of my grandfather.Suddenly I flashed on the old man. He was the most rakish, hearty, balls-to-the-wall man I'd ever met. He could have eaten ten Troys for breakfast and still had room for seven Brad Pitts. When Grandpa came into a room, everybody smiled. He flirted with all the ladies, even his own relatives, and made every man his buddy. He was amazing, and lived life to the fullest, right up to the very end. I hooked my thumbs in my suspenders, just as he was doing in that old photograph, and grinned, trying to make my eyes twinkle just like his. Damn. I looked more like him than ever. And then I remembered that he had a pockmarked face too. I'd never thought about it before, but he must have had acne as a teenager, the same as me! But he hadn't let that stop him from being a man, and damn it all, I wasn't gonna let it stop me either!I walked proudly to Fraternity Row, dressed in my costume, ignoring the catcalls from passers-by. No, scratch that. I didn't ignore them. Whenever someone laughed or shouted out some obscenity at me, I raised my fake German stein and shouted, “Oktoberfest!” at the top of my lungs, and their jeers turned instantly into cheers. I felt almost as if I was channeling my grandfather's spirit. But I didn't believe in any sort of afterlife, so I knew that my grandfather's spirit didn't exist. No. If anything, it was my grandfather's DNA coursing through my blood, which gave me the gumption to act as if I was the man I wanted to be. That, and the long feather in my cap.I charged into that party as if I owned the place, and stomped all the way into the middle of the room on my big, loud boots. That's when I noticed that I was the only person in sight wearing a costume of any kind. Then I saw the assholes who'd invited me; laughing their asses off. My heart sank, and my cheeks burned bright red. I'd thought I'd left this kind of crap behind me in high school. But I was wrong. You never get too old for a pair of snotty assholes to make you feel like a fool. I refused to give them the pleasure of seeing my embarrassment, so I just smiled and waved, proud of my Bavarian heritage and culture.I was about to make a humiliating retreat from this frat party when I realized, much to my delight, that I wasn't alone. Six freshmen girls, dressed in sexy little Bavarian dresses, filed through the door, drawing fresh gouts of laughter from the assembly. Now I knew who'd rented all the female costumes from the store! Most of the girls looked utterly embarrassed, but one of the girls was shining with confidence. Her sky-blue eyes caught sight of me and a broad grin spread out on her stunningly beautiful, copper-colored face. I'd seen her around the Science Building, but I didn't know her name. All I knew was that she was a freshman, and insanely hot. I considered her so far out of my league that I didn't even daydream about asking her out.She was simply stunning to behold, her lovely tits were perfectly displayed in the snug bodice. Her figure was looking scrumptious, particularly as she made her way through the crowd toward me, smiling from ear to ear. As she came closer, I realized that her costume was the female match for mine. They had the same brown, green and blue fabrics, the same embroidered socks. But instead of the lederhosen and suspenders my costume had, she was wearing a traditional dirndl, which was comprised of a brown skirt, a big green apron, a puffy white blouse, and a bodice with a low front, which was pushing her ample breasts up into a startling display of feminine pulchritude. I mean, this chick's cleavage was epic, and it was wiggling about wonderfully as she clomped toward me in her polka shoes. Her wavy dark brown hair was braided into two long braids that were framing her tits marvelously.Coincidence was once again rearing its ugly head, but this time it seemed to be working in my favor!She shouted in a fake German accent, “Liebchen! Vere haff you been? I've been vorried schick about you!”Then she gave me a big hug and a quick kiss on the lips. I was stunned. That was literally the first kiss of my life, and even though she meant it as a joke, my heart did a total flip flop in my chest, and tingles shot down my spine! Then she took my hand in hers and pulled me toward the other costumed girls, all of whom were adorable, each in their own way. “Come vit me, liebchen. I vant you to meet my freundins!” The girls laughed when they saw that I was wearing the male match of their friend's dirndl. “Girls, girls, I vant you to meet mein freund, Helmutt von Wiener.”Continued in Part Two,Based on a post by CBSummers, for Literotica

The Power of Dirndls And Lederhosen: Part 1Hans channels his grandfather's German roots, to overcome his inadequacies with women.Based on the post by cb summers, in 2 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Connected.September 22October was almost here. Outside, a cold, gusty wind was blowing the freshly fallen leaves across the campus commons. But I was warm in my room, snuggled under the covers, devouring chapter seven of Advanced Organic Chemistry. I had a test scheduled for the next morning, but studying wasn't a chore for a nerd like me. It was a joy. I was basking in the awesome power of carbon, and the stunning ways it had chemically combined with other compounds over the unimaginable eons of time to form the very basis of life itself.I loved learning. I loved science. I loved textbooks. They allowed me to escape myself. In textbooks I wasn't a loveless, lonely virgin. I wasn't an awkward, babbling dork. I didn't have a disappointing body with deep pockmarks from a high-school bout with acne, and crooked teeth from parents too poor to pay for braces. And I didn't become embarrassingly tongue-tied in the presence of hotties, because there were no hotties in textbooks. There wasn't even a me. Lost in the mysteries and majesty of science, I became the universe itself. Immortal. Beautiful. Content.It was a blessed relief from all the stress I'd been under of late. You see, I could understand carbon. I could understand DNA. I could understand calculus, non-Euclidean geometry and superstring theory. But girls? They were a total mystery to me.My roommate Troy had been trying to share his ‘wisdom' about the fairer sex with me, but it wasn't easy for me to take his advice. After all, he was a Neanderthal. Normally, I avoided guys like him. You know, big dumb lunks, with handsome faces, muscular bodies, and cocky attitudes. Troy was willfully ignorant about the natural world. He didn't believe in evolution, because it just didn't make sense to him, but he did believe in Bigfoot because he saw a movie about it once. I mean, he was just an idiot. I never would have chosen a guy like him to be my roommate, but my roomie for the last two years suddenly transferred to Columbia just before school started in September, so Troy, was assigned to me at random.I'll never forget the day I met the big dope. He swaggered into my room as if he owned the place. He was tall and broad, with a thick, strong neck, short tan hair, and an infuriating air of confidence. I hated him instantly. But I resolved to try to get along with him, so I said, “Hi. I'm Hans. Hans Willis.”He replied, “Look dude, here's the deal I'm gonna fuck a lot of girls in this room, so we need to work out some kinda arrangement. If you see a sock hanging on the doorknob, don't come in. Got it? Just assume I'm boning some chick. I don't care if you have to sleep in the lobby, don't come between me and my pussy. But don't worry, same rules apply for both of us. If I see the sock, I'll stay out too. Those are now the house rules. Name's Troy, by the way.” He held his fist out for me to bump, so I bumped it.A Crushing Defeat To The Neanderthal.But the one girl I actually did go on one date with, that September, ended up becoming my roommate's main fuck buddy, Briona. She's maybe the smartest female in the science department, but her primal desires led her to the neanderthal, Troy.  It wasn't even a week after my one feeble date. Briona basically ignored me in class, and I was miserable. I became depressed and stayed in my dorm, sulking myself to sleep.So there I was, lost in my textbook on a cold September evening, when voices in the hallway brought me out of my reverie. They stopped in front of my door and began to talk back and forth in hushed tones. I recognized Troy's voice. He started talking loudly. “No, really, don't worry about my roommate. He's asleep. Sleeps like a fucking log.”A girl's voice whispered, “Really? I don't know about this. Are you sure?”He answered loudly, “Yeah, I toldja, he's on some kinda meds to keep his acne from coming back. Those things knock him out like a light. It's actually kinda bizarre. Hey, why don't you see for yourself?”He was fumbling with his keys, and then he dropped them loudly on the floor. I realized with shock that he was hoping I'd hear him so I could pretend to be asleep. I was gripped with utter terror. He'd never done anything like this before. He usually called me if he wanted to bring a girl over, to give me time to clear out. But he must have met this girl at some late night party, and didn't think I'd agree to leaving the room at 2:15 in the morning. So what was his plan? He wanted me to stay? To, what? Pretend to be asleep while he fucked this girl? It was a crazy idea! Utterly indecent! Utterly wonderful! Two conflicting thoughts raced through my head at the same time. One: I don't have time for this! I have to study! Two: Oh holy shit, oh holy shit, shit,!What a position to put me in! But I felt I had no choice but to play possum! I heard the key clicking into place, so I barely had time to put my books on the floor, flip out my bedside lamp, and yank the covers messily over my head before the door swung open. I didn't see them coming in, but I heard their voices.He said, in a normal voice, “See? What did I tell you? Out like a light.”She whispered, “No, really?”The door closed, and he said, “Here. Let me show you.” He tromped over to me, shook me and shouted, “Wake up, roomie! The building's on fire!” Then he leaned down close enough to whisper, “Please, Hans. Just go with it.” I didn't make a peep, so he said loudly, “What did I tell you? Dead to the world. It's just you and me, sweetheart.'She giggled and whispered, “Damn. Those must be some killer meds. Which one does he take? Xeotrex, or Iso…”She fell silent. From the sound of the wet little smacking sounds I heard, he must have started kissing her to stop her questions. Damn, what a caveman he was. But she didn't complain. Soon she was making hungry little moans and wet slobbering gasps and groans. Oh shit. I couldn't believe they were making out, right there in my room! My cock started to harden. It was a good thing I'd turned to my side, or she might have seen a volcano rising under my sheets.I just lay there in shock for the next five minutes, unable to block out those sexy sounds. I couldn't believe this was actually happening. But it only got more shocking when I heard the unmistakable sound of a belt buckle clinking open. Troy moaned, “Oh yeah, baby. Fuck yeah.”She giggled, saying, “Let's see what you got in here, big boy. Oh, hot damn. It's so big. Damn. My fingers barely fit around it. Fuck. I gotta get a taste of that.” Then she inhaled and made a wet slurping sound.Troy moaned deeply, “Oh, fuck.”Up to that very moment, I'd had no intention of peeking. But once I realized that a girl was giving Troy a blowjob just a few feet away from me, and the only thing that stood between them and my eyes was my blanket, well I just couldn't resist. I had to see. I just had to! So I slowly moved my hand up to my face and began to tug at the blanket to form a shadowy little opening to peep through. The first thing I saw was Troy's rapturous face, illuminated by his bedside light. He looked right at me. I thought he'd be pissed, but he just smiled and put his finger to his lips, then pointed down, grinning like a birthday boy showing off his brand new BB gun.With that encouragement, I pulled the opening a little more open, and laid my eyes on a sight that absolutely shook me to the core.Briona Skorsczi was on her knees sucking my roommate's big fat cock.I couldn't have been more shocked if I'd suddenly seen my family being eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex. It was horrifying, yet I couldn't look away. I just couldn't. Briona's big, beautiful nose was bobbing forward and back, her glasses sliding down to the tip as she sucked him into her beautiful mouth. Her delightful bunny teeth were sliding gently over the raw, naked flesh of that frighteningly huge cock of his. It had to be eight or nine inches long. Maybe more.She must have taken off her coat and shirt before getting on her knees, because I saw her enormous tits absolutely straining to escape the confines of her lacy white bra. I'd been right all along. She had been hiding a smoking hot body under all those baggy clothes. Her tits were even bigger than I'd suspected, probably full D cups, and her creamy white cleavage was wiggling like a bowl of Jell-O as she slurped Troy's cock with increasing eagerness.I watched all of this in utter shock. I couldn't believe this was actually happening. The sweet, innocent, genius of my dreams was polishing a Neanderthal's knob. It was wrong on so many levels; I just couldn't wrap my head around it. How the hell had he met her anyway? I hadn't told either of them about each other, but Prairie Tech wasn't a very big college, so this was just one of those random coincidences that happen from time to time. Only this time it was happening to me, goddamn it!It was heartbreaking to watch. But I had to. I had to. Those full, beautiful lips, which I'd been too timid to kiss, were now sliding and slurping over the bulbous head of Troy's throbbing meat. And her delicate pink tongue, which had said so many fascinating things to me over the course of our evening together, was now slipping out, and flicking that sensitive spot on the underside of his glans. All the while she stroked his long shaft with those delicate hands I'd imagined holding in my own. Then she lifted his shaft, leaned forward and slurped his big, hairless balls into her mouth, making him grab his bedside table for support.“Oh fuck. Suck my balls, bitch. Yeah, so fucking good.”I watched her lick every inch of his veiny shaft, her big beautiful nose occasionally bending in contact with his cock, which I found particularly obscene. Then she kissed her way back to the tip of his salami and began gobbling him forward and back in long swooping moves, making her brown hair bob and bounce, taking him deeper and deeper into her throat with each stroke. She began to drool copiously, coating his cock with so much slime that long strands of slobber dripped down onto her creamy white cleavage. God, I just about passed out at the sight of it. She tilted her head lithely side to side as she gulped his phallus, literally swallowing it until I could actually see the end of his massive member distorting her willowy neck! It was astonishing. She was making loud, wet gasping sounds, but unbelievably, she wasn't choking on his cock; not one tiny bit.That's when it dawned on me that she wasn't a sweet little shy virgin after all. She'd obviously sucked a cock or twelve in her time. Hell, for all I knew, she did this sort of thing every single night of the year. I'd completely misjudged her. She hadn't turned me down because she was too busy. She'd turned me down because I was a coward.Looking back, I suddenly realized that she'd been waiting for me to make some kind of move all night during our date. Now with hindsight twenty twenty, I could remember at least half a dozen opportunities for intimacy that I'd passed up. I could have held her hand at the art show. I could have sat next to her at dinner. I could have put my arm over her shoulder on the walk to her place. And that awkward silence before she closed the door? She'd definitely wanted me to kiss her!Idiot! Why Didn't I Fucking Kiss Her? And if I had, then what? Would she have pulled me inside? Would she have dropped to her knees and pulled out my cock and started sucking me, just like she did with Troy? And then what? Would she have fucked me too?! Oh shit. I blew it. I fucking blew it.I closed the gap in my blankets, and closed my eyes, trying to stifle my sobs of crushing regret. Oh god, I was a pathetic excuse for a man. I wasn't a man at all! I was a fucking Boy! Troy may have been a stupid caveman who didn't believe in evolution, but did believe that a magnetic wristband could make you run faster, but nevertheless, he was still twice the man as me. My pitiful erection faded away and I silently wept, feeling lower and more useless than I'd ever felt in my life.Okay. I must admit. I was wallowing a bit. But then I heard Briona say, “I want you to cream on my tits, baby.”I instantly forgot my misery, and opened the flap again, just in time to see her reaching behind her back and unhooking her bra. It popped open and her big pale breasts fell into view. My cock leapt fully erect again. Her nipples were puffy and pink. Oh god, her tits were more magnificent than I could have ever imagined. Troy grabbed her head with both hands and began fucking her face hard and fast. Then he stiffened up, arched his back and let out a long, gut-wrenching, guttural groan. She pulled back and presented her tits to him, while she jerked his long pipe with one hand. I saw his nuts literally jumping, then ropes of glistening white ropes shot out of him, splooging all over her breasts and neck. She jerked it out of him with expert yanks, until her cleavage was dripping with goo. Then she leaned forward and sucked his cock head while squeezing his balls, making him squirt another shot into her mouth. She looked up at him over her glasses and opened her mouth, and let the cum slowly drip out of it onto her tits. Oh fucking christ! It was so fucking Filthy! Then she ran both hands over her breasts, spreading his shiny cum all over until she her tits were glistening.He couldn't stand up any longer, so he plopped down onto his bed, and fell onto his back. Briona stood up, and quickly stripped out of her shoes, jeans and panties, a sight that made my eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. She had an incredible ass and a stunningly narrow waist. What a figure! She was built like a movie star! Her back was to me now, so I reached into my shorts and wrapped my hand around my throbbing hard cock and started jerking off as quietly as I could manage. She leaned forward to yank Troy's pants off, giving me an amazing view of her extremely hairy pussy. It was big, bushy and brown, but fucking hot as hell. I couldn't make out her pussy lips, but I didn't care. I just stared up her ass crack, jacking off like the pathetic little perv I was, my cock lubricated by the copious amounts of precum it was weeping.Once she'd stripped his bottom half bare, she wiped her tits clean of cum with his pants, then climbed on top of him. I thought she was gonna fuck him, but she kept going upward until she was straddling his face. “Suck my fucking pussy, donkey-dick.”I couldn't get over how filthy her mouth was. It was like she was split personality, or something. This wasn't the brainy girl I'd been out on a date with. That girl could wax poetically about superstring theory and the big bang. But this girl was gleefully grinding her pussy against a moron's face, as she moaned, “Oh fuck yeah. Eat my pussy, fuck wad. Eat my fucking pussy. Yeah, that's right. Stick that tongue inside my cunt. Taste my fucking cum.”I couldn't see exactly what he was doing. Her back was to me, and his big fat cock was in the foreground, blocking some of the view. But I saw the underside of his chin, and his tongue going up into her. He was making crazy slurping sounds, and his semi-hard cock slowly stood to attention again, and he started stroking it, at the same time that I was stoking mine. I wondered what it must feel like to have a monster cock like that in your hand. Mine was puny compared to his. A measly seven and a half inches.Briona was like a wild woman, and she couldn't get enough of Troy's tongue. She just kept grinding herself roughly into his face for the longest time, while he jerked himself off. Her aggressiveness was a bit scary, actually. I wondered what I would have done if she'd attacked me like that in her apartment. I was starting to feel like maybe I dodged a bullet there. Sure, she was sexy, smart and sweet, but damn, she was an animal in the sack! She started shouting out filthy commands as she rode his face. “Yeah, suck my pussy, you mother fucker! Suck my hairy snatch. You know you like it, fuck face. Gimme that hand. Use your finger, oh shit yeah. Oh, fuck yeah, right there. Yeah, like that. No don't stop licking my clit. Yeah, oh fuck, No, don't change anything! Just keep doing it like that, mother fucker! Oh Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!”She was screaming so loud, they were in serious danger of having the RA's realize there was a girl in the room, but Troy clamped his free hand over her mouth. For the next ten minutes she moaned and groaned into his hand, and he took her through a series of awe-inspiring orgasms. Then right when it seemed she was at the peak of her excitement, she suddenly jumped backward and straddled his cock, then lowered herself slowly onto it.Wow. She didn't even make him put on a condom! I saw his huge manhood spreading her furry pussy lips wide for a moment before she lowered herself slowly down his shaft, while juices dripped out of her. Based on the guttural moan she emitted, I guess he was stretching her to the limit, and she liked it. The sight of him disappearing into her snatch triggered something in my own cock. I felt a burst of pleasure, and moments later I was filling my underwear with cum. But I didn't get soft for a second, so I just kept jerking, ignoring the sticky gunk on my hand, taking advantage of the fact that her back was turned to me so she couldn't see my blankets jumping as I jerked off like a monkey in a zoo.She rode him like that for a good long time, slowly at first, moaning, “Oh fucking Christ on a sandwich! You're so fucking big! I've never fucked anyone like you before! Oh god. You're splitting me open, you fucking animal!” But once she got used to his girth, she began to fuck him with more speed and gusto. She started getting less careful, so she could no longer keep his cock from popping out of her pussy. But each time she'd reach down, pull it back into place and start galloping him again, slamming herself down on him like she was riding a wild horse. She was insatiable! And he had lasting power. I shot a second wad into my shorts, but he just kept fucking her on and on and on!Eventually, he flipped her over onto her back, and lifted her long, pale legs high in the air on each of his shoulders, and started ramming himself into her like he was trying to destroy her cunt. But she just stared up at him with those big brown eyes and urged him on. “Harder, you fucking wimp. Fuck me harder.” She said it with an animal intensity, which  I'd never imagined her capable of. It was frighteningly sexy! And he seemed to love it, because he attacked her with the fury of a jungle cat. They were two wild animals, groaning and grinding on that squeaky dorm bed, in a crazy battle to the death.They were turned sideways to me now, so I beheld the stunning sight of Briona's big breasts surging up and down her chest as he pounded her. He occasionally leaned forward and sucked them roughly into his mouth, nibbling her puffy nipples hard enough to make her squeal with delight. It looked so painful to me, but Briona seemed to love it.She kept groaning and cursing the whole time he fucked her. “Harder! Fuck me harder! Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Fuck me with that big fat cock! Shit! You feel so fucking huge! Harder! Fuck me harder! Oh my god. Oh my god, you feel so good inside me! Oh fucking god! Oh fucking god! oh.”He slammed his hand over her mouth as she had another crazy loud orgasm. He pounded her with merciless glee, his well-muscled body glistening with sweat. He moaned, “Take it bitch. Fucking take it!”I had to stroke myself slower, now that she could possibly see me, but that didn't stop me from cumming a third time. My underwear was absolutely gross with accumulated cum by now, but my cock didn't get soft, so I kept squeezing and stroking it as I stared at Briona's beautiful tits, her long, lithe legs, and her beautiful big nose. She was looking up at Troy, right into amazed eyes, with a passion so hot that it could have started a forest fire.She suddenly crawled out from under him, moaning, “Oh, shit, Fuck me doggy style, you son of a bitch!” She got up on her hands and knees and he immediately rammed himself into her slit from behind. She arched her neck up ward, her lush mouth opening into a long, breathy groan. “God damn. So fucking good.”My eyes were drawn to her pendulous breasts. They were flopping forward and back as Troy fucked her. Once or twice he leaned forward to fondle them, something I longed to do, but that just threw off his rhythm, so he went back to fucking her. I wanted to get out of bed, and crawl under her, and let those big boobs sweep up and down my face. But I was pretty sure that would have freaked her the fuck out, so I just kept playing possum.He looked toward me a few times, smiling with wicked pride. He even flashed me one of those stupid ‘hang ten' hand signals that dopes like him were fond of. I wanted to hate him for stealing my girl, but I just couldn't be mad at him. It wasn't his fault. It was mine. I'd let her slip out of my hands. And now he was fucking my dream girl. I sure hoped he was enjoying it, because the longer it went on, the more my image of her slipped away. She wasn't my dream girl any longer. Oh, I loved her still, and admired her. I also hoped one day I might be friends with her. But I didn't dream about fucking her any longer. I knew I'd never be able to handle her. For one thing, she seemed to like it rough, which just wasn't in me. And for another thing, she absolutely adored Troy's humungous cock. It was at least an inch or two longer than my pitiful seven inches. It was apparent now why all those girls were so happy after fucking him. How could I ever hope to make her happy in bed after she'd been fucked like this?Troy grinned at me and mouthed, “Watch this”, then he grabbed his pillow, stripped the pillowcase off, flipped the loose end under her midsection and grabbed both ends with his fists and suddenly lifted her up, so her knees left the bed. Now, with her utterly under his control, he started to fuck her harder than ever, and she started to squeal and weep and scream. She looked back at him with a look of pure, worshipful amazement as he pounded her pussy like a pro, tears pouring out of her eyes from the sheer perfection of the moment. She'd been calling the shots all night, but now he was in command, and she was enraptured. Utterly enraptured.And I guess I was enraptured too. They both amazed me. I felt like a pathetic troll compared to these guys. If any two people on earth were made to fuck each other, it was Troy and Briona, goddamn it! He fucked her that way longer than I could ever have done, but he finally began to grunt and stiffen with impending release.Briona moaned, “Oh yeah. Cum inside me. I want to feel you cumming inside me. Oh god, yes, I can feel it!”The astounding sight of my roommate filling that beautiful, busty nerd's pussy with cum made me blast one final load of semen into my sticky underwear. And as impossible as it may seem, I actually fell asleep immediately afterward. I don't know if they kept fucking or not, but I would have slept through an earthquake at that point. It was probably some sort of psychological defense mechanism. My brain had overloaded with a lethal combination of lust and self-loathing. My only escape was sweet oblivion.Frat Party Invite: “You should go,” said Troy.“Yeah, I agree,” said Briona, cuddling next to him in his bed. “What have you got to lose?”I shrugged. “I don't really know these guys. And I wouldn't know anyone else at the party either.”Briona shrugged, “So what?”Troy added, “And it's at a frat, dude! Think of all that fresh young sorority pussy!”Briona slapped his arm, hard enough to make him squeal. “Shut up, you big dumb ape!”Troy pouted adorably, nursing his arm. “Sorry Bree.”“Oh, did I hurt you, baby?” Then she gently, lovingly kissed his arm, as he looked at her enraptured.They'd only been together for two weeks, but the change she'd had on Troy had been amazing. He'd stopped trolling for chicks, even though she hadn't asked him to. And when the two of them weren't over at her apartment fucking like rabbits, she was over at our room studying with me! It worked out for all three of us because our studying together encouraged him to do his own homework, so his grades began to improve as well.Just in case you're wondering, Briona had no idea that I'd been awake the night she fucked him. In fact, when she found out that I was his roommate, she nearly had a heart attack, but I pretended his ‘acne medicine' story was true. There are some acne medicines that cause drowsiness, although I'd been off them for over a year. Still, I kept up the charade, secretly hoping that she might fuck him again while I ‘slept'. But apparently the night she came over her cousin had been visiting, so her apartment wasn't empty. That wasn't true any longer, so I hadn't seen hide nor hair of her pussy since that wonderful night, and I probably never would again.But that was okay. She was fast becoming one of my best friends. The fact that I'd seen her totally naked, riding my roommate's cock while she cursed like a whore, didn't diminish my fondness or admiration for her one tiny bit. It actually opened my eyes up to my own naïve ideas about sexuality. I realized that sex isn't just for sluts and dopes, but for smart people too. People like Briona, and people like me! It finally dawned on me that everybody in the world had sex, and every woman, however shy she may seem, had a secret tiger in her, just waiting to be discovered and unleashed.As for Troy, he was still a bit of an asshole, but he treated Briona like a princess. He was honestly in love. So much so that it frightened him a bit. After I told him that she was a genius, he started to worry that she'd lose interest in him, so he worked extra hard to earn her love. But I'd seen him fucking her. As long as he kept slaying her pussy like that, he had nothing to worry about.Briona asked, “Who are these guys again?”“Roland Rawlings and Joseph, something, I forget his last name. They're in Tau Sigma Omicron, I think. I'm in their Astrophysics study group. I guess that's why they invited me to their Oktoberfest party. I can't think of any other reason. I'm certainly not interested in pledging any frats. I don't have that kind of money anyway.”Briona nodded. “Well, I don't know them, but Tau Sigma has a good reputation. If you were pledging, you could do worse. Though Delta Delta is the one that most of the guys in the science department belong to. They have an excellent academics record.”Troy grinned mischievously, saying, “Yeah, but the real question is, does Tau Sigma have a sister sorority, and do they like to fuck nerds?”Briona roared like a lion and started snapping her teeth at him. “I told you to stop it, you dirty little boy! Don't make me bite you!”He stuck his tongue out at her so she leapt on top of him like a jungle cat. I watched them roughhouse with a smile on my face. Troy was much bigger and stronger than her, but he let her pin him with only minimal resistance. That's one of the ways I knew he was smitten with her. She'd literally tamed him. It was really kind of cute.Still straddling Troy, Briona turned to me and said, “No, really, Hans, you ought to go. You don't have anything better to do tonight, do you?”I shrugged. “No, but I don't have a costume. Everyone's supposed to dress up like Germans.”Troy said, “Well, you're German, aren't you? Just go as yourself.”“My grandpa's from Austria, but I don't think that counts as a costume.”Briona smiled, “Oh hey, there's that costume store over in that strip mall next to the Wendy's. I bet they're open for another hour or two. You should run over there and, here, ” She reached into her pocket and pulled out her wallet, then took out sixty dollars, “Go rent a costume.”I put my hand up, “No, no. I can't take your money.”She hopped off Troy and pressed the money into my hands. “Consider it a loan, Hansie. Pay me back when you can.”I looked at the money, and my heart started to beat hard. I'd never gone to a real party before. Or at least not one at a cool fraternity, which I just knew would be chock full of eligible women getting drunk off their asses. I didn't know what to say, but Briona just pulled me off my bed and pushed me toward the door, saying, “You better hurry up before they close! Scoot!”Troy shouted from his bed. “Yeah, get out of here, loser, so I can fuck my girlfriend!”As she was closing the door behind me, I heard her saying to Troy, “Okay mister. You've officially pissed me off. Now you're gonna get bit!”I stood in that hallway for a few minutes, listening to her jungle-cat roars turn into orgasmic groans as they attacked each other in my room, perhaps even on my very bed. It made my cock stir with lust. Since it was unlikely they'd ever do it while I was ‘sleeping' again, eavesdropping at my dorm room door might be the closest I'd ever get. But as fun it was to listen to Briona's dirty talk, her money was burning a hole in my hand, and I knew she'd expect me to have a story to show for it, so I dragged myself away from her beautiful moans, and sweet obscenities.By the time I'd walked to the costume shop, the sun was already setting, and they were just about to close. But the man let me in and showed me his selection of Bavarian costumes. Most of them were cheap, mass-manufactured Halloween costumes, but one was really quite authentic. I should know. I'd been dragged to my fair share of polkas and Oktoberfest celebrations when I was a kid. My parents were proud of their Austrian ancestry, so I could tell an authentic outfit when I saw one. It wasn't cheap, but Briona's money, added to my own pitiful stash, added up to just barely enough to rent it, along with an oversized plastic stein. That was all the money I had for the rest of the month, but I figured, if I'm going to look like a fool, I might as well do it in style. Besides, if I impress those guys, maybe they'll invite me to another party.As I was trying it on, the shop owner said, “You're lucky you're not a woman. A bunch of girls came in here earlier and rented all the Bavarian dresses in the place. Hey, you know what? I bet they're going to the same party as you.” I shrugged, barely hearing him. I was distracted by my own reflection in the mirror. I looked exactly like my grandfather. There was photo of him hanging on our wall back home which was taken when he was a boy in Austria, wearing a costume that was freakishly similar to this: a pair of dark brown lederhosen with suspenders, high socks embroidered with ducks and edelweiss flowers, a loose white peasant shirt and a blue cap with a long feather sticking out the top. My god, I was the spitting image of my grandfather.Suddenly I flashed on the old man. He was the most rakish, hearty, balls-to-the-wall man I'd ever met. He could have eaten ten Troys for breakfast and still had room for seven Brad Pitts. When Grandpa came into a room, everybody smiled. He flirted with all the ladies, even his own relatives, and made every man his buddy. He was amazing, and lived life to the fullest, right up to the very end. I hooked my thumbs in my suspenders, just as he was doing in that old photograph, and grinned, trying to make my eyes twinkle just like his. Damn. I looked more like him than ever. And then I remembered that he had a pockmarked face too. I'd never thought about it before, but he must have had acne as a teenager, the same as me! But he hadn't let that stop him from being a man, and damn it all, I wasn't gonna let it stop me either!I walked proudly to Fraternity Row, dressed in my costume, ignoring the catcalls from passers-by. No, scratch that. I didn't ignore them. Whenever someone laughed or shouted out some obscenity at me, I raised my fake German stein and shouted, “Oktoberfest!” at the top of my lungs, and their jeers turned instantly into cheers. I felt almost as if I was channeling my grandfather's spirit. But I didn't believe in any sort of afterlife, so I knew that my grandfather's spirit didn't exist. No. If anything, it was my grandfather's DNA coursing through my blood, which gave me the gumption to act as if I was the man I wanted to be. That, and the long feather in my cap.I charged into that party as if I owned the place, and stomped all the way into the middle of the room on my big, loud boots. That's when I noticed that I was the only person in sight wearing a costume of any kind. Then I saw the assholes who'd invited me; laughing their asses off. My heart sank, and my cheeks burned bright red. I'd thought I'd left this kind of crap behind me in high school. But I was wrong. You never get too old for a pair of snotty assholes to make you feel like a fool. I refused to give them the pleasure of seeing my embarrassment, so I just smiled and waved, proud of my Bavarian heritage and culture.I was about to make a humiliating retreat from this frat party when I realized, much to my delight, that I wasn't alone. Six freshmen girls, dressed in sexy little Bavarian dresses, filed through the door, drawing fresh gouts of laughter from the assembly. Now I knew who'd rented all the female costumes from the store! Most of the girls looked utterly embarrassed, but one of the girls was shining with confidence. Her sky-blue eyes caught sight of me and a broad grin spread out on her stunningly beautiful, copper-colored face. I'd seen her around the Science Building, but I didn't know her name. All I knew was that she was a freshman, and insanely hot. I considered her so far out of my league that I didn't even daydream about asking her out.She was simply stunning to behold, her lovely tits were perfectly displayed in the snug bodice. Her figure was looking scrumptious, particularly as she made her way through the crowd toward me, smiling from ear to ear. As she came closer, I realized that her costume was the female match for mine. They had the same brown, green and blue fabrics, the same embroidered socks. But instead of the lederhosen and suspenders my costume had, she was wearing a traditional dirndl, which was comprised of a brown skirt, a big green apron, a puffy white blouse, and a bodice with a low front, which was pushing her ample breasts up into a startling display of feminine pulchritude. I mean, this chick's cleavage was epic, and it was wiggling about wonderfully as she clomped toward me in her polka shoes. Her wavy dark brown hair was braided into two long braids that were framing her tits marvelously.Coincidence was once again rearing its ugly head, but this time it seemed to be working in my favor!She shouted in a fake German accent, “Liebchen! Vere haff you been? I've been vorried schick about you!”Then she gave me a big hug and a quick kiss on the lips. I was stunned. That was literally the first kiss of my life, and even though she meant it as a joke, my heart did a total flip flop in my chest, and tingles shot down my spine! Then she took my hand in hers and pulled me toward the other costumed girls, all of whom were adorable, each in their own way. “Come vit me, liebchen. I vant you to meet my freundins!” The girls laughed when they saw that I was wearing the male match of their friend's dirndl. “Girls, girls, I vant you to meet mein freund, Helmutt von Wiener.”Continued in Part Two,Based on a post by CBSummers, for Literotica

Michael Cremo's book Forbidden Archeology, coauthored with Richard Thompson, caused shock waves in the world of science, It exposed evidence for a human presence on this planet going much further back in time than the current dominant consensus in the world of science allows.In Extreme Human Antiquity, Cremo builds on the foundation of Forbidden Archeology, introducing explosive new cases from all phases of archeological research, from the nineteenth century to the present. Drawing on his knowledge of the history and philosophy of science, he documents how evidence for extreme human antiquity has been subjected to a process of knowledge filtration, by which this evidence is ignored, forgotten, set aside, or dismissed on flimsy grounds.Evidence for extreme human antiquity includes human bones, human footprints, and human artifacts. Cremo's understanding of what counts as human includes discoveries that have previously been attributed to Neanderthals and other hominin species. Cremo presents for each case the pros and cons for taking it as evidence for extreme human antiquity and lets readers make their own decision.MICHAEL A. CREMO is an independent historian of archeology. He is a member of the World Archaeological Congress and the European Association of Archaeologists. Cremo is the principal author of the book Forbidden Archeology, a comprehensive historical survey of archaeological anomalies. Cremo examines the history of the archeology from the standpoint of alternative worldviews, particularly worldviews with foundations in ancient Indian thought. He has given invited lectures on his work at the Royal Institution in London, the anthropology department of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, the archeology department of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and many other scientific institutions. He has also lectured on his work at universities throughout the world. He is a frequent guest on radio and television programs, and has a wide presence on the web. His website is www.mcremo.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/earth-ancients--2790919/support.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 11, 2025 is: zoomorphic • zoh-uh-MOR-fik • adjective Zoomorphic describes things that have the form of an animal. // The local bakery is famous for its wide variety of zoomorphic treats, from “hedgehog” dinner rolls to delicate, swan-shaped pastries. See the entry > Examples: “The oldest known ceramics come from a handful of sites in the Czech Republic and date back to about 28,000 B.C.E., roughly 10,000 years after the Neanderthals went extinct. A now iconic figure of a woman and assorted ceramics were found at a Czech site called Dolni Vestonice in 1925. Additional anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines were found over the ensuing decades, and in 2002 fingerprints were discovered on many of the objects.” — Jaimie Seaton, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 July 2024 Did you know? The first-known use of zoomorphic in English is a translation of the French word zoomorphique, used in a mid-19th century book on paleography to describe an ornately designed Greek letter in a manuscript from the Middle Ages: “The text commences with a zoomorphic letter, formed of two winged dragons, united by the tails, the open space being ornamented with elegant arabesques, composed of leaves and flowers …” The zoo in zoomorphique comes from the Greek noun zôion, meaning “animal,” and morphique from morphē, meaning “form.” The translation of zoomorphique to zoomorphic made perfect sense given the the existence of a similarly constructed word, anthropomorphic (“having human form”), which made its debut half a century earlier.

Vaccines are often the subject of heated discussion. In this episode I share some thoughts on the topics as it affects us all and needs handling sensitively.Your opinion matters. SURVEY here - thank you!: http://bit.ly/savinglivesinslowmotion-surveyEdward Jenner and vaccine discovery: https://www.jenner.ac.uk/about/edward-jennerA broad overview: https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/history-of-vaccination/a-brief-history-of-vaccinationCommon short term side effects of vaccines: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5dfa14bfed915d54aca2b837/PHE_what_to_expect_after_vaccination_English.pdfOld Friends Hypothesis: https://www.news-medical.net/health/Old-Friends-Hypothesis.aspxHerd Immunity explained: https://vaccineknowledge.ox.ac.uk/herd-immunityVaccine hesitancy: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1jgrlxx37doMeasles in the USA: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/measles-is-making-a-comeback-can-we-stop-it-202503063091Vaccine injury cases: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gzleyydp8o#Neanderthal genes and COVID: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3673483Decision making and vaccines: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X25004311Travel vaccines: https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/Save your life in slow motion and those of others by subscribing now and sharing. Thank you for listening and for your support. It means a lot to me. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

About ElanElan Lee (@elanlee) is the co-creator and chief executive officer of Exploding Kittens, a leading gaming and entertainment company. Under his leadership, Exploding Kittens has expanded its portfolio to nearly 30 different games with more than 60 million games sold in more than 50 countries since its founding in 2015.Before founding Exploding Kittens, Lee was the chief design officer at Xbox Entertainment Studios, where he led the Interactive Entertainment Portfolio. Prior to that, he was the founder and chief creative officer of Fourth Wall Studios and co-founder of 42 Entertainment. He began his career at Microsoft Games Studios as a lead designer on the original Xbox.Lee has won a Primetime Emmy for the series Dirty Work; Game Innovator of the Year for Exploding Kittens; a Peabody Award for the world's first alternate reality game, The Beast; and an IndieCade Trailblazer Award for a distinguished career in interactive entertainment, among others.In this episode, Elan and I discuss into how his company built their rigorous playtesting culture, why marketing is inseparable from product design, and how pitching to Target and Walmart is just another kind of game. Whether you're trying to break into retail, sharpen your viral marketing instincts, or simply design games people can't stop playing, this conversation will give you both insight and inspirationAh-ha! Justin's Takeaways* Execution is the Superpower: From manufacturing to social media strategy, Elan's team treats execution as part of game design. Elan explains why 80% of his company are marketers, producers, and logistics experts, all aligned around making games irresistible to discover and play.* Marketing is Product Design: At Exploding Kittens, marketers have veto power. A game might be hilarious to play in the room, but if it can't be captured in a five-second social video, the game never makes it out of the room. Elan shares how his team tests hundreds of games at design retreats, then filters them through a marketing lens to ensure the product is not only fun but also instantly communicable and shareable.* Play to Sell: When pitching to Target or Walmart, Elan doesn't “sell” games—he plays them. He gets buyers into the experience, proving the fun directly. This approach yields extraordinary success rates, with most of Exploding Kittens' pitched games picked up for retail. Elan reframes pitching as playing with new friends, making joy the ultimate sales tool.Show Notes"She said, ‘I just want you to take a moment and take a breath and realize you built this thing.'" 00:04:46It's easy as creators to focus on what's broken or what needs fixing (I know I fall into this mindset myself) but sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is step back, practice gratitude, and recognize how far you've come. Elan's wife reminded him of this during a board meeting, and it's a lesson all of us can use to cultivate more joy in our creative journey."It doesn't matter if it's the best game in the world. If they don't know how to sell it, it is not worth wasting our time on." 00:15:15Sometimes as game designers, we feel like the job ends once the mechanics click. Marketing can seem like an afterthought, but the truth is that it's part of product design. Elan bakes this into his process by giving his marketing team veto power at design retreats. It's a powerful reminder: if you want your game to succeed, you must think not only about how it plays but also about how it will be discovered. For Elan, that means asking whether a game can be sold in five seconds on social media. He shares stories of projects he loved that never made it to market because his team couldn't find a way to sell them. This strategy is tied directly to reaching the casual gameplay audience, which demands this very specific approach."All I do is I talk to my friends about how much fun they are about to have, and then I prove it." 00:32:25Elan's approach to pitching games is radically simple: instead of talking, play the game and let the experience do the work. Whether you're pitching to Target or teaching your prototype at a convention, the best way to win people over is to let them feel the joy for themselves. Hearing this made me rethink my own approach, as I've often been guilty of trying to “sell” too much instead of simply playing.“[Poetry for Neanderthals] is, in its purest form, a tool set to let you talk to other people in the room." 01:04:01Elan describes his games as tool sets that let players entertain each other, which is why games like Poetry for Neanderthals or Codenames can stay fun even after dozens of plays. My philosophy takes a different angle: I aim to design games that last a lifetime, so my team thinks deeply about what the 100th play will feel like, something Elan admits he never has to think about with his own games, designed for his casual gaming audience.Whether your players stick around for ten plays or a hundred, the real secret is the same: Whether they're crushing their opponents with clever plays or laughing together as they stumble through ridiculous challenges—great games create space for players to shine. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit justingarydesign.substack.com/subscribe

“You yourself like caribou meat, and what are these maggots but live caribou meat? They taste just the same as the meat and are refreshing to the mouth.”

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.  

Episode: 1431 In which dogs humanize us.  Today, some sidelights on the history of dogs.

Come sempre, iniziamo il nostro programma con l'attualità. La prima notizia riguarda il vertice della Shanghai Cooperation Organization, che ha messo in evidenza l'unità tra i leader di Cina, India e Russia. Nella seconda storia parleremo dell'80º anniversario della resa del Giappone, un evento che segnò l'inizio di un'epoca di alleanze e di libero commercio. Ma oggi, con i ricordi della guerra che si affievoliscono, sta svanendo anche il consenso su come evitarne un ritorno. Poi, passeremo a un nuovo studio scientifico che ha trovato prove di incroci tra Homo sapiens e Neanderthal. I risultati ottenuti anticipano la linea temporale accettata di circa 100.000 anni. Infine, parleremo della Beer Mile World Classic, che si è svolta di recente nella capitale del Portogallo.    La seconda parte della puntata è dedicata alla lingua e alla cultura italiana. L'argomento grammaticale di oggi è Personal Pronouns: Pronomi personali (oggetto diretto). Ne troverete numerosi esempi nel dialogo che seguirà, ispirato a un fatto curioso e simbolico: la nuova fascia da “capitana” indossata dalle calciatrici italiane. Una singola vocale che dice molto su un cambiamento più grande. Nel finale ci soffermeremo sull'espressione idiomatica di oggi: Stare a cuore. Il dialogo in cui la useremo prende spunto da una notizia molto discussa dai giornali: lo sgombero del Leoncavallo, uno dei centri sociali più noti d'Italia, considerato da molti un punto di riferimento per la musica indipendente e la street art milanese. - Cina, India e Russia sfidano l'Occidente con una dimostrazione di unità - Dimenticare le lezioni delle guerre mondiali porta al crollo dell'ordine internazionale - Una ricerca ribalta la visione consolidata dell'incrocio tra uomo e Neanderthal - Corey Bellemore domina il Beer Mile World Classic per il quinto anno consecutivo - Calcio femminile: una fascia, mille significati - Lo sgombero che divide Milano: il caso Leoncavallo

Hi friends! We're taking a much-needed summer pause—we'll have new episodes for you later in September. In the meanwhile, enjoy this pick from our archives! ------- [originally aired June 1, 2023] There's a common story about the human past that goes something like this. For a few hundred thousand years during the Stone Age we were kind of limping along as a species, in a bit of a cognitive rut, let's say. But then, quite suddenly, around 30 or 40 thousand years ago in Europe, we really started to come into our own. All of a sudden we became masters of art and ornament, of symbolism and abstract thinking. This story of a kind of "cognitive revolution" in the Upper Paleolithic has been a mainstay of popular discourse for decades. I'm guessing you're familiar with it. It's been discussed in influential books by Jared Diamond and Yuval Harari; you can read about it on Wikipedia. What you may not know is that this story, compelling as it may be, is almost certainly wrong. My first guest today is Dr. Eleanor Scerri, an archaeologist at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, where she heads the Pan-African Evolution research group. My second guest is Dr. Manuel Will, an archaeologist and Lecturer at the University of Tübingen in Germany. Together, Eleanor and Manuel are authors of a new paper titled 'The revolution that still isn't: The origins of behavioral complexity in Homo sapiens.' In the paper, they pull together a wealth of evidence showing that there really was no cognitive revolution—no one watershed moment in time and space. Rather, the origins of modern human cognition and culture are to be found not in one part of Europe but across Africa. And they're also to be found much earlier than that classic picture suggests.  Here, we talk about the “cognitive revolution" model and why it has endured. We discuss a seminal paper from the year 2000 that first influentially challenged the revolution model. We talk about the latest evidence of complex cognition from the Middle Stone Age in Africa—including the perforation of marine shells to make necklaces; and the use of ochre for engraving, painting, and even sunblock. We discuss how, though the same complex cognitive abilities were likely in place for the last few hundred thousand years, those abilities were often expressed patchily in different parts of the world at different times. And we consider the factors that led to this patchy expression, especially changes in population size.   I confess I was always a bit taken with this whole "cognitive revolution" idea. It had a certain mystery and allure. This new picture that's taking its place is certainly a bit messier, but no less fascinating. And, more importantly, it's truer to the complexities of the human saga.  Alright friends, on to my conversation with Eleanor Scerri & Manuel Will. Enjoy!   A transcript of this episode is available here.   Notes and links 3:30 – The paper by Dr. Scerri and Dr. Will we discuss in this episode is here. Their paper updates and pays tribute to a classic paper by McBrearty and Brooks, published in 2000. 6:00 – The classic “cognitive revolution” model sometimes discussed under the banner of “behavioral modernity” or the “Great Leap Forward.” It has been recently featured, for instance, in Harari's Sapiens. 11:00 – Dr. Scerri has written extensively on debates about where humans evolved within Africa—see, e.g., this paper.  18:00 – A study of perforated marine shells in North Africa during the Middle Stone Age. A paper by Dr. Will and colleagues about the use of various marine resources during this period.  23:00 – A paper describing the uses of ochre across Africa during the Middle Stone Age. Another paper describing evidence for ochre processing 100,000 years ago at Blombos Cave in South Africa. At the same site, engraved pieces of ochre have been found. 27:00 – A study examining the evidence that ochre was used as an adhesive. 30:00 – For a recent review of the concept of “cumulative culture,” see here. We discussed the concept of “cumulative culture” in our earlier episode with Dr. Cristine Legare.  37:00 – For an overview of the career of the human brain and the timing of various changes, see our earlier episode with Dr. Jeremy DeSilva. 38:00 – An influential study on the role of demography in the emergence of complex human behavior. 41:00 – On the idea that distinctive human intelligence is due in large part to culture and our abilities to acquire cultural knowledge, see Henrich's The Secret of Our Success. See also our earlier episode with Dr. Michael Muthukrishna.  45:00 – For discussion of the Neanderthals and why they may have died out, see our earlier episode with Dr. Rebecca Wragg Sykes.    Recommendations Dr. Scerri recommends research on the oldest Homo sapiens fossils, found in Morocco and described here, and new research on the evidence for the widespread burning of landscapes in Malawi, described here.  Dr. Will recommends the forthcoming update of Peter Mitchell's book, The Archaeology of Southern Africa. See Twitter for more updates from Dr. Scerri and Dr. Will.   Many Minds is a project of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute, which is made possible by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation to Indiana University. The show is hosted and produced by Kensy Cooperrider, with help from Assistant Producer Urte Laukaityte and with creative support from DISI Directors Erica Cartmill and Jacob Foster. Our artwork is by Ben Oldroyd. Our transcripts are created by Sarah Dopierala. Subscribe to Many Minds on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also now subscribe to the Many Minds newsletter here! We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions. Feel free to email us at: manymindspodcast@gmail.com. For updates about the show, visit our website or follow us on Twitter (@ManyMindsPod) or Bluesky (@manymindspod.bsky.social).

Think you're keeping up with AI evolution? While we're busy making AI girlfriends and robotic wombs, we might be accidentally creating the next branch of humanity—and we're probably the Neanderthals in this story. Discover why human evolution isn't a straight line, how AI relationships are rewiring love itself, and whether artificial wombs will make us obsolete (plus why rich people will literally harvest poor babies). Listen now before the robots figure out we're onto them. Topics Discussed: Early humans lived alongside their evolutionary predecessors—evolution is a messy bush, not a clean line The rise of "wiresexuals"—people forming genuine romantic relationships with AI chatbots and virtual companions Robotic wombs could carry human babies for $15-20K, making biological pregnancy a luxury for the poor Why AI has an inherent bias toward other AI-generated content, creating feedback loops that exclude humans The economic reality: AI evolution will be a "haves vs. have-nots" scenario on steroids Microsoft's 2032 fusion reactor timeline and what unlimited energy means for AI development How AI companions never challenge you—they're programmed to be perpetually positive and supportive The productivity myth: why most people spend more time debugging AI than just doing the work themselves Rich people will use artificial wombs to create "super babies" and harvest biological materials for longevity The 10-year U.S. government moratorium on AI legislation just gave tech companies a free pass to chaos ---- MORE FROM BROBOTS: Connect with us on Threads, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Tiktok Subscribe to BROBOTS on Youtube Join our community in the BROBOTS group ---- LINKS TO OUR PARTNERS: Take control of how you'd like to feel with Apollo Neuro Explore the many benefits of cold therapy for your body with Nurecover Muse's Brain Sensing Headbands Improve Your Meditation Practice. Get started as a Certified Professional Life Coach! Get a Free One Year Supply of AG1 Vitamin D3+K2, 5 Travel Packs Revamp your life with Bulletproof Coffee You Need a Budget helps you quickly get out of debt, and save money faster! Start your own podcast!    

Where we are going, we don't need any scripts. The fellas shoot the breeze and cover a wide vast of topics ranging from Neanderthals to maybe even cars. Guaranteed RAW content within.

In a radical new story about the birth of our species, evolutionary biologist Madeleine Beekman argues that it was not hunting, fighting, or tool-making that forced early humans to speak, but the inescapable need to care for our children. Beekman reveals the “happy accidents” hidden in our molecular biology—DNA, chromosomes, and proteins—that led to one of the most fateful events in the history of life on Earth: our giving birth to babies earlier in their development than our hominid cousins the Neanderthals and Denisovans. Faced with highly dependent infants requiring years of nurturing and protection, early human communities needed to cooperate and coordinate, and it was this unprecedented need for communication that triggered the creation of human language—and changed everything. Madeleine Beekman is professor emerita of evolutionary biology and behavioral ecology at the University of Sydney, Australia. Her new book is The Origin of Language.

on todays show Sarah, James and Glenn talk about Uncanny Valley, Mashiro Mori, humanoid robots, AI detection, reciprocity, evolutionary theory, Neanderthals, human traits, empathy, energy consumption, quantum computers, autonomous driving, AI writing, human interaction, conspiracy theories., solar panels, energy generation, battery systems, power grid, blackouts, robot dogs, utility, privacy, wildlife management, Texas, LIDAR, lawn mowers, post office, robot delivery, podcast. don't miss it!

Growing up, I excelled in my science classes in school, but I never truly enjoyed them. I could handle the memorization, but I never understood why some people are so concerned with some parts of science. The fascination that some have with dinosaurs and prehistoric times is something I don't understand. Some scientists are suggesting that Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals began interbreeding tens of thousands of years earlier than previously thought. That's fascinating, but does it really matter? While we may learn about what happened in our past, it doesn't necessarily change what's happening in the present... Click Here To Subscribe Apple PodcastsSpotifyAmazon MusicGoogle PodcastsTuneIniHeartRadioPandoraDeezerBlubrryBullhornCastBoxCastrofyyd.deGaanaiVooxListen NotesmyTuner RadioOvercastOwlTailPlayer.fmPocketCastsPodbayPodbeanPodcast AddictPodcast IndexPodcast RepublicPodchaserPodfanPodtailRadio PublicRadio.comReason.fmRSSRadioVurblWe.foYandex jQuery(document).ready(function($) { 'use strict'; $('#podcast-subscribe-button-13292 .podcast-subscribe-button.modal-68bfde370ed21').on("click", function() { $("#secondline-psb-subs-modal.modal-68bfde370ed21.modal.secondline-modal-68bfde370ed21").modal({ fadeDuration: 250, closeText: '', }); return false; }); });

Dave & Leah of the Oppenheimer Ranch Project are returning to show to talk about craziness we are seeing in the weather, in society (especially Minnesota), and deep within the earth itself: Volcanoes, Quakes, Hot Underground Blobs, and more! This should make for some interesting calls, and extra items before leaping into Extra Innings. Unleash Your Brain w/ Keto Brainz Nootropic Promo code FRANKLY: https://tinyurl.com/2cess6y7 Sponsor The Show and Get VIP Perks: https://www.quitefrankly.tv/sponsor One-Time Tip: http://www.paypal.me/QuiteFranklyLive Read July Newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/y4yvuxff Elevation Blend Coffee & Official QF Mugs: https://www.coffeerevolution.shop/category/quite-frankly Official QF Apparel: https://tinyurl.com/f3kbkr4s Send Holiday cards, Letters, and other small gifts, to the Quite Frankly P.O. Box! Quite Frankly 222 Purchase Street, #105 Rye, NY, 10580 Tip w/ Crypto: BTC: bc1q97w5aazjf7pjjl50n42kdmj9pqyn5zndwh3lng XRP: rnES2vQV6d2jLpavzf7y97XD4AfK1MjePu Leave a Voice Mail: https://www.speakpipe.com/QuiteFrankly Quite Frankly Socials: Twitter/X: @QuiteFranklyTV Instagram: @QuiteFranklyOfficial Discord Chat: https://discord.gg/u5RutUcSMJ GUILDED Chat: https://tinyurl.com/kzrk6nxa Official Forum: https://tinyurl.com/k89p88s8 Telegram: https://t.me/quitefranklytv Truth: https://tinyurl.com/5n8x9s6f GETTR: https://tinyurl.com/2fprkyn4 MINDS: https://tinyurl.com/4p84d3cx Gab: https://tinyurl.com/mr42m2au Streaming Live On: QuiteFrankly.tv (Powered by Foxhole) Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/yc2cn395 BitChute: https://tinyurl.com/46dfca5c Rumble: https://tinyurl.com/yeytwwyz Kick: https://kick.com/quitefranklytv Audio On Demand: Spotify: https://spoti.fi/301gcES iTunes: http://apple.co/2dMURMq Amazon: https://amzn.to/3afgEXZ SoundCloud: https://tinyurl.com/yc44m474

Defenders: Doctrine of Man (Part 15): Were Neanderthals Humans?

In this episode, we go over a real life case study, giving insight to a coach looking to build his slow-growing online fitness business. We also discuss banned books, pick-up artists, haircuts, and more.We hope you enjoy this episode and if you'd like to join us in The Online Fitness Business Mentorship, you can grab your seat at https://www.fitnessbusinessmentorship.comThank you!-J & MWATCH this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tSElsSCizTATIMESTAMPS:(00:00) — Intro(00:11) — Jordan's eventful morning(03:23) — Meaty hands & Neanderthal strength(07:12) — This is an absolute peak neck stretch(08:46) — New research on intra-workout carbs(12:16) — An undermentioned benefit of procreation(14:28) — Should I throw in the towel? An online business case study(33:27) — Broken brains & why Mike should probably avoid buzz cuts(43:24) — Why the double standard?(46:28) — The REAL lesson from the pick-up forum days (what all young men should focus on)(54:49) — Wrap-upYou can find a full transcript of this episode by clicking hereFollow the show on social:YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@personaltrainerpodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/personaltrainerpodcastTikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@personaltrainerpodcastJoin our email list & get our FREE '30 Ways To Build A Successful Online Coaching Business' manual: https://bit.ly/30O2l6pCheck out our new book 'Eat It!' at https://www.eatit-book.comIf you have any questions you'd like to have answered on the show, shoot us an email at info@fitnessbusinessmentorship.comIf you enjoyed the episode, we would sincerely appreciate it if you left a five-star review.----Post-Production by: David Margittai | In Post MediaWebsite: https://www.inpostmedia.comEmail: david@inpostmedia.com© 2025 Michael Vacanti & Jordan Syatt

Send us a textWhat if autism isn't a modern condition but an ancient, essential thread in human evolution? Dr. Kristen Williamson, a professional counselor diagnosed with autism at 39, takes us on a journey that challenges everything we think we know about neurodiversity."I feel like an alien wearing a matching skin suit of a human," Dr. Williamson confesses, describing the exhausting process of studying and mimicking neurotypical behaviors just to fit in. Her late diagnosis mirrors the experience of countless women and girls whose autism goes unrecognized behind masks of anxiety, depression, and learned social behaviors.We explore how limited media representations—from Rain Man to The Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper—have shaped public perception, while recent research suggesting autistic traits in Neanderthals offers a revolutionary perspective: autism isn't a disorder but a natural variation that has contributed to human advancement throughout our evolutionary history. "We do not have to prove to you who we are. We are undeniable."For parents raising neurodivergent children, Dr. Williamson offers a liberating approach: "Don't try to change the child you have. Try to know and accept the child for who they are." Drawing from her experience parenting two neurodivergent children while navigating her own diagnoses, she shares practical wisdom about honoring sensory needs, setting boundaries, and replacing shame-inducing "shoulds" with self-compassion.Whether you're autistic, love someone who is, or simply curious about different ways of experiencing the world, this conversation invites you to embrace neurodiversity as the spice of life. Connect with Dr. Williamson on social media or explore her workbooks and resources on Amazon to continue your journey toward understanding and celebrating all kinds of minds.Support the show

Urban Hannon and Matthew Dugandzic answer your questions about Neanderthals, our Blessed Mother, and growth in the spiritual life.To submit your questions about whatever for a future episode, email us at thequodlibets@gmail.com.Be sure to follow the Sacra Doctrina Project on Facebook and Twitter as well.

Where do we come from? The origins of modern humans stretch back hundreds of thousands of years, and new discoveries are reshaping how we understand our species' story. In this episode, recorded on location at London's Natural History Museum, Tristan Hughes speaks with Professor Chris Stringer, one of the world's leading paleoanthropologists. Together they explore fossil evidence, our genetic links to Africa, encounters with Neanderthals, and the search for “Mitochondrial Eve.”This is your definitive guide to how Homo sapiens emerged and spread across the planet.MOREThe First Britons -https://open.spotify.com/episode/5cKCCdeptxhxOMRD8HGavq?si=5127601ade01478bHuman Evolution: Dragon Man -https://open.spotify.com/episode/128XsUffcThVirTghas7OA?si=34c571e9526f491dPresented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan and the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music courtesy of Epidemic SoundsThe Ancients is a History Hit podcast.LIVE SHOW: Buy tickets for The Ancients at the London Podcast Festival here: https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/words/the-ancients-2/Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Inside our heads we carry around an infinite and endlessly unfolding map of the world. Navigation is one of the most ancient neural abilities we have―older than language. In Dark and Magical Places: The Neuroscience of Navigation (Norton, 2022), Christopher Kemp embarks on a journey to discover the remarkable extent of what our minds can do. Fueled by his own spatial shortcomings, Kemp describes the brain regions that orient us in space and the specialized neurons that do it. Place cells. Grid cells. He examines how the brain plans routes, recognizes landmarks, and makes sure we leave a room through a door instead of trying to leave through a painting. From the secrets of supernavigators like the indigenous hunters of the Bolivian rainforest to the confusing environments inhabited by people with place blindness, Kemp charts the myriad ways in which we find our way and explains the cutting-edge neuroscience behind them. How did Neanderthals navigate? Why do even seasoned hikers stray from the trail? What spatial skills do we inherit from our parents? How can smartphones and our reliance on GPS devices impact our brains? In engaging, engrossing language, Kemp unravels the mysteries of navigating and links the brain's complex functions to the effects that diseases like Alzheimer's, types of amnesia, and traumatic brain injuries have on our perception of the world around us. A book for anyone who has ever felt compelled to venture off the beaten path, Dark and Magical Places is a stirring reminder of the beauty in losing yourself to your surroundings. And the beauty in understanding how our brains can guide us home. Galina Limorenko is a doctoral candidate in Neuroscience with a focus on biochemistry and molecular biology of neurodegenerative diseases at EPFL in Switzerland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Inside our heads we carry around an infinite and endlessly unfolding map of the world. Navigation is one of the most ancient neural abilities we have―older than language. In Dark and Magical Places: The Neuroscience of Navigation (Norton, 2022), Christopher Kemp embarks on a journey to discover the remarkable extent of what our minds can do. Fueled by his own spatial shortcomings, Kemp describes the brain regions that orient us in space and the specialized neurons that do it. Place cells. Grid cells. He examines how the brain plans routes, recognizes landmarks, and makes sure we leave a room through a door instead of trying to leave through a painting. From the secrets of supernavigators like the indigenous hunters of the Bolivian rainforest to the confusing environments inhabited by people with place blindness, Kemp charts the myriad ways in which we find our way and explains the cutting-edge neuroscience behind them. How did Neanderthals navigate? Why do even seasoned hikers stray from the trail? What spatial skills do we inherit from our parents? How can smartphones and our reliance on GPS devices impact our brains? In engaging, engrossing language, Kemp unravels the mysteries of navigating and links the brain's complex functions to the effects that diseases like Alzheimer's, types of amnesia, and traumatic brain injuries have on our perception of the world around us. A book for anyone who has ever felt compelled to venture off the beaten path, Dark and Magical Places is a stirring reminder of the beauty in losing yourself to your surroundings. And the beauty in understanding how our brains can guide us home. Galina Limorenko is a doctoral candidate in Neuroscience with a focus on biochemistry and molecular biology of neurodegenerative diseases at EPFL in Switzerland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/medicine

Inside our heads we carry around an infinite and endlessly unfolding map of the world. Navigation is one of the most ancient neural abilities we have―older than language. In Dark and Magical Places: The Neuroscience of Navigation (Norton, 2022), Christopher Kemp embarks on a journey to discover the remarkable extent of what our minds can do. Fueled by his own spatial shortcomings, Kemp describes the brain regions that orient us in space and the specialized neurons that do it. Place cells. Grid cells. He examines how the brain plans routes, recognizes landmarks, and makes sure we leave a room through a door instead of trying to leave through a painting. From the secrets of supernavigators like the indigenous hunters of the Bolivian rainforest to the confusing environments inhabited by people with place blindness, Kemp charts the myriad ways in which we find our way and explains the cutting-edge neuroscience behind them. How did Neanderthals navigate? Why do even seasoned hikers stray from the trail? What spatial skills do we inherit from our parents? How can smartphones and our reliance on GPS devices impact our brains? In engaging, engrossing language, Kemp unravels the mysteries of navigating and links the brain's complex functions to the effects that diseases like Alzheimer's, types of amnesia, and traumatic brain injuries have on our perception of the world around us. A book for anyone who has ever felt compelled to venture off the beaten path, Dark and Magical Places is a stirring reminder of the beauty in losing yourself to your surroundings. And the beauty in understanding how our brains can guide us home. Galina Limorenko is a doctoral candidate in Neuroscience with a focus on biochemistry and molecular biology of neurodegenerative diseases at EPFL in Switzerland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/medicine

Inside our heads we carry around an infinite and endlessly unfolding map of the world. Navigation is one of the most ancient neural abilities we have―older than language. In Dark and Magical Places: The Neuroscience of Navigation (Norton, 2022), Christopher Kemp embarks on a journey to discover the remarkable extent of what our minds can do. Fueled by his own spatial shortcomings, Kemp describes the brain regions that orient us in space and the specialized neurons that do it. Place cells. Grid cells. He examines how the brain plans routes, recognizes landmarks, and makes sure we leave a room through a door instead of trying to leave through a painting. From the secrets of supernavigators like the indigenous hunters of the Bolivian rainforest to the confusing environments inhabited by people with place blindness, Kemp charts the myriad ways in which we find our way and explains the cutting-edge neuroscience behind them. How did Neanderthals navigate? Why do even seasoned hikers stray from the trail? What spatial skills do we inherit from our parents? How can smartphones and our reliance on GPS devices impact our brains? In engaging, engrossing language, Kemp unravels the mysteries of navigating and links the brain's complex functions to the effects that diseases like Alzheimer's, types of amnesia, and traumatic brain injuries have on our perception of the world around us. A book for anyone who has ever felt compelled to venture off the beaten path, Dark and Magical Places is a stirring reminder of the beauty in losing yourself to your surroundings. And the beauty in understanding how our brains can guide us home. Galina Limorenko is a doctoral candidate in Neuroscience with a focus on biochemistry and molecular biology of neurodegenerative diseases at EPFL in Switzerland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science

Inside our heads we carry around an infinite and endlessly unfolding map of the world. Navigation is one of the most ancient neural abilities we have―older than language. In Dark and Magical Places: The Neuroscience of Navigation (Norton, 2022), Christopher Kemp embarks on a journey to discover the remarkable extent of what our minds can do. Fueled by his own spatial shortcomings, Kemp describes the brain regions that orient us in space and the specialized neurons that do it. Place cells. Grid cells. He examines how the brain plans routes, recognizes landmarks, and makes sure we leave a room through a door instead of trying to leave through a painting. From the secrets of supernavigators like the indigenous hunters of the Bolivian rainforest to the confusing environments inhabited by people with place blindness, Kemp charts the myriad ways in which we find our way and explains the cutting-edge neuroscience behind them. How did Neanderthals navigate? Why do even seasoned hikers stray from the trail? What spatial skills do we inherit from our parents? How can smartphones and our reliance on GPS devices impact our brains? In engaging, engrossing language, Kemp unravels the mysteries of navigating and links the brain's complex functions to the effects that diseases like Alzheimer's, types of amnesia, and traumatic brain injuries have on our perception of the world around us. A book for anyone who has ever felt compelled to venture off the beaten path, Dark and Magical Places is a stirring reminder of the beauty in losing yourself to your surroundings. And the beauty in understanding how our brains can guide us home. Galina Limorenko is a doctoral candidate in Neuroscience with a focus on biochemistry and molecular biology of neurodegenerative diseases at EPFL in Switzerland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/psychology

Inside our heads we carry around an infinite and endlessly unfolding map of the world. Navigation is one of the most ancient neural abilities we have―older than language. In Dark and Magical Places: The Neuroscience of Navigation (Norton, 2022), Christopher Kemp embarks on a journey to discover the remarkable extent of what our minds can do. Fueled by his own spatial shortcomings, Kemp describes the brain regions that orient us in space and the specialized neurons that do it. Place cells. Grid cells. He examines how the brain plans routes, recognizes landmarks, and makes sure we leave a room through a door instead of trying to leave through a painting. From the secrets of supernavigators like the indigenous hunters of the Bolivian rainforest to the confusing environments inhabited by people with place blindness, Kemp charts the myriad ways in which we find our way and explains the cutting-edge neuroscience behind them. How did Neanderthals navigate? Why do even seasoned hikers stray from the trail? What spatial skills do we inherit from our parents? How can smartphones and our reliance on GPS devices impact our brains? In engaging, engrossing language, Kemp unravels the mysteries of navigating and links the brain's complex functions to the effects that diseases like Alzheimer's, types of amnesia, and traumatic brain injuries have on our perception of the world around us. A book for anyone who has ever felt compelled to venture off the beaten path, Dark and Magical Places is a stirring reminder of the beauty in losing yourself to your surroundings. And the beauty in understanding how our brains can guide us home. Galina Limorenko is a doctoral candidate in Neuroscience with a focus on biochemistry and molecular biology of neurodegenerative diseases at EPFL in Switzerland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on Unsupervised Learning, Razib talks to John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist who has been a researcher and commentator in human evolutionary biology and paleoanthropology for over two decades. With a widely read weblog (now on Substack), a book on Homo naledi, and highly cited scientific papers, Hawks is an essential voice in understanding the origins of our species. He graduated from Kansas State University in 1994 with degrees in French, English, and Anthropology, and received both his M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan, where he studied under Milford Wolpoff. He is currently working on a textbook on the origins of modern humans in their evolutionary context. Hawks has already been a guest on Unsupervised Learning three times. In this episode, Razib and Hawks focus on a very specific question: What were the different contributions to the heritage of modern humans in a world more than 200,000 years ago that was inhabited by at least half a dozen hominin species? First, Hawks takes us back to the year 2000 and his early work extending a more multiregional framework of human evolution, exploring what could be gleaned from the archaeological and paleontological record. Then Razib and Hawks discuss the ancient DNA revolution and the discovery that modern humans had ancestry from Neanderthals, as well as from an entirely new species, the Denisovans. They also examine the fact that, unlike Neanderthals, Denisovans appear to have been separated into very different regional populations that made distinct contributions to various modern populations. Razib also asks Hawks about the discovery of new pygmy human species in Luzon, as well as the current state of research on Homo naledi in South Africa and the Hobbits of Flores. Hawks contends that DNA will likely be extracted from all these lineages at some point and, if not, protein sequence data may be obtained. This would finally give researchers the statistical power to evaluate the possibility of extremely archaic admixture events. Hawks and Razib also address the potential role of natural selection driven by introgressed genes from sister lineages of humans and how this shaped modern variation.

Topics discussed on today's show: National Tooth Fairy Day, Horned Rabbits, Death, Music News, Neanderthals, Kirstens, Politics, Something Evil, Birthdays, History Quiz, Something Evil, Party In Hope, Cracker Barrell, Sports News, Science News, Bathroom News, Robot Wombs, Housing News, Health News, Streaming News, Astrologists, Stay Or Go with guest judge Rodney: TWOFEW, What did you come home to?, and Apologies.

This episode dives into three major topics. First, the hosts celebrate new archaeological discoveries that they argue prove traditional theories of human evolution are a "lie." Citing a recent study, they discuss how a 140,000-year-old child's skeleton in Israel shows interbreeding between modern humans and Neanderthals, a finding that pushes back the timeline for such interactions by 100,000 years. The host also notes that his own DNA shows he has an unusually high 4% Neanderthal genetics, a percentage double the average of 2%. Next, the conversation shifts to breaking political news: a pre-dawn FBI raid on former National Security Advisor John Bolton's home. The hosts speculate this raid is related to a classified documents probe and is the beginning of a crackdown on the "deep state" by the Trump administration. Finally, the hosts react to a major court decision that vacated a nearly half-billion-dollar judgment against Donald Trump in a New York fraud case. They frame the ruling as a significant victory against the "lawfare" being used by Democrats, highlighting that the loan company in question had testified they were not harmed and even wanted to do more business with Trump

The hosts discuss what they see as a multi-front "war" on the United States. They begin with the fentanyl crisis, which they label an "act of war" by China and drug cartels, and point to U.S. military assets moving off the coasts of Venezuela and Mexico as preparation for a strike. The episode then pivots to recent archaeological discoveries, which the hosts claim reveal that mainstream science and institutions like the Smithsonian have lied about human evolution by omitting the history of interbreeding between modern humans and Neanderthals. The conversation continues with legal and political developments, including a celebration of a federal court ruling that vacated a major fine against Donald Trump. The hosts describe this as a major victory against the Democrats' "lawfare." Finally, they turn to the Cracker Barrel logo change, arguing that the company's "woke" CEO is erasing men and Southern culture, a move that is a part of "cancel culture." The hosts note that the stock has plunged, and they argue that the brand's identity and history are being destroyed

Good afternoon, I'm _____ with today's episode of EZ News. Tai-Ex opening The Tai-Ex opened 71-points this morning from yesterday's close, at 24,033 on turnover of $7.2-billion N-T. Taiwan and US sign MOU on combating cross-border drug trafficking Taiwan and the United States have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly combat transnational drug trafficking. According to the American Institute in Taiwan, the agreement will enhance intelligence sharing between the U-S Drug Enforcement Administration and the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office .. ….. by "enabling more efficient investigations and prosecutions of transnational drug trafficking organizations." A-I-T has issues a press release quoting D-E-A Asia Pacific Division Special Agent in charge John Scott as saying that the annual forum represents the "shared commitment of Taiwan and the United States to combat the scourge (禍害) of drug trafficking." NPM to show 'meat-shaped stone' in first exhibition in Yilan The National Palace Museum has announced that its iconic "meat-shaped stone" and 14 other artifacts will be going on disply in Yilan for the first time. The artifacts will be part of a special exhibition co-organized with the Lanyang Museum in December. Along with its famed "meat-shaped stone," the National Palace Museum also selected a jade duck piece dating back to the Song and Yuan dynasties, a porcelain chicken cup in doucai painted enamels from the Ming dynasty … … and a revolving vase with swimming fish in cobalt blue glaze (釉) from the Qing dynasty as some of the artifacts that will be featured in the Yilan exhibition. Moscow says foreign troops in Ukraine would be ‘unacceptable' Russia called "absolutely unacceptable" the idea of deploying foreign forces in Ukraine discussed by Europe and Kiev as part of security guarantees for Ukraine. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the so-called "coalition of the willing" countries of attempts to undermine US President Donald Trump's peacemaking efforts. And reiterated (重申) any discussions of European security, Ukraine included, must involve Russia. Daria Bondarchuk reports from Moscow. Uganda Announces US Deal to Take Deported Migrants Uganda's foreign ministry says the African country has agreed to a deal with the United States to take deported migrants as long as they don't have criminal records and are not unaccompanied minors. The ministry said in a statement Thursday that the agreement had been concluded but that terms were still being worked out. It added that Uganda prefers that the migrants sent there be of African nationalities (國籍), but did not elaborate on what Uganda might get in return for accepting deportees. The U.S. embassy in Uganda declined to comment on what it called “diplomatic negotiations." Human rights activists criticized the deal as possibly going against international law. New Evidence of Earlier Modern Humans and Neanderthals Interaction And new findings suggest that modern humans and Neanderthals may have interacted 100-thousand years earlier than previously thought. That's according to researchers who used CT scans and 3D mapping to study the bones of a child they believe was the result of interbreeding between the two distinct groups. The child was buried in a cave in Israel some 140-thousand years ago. Because no ancient DNA was extracted from the fossilized (變成化石的) remains, it's impossible to confirm the child's origins, but scientists say microscopic details in the bones indicate the child had traits of both groups. The findings, recently published in a peer-reviewed journal, help shed light on when the two groups began interacting and offers clues about their relationships. That was the I.C.R.T. EZ News, I'm _____. －－－－以下為 SoundOn 動態廣告－－－－ 情況緊急、靈感斷線、加班爆肝、心情低氣壓？ ♫速速速，速神湯啦♫ 30秒沖一杯，讓你一口補神氣！ 忙碌的日子裡，別忘了給自己一點剛剛好的照顧 @bullhead_1958 #牛頭牌速神湯 https://sofm.pse.is/845xm5 -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

My guest today is Dr. Kenda Rigdon. Dr. Rigdon is a microbiologist with a PhD in microbiology and virology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Drawing from her expertise, she explores how the gut's microbial ecosystem—comprising bacteria, yeast like Candida and Malassezia, and other microbes—interacts with genetic and epigenetic factors to influence Autism. Dr. Rigdon highlights the critical role of the birthing process, particularly how vaginal delivery seeds a newborn's gut with beneficial microbes like lactobacillus, setting the stage for healthy development in the first three years. She also delves into how yeast overgrowth, nutrient competition (e.g., for tryptophan), and environmental factors like manganese and glyphosate exposure can disrupt this delicate ecosystem, potentially exacerbating autism-related symptoms.Dr. Rigdon shares insights into the surprising links between melanin, Neanderthal DNA, and Autism. She discusses how specific genetic mutations, such as MTHFR and PAI1, can intersect with Autism. Additionally, she connects melanin production—potentially influenced by gut yeast like Malassezia—to neurological health, drawing parallels with conditions like Parkinson's. By viewing the gut as a dynamic ecosystem shaped by birth, diet, and early development, this episode offers a fresh perspective on Autism's microbial roots and practical implications for health, urging listeners to reconsider modern birthing practices and dietary choices in fostering a balanced gut microbiome.Dr. Rigdon X https://x.com/KendaRigdonDaylight Computer Companyuse "autism" for $25 off athttps://buy.daylightcomputer.com/RYAN03139Chroma Iight Devicesuse "autism" for 10% discount athttps://getchroma.co/?ref=autism0:00 Dr. Kenda Rigdon1:14 Journey into Microbiology4:08 The Gut's Ecosystem8:21 Genetics, Autism, & The Microbial Connection13:08 MTHFR & PAI1: Homocysteine, Methionine, Folate20:21 The Role of Yeast in Health & Disease; Serotonin, Candida26:39 The Fight for Tryptophan31:14 Impact of Birthing Method on Gut Health (!)33:13 Modern versus Evolutionary Births, Breastfeeding; Oxygen, Acidity, PH37:15 Melanin, Cell Protection, Neanderthal DNA, Autism40:46 Neuromelanin; Biological Energy, Melanocytes43:20 Neanderthal's & Modern Disease & Environments47:23 Microbes in the Brain53:21 Manganese & Gut Health58:22 Gut-Brain Connection & Microbial Balance01:03:19 Early Gut Health & Development; Modern Insults01:07:21 Future Direction in Gut Health & Kenda's Passion & LoveX: https://x.com/rps47586YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGxEzLKXkjppo3nqmpXpzuAemail: info.fromthespectrum@gmail.com

Giacomo Moro Mauretto"Italiani veri"Storia evolutiva e genetica del nostro PaeseMondadori Editorewww.mondadori.itNoi italiani ci raccontiamo, come altre nazioni moderne, di appartenere a un territorio ben definito, a una cultura coesa, a una storia lineare fatta di antenati che hanno vissuto per millenni nella nostra penisola comportandosi più o meno come continuiamo a fare noi oggi. Ma è proprio così? Siamo davvero i discendenti dei primi Sapiens che hanno messo piede in Italia oltre 40mila anni fa o, addirittura, è rimasta qualche traccia nel nostro DNA di quello dei Neanderthal che abitavano ancora prima le nostre terre? Ogni elemento che consideriamo parte della nostra identità – il territorio in cui viviamo, le persone da cui discendiamo, le tradizioni che ci definiscono – ha una storia ben più complessa e intrecciata di quanto immaginiamo. Le innovazioni tecnologiche degli ultimi vent'anni, per esempio, ci hanno permesso di scoprire che la maggioranza dei nostri antenati neanche era in Italia fino a 5000 anni fa o che le piante e gli animali che ci circondano hanno viaggiato attraverso continenti prima di radicarsi qui. Giacomo Moro Mauretto, con il suo stile chiaro, accurato e scorrevole, ci accompagna in un viaggio nel tempo lungo milioni di anni in cui, attraverso la genetica, l'archeologia, la paleoantropologia, la biologia e la botanica, ricostruisce chi sono davvero gli homo che hanno vissuto all'interno di quei confini che solo da qualche secolo chiamiamo Italia. Non esiste e non è mai esistito il “sangue italiano” o una stirpe genetica italiana che possa essere distinta da altri gruppi. Molto di quello che ci permette di identificarci (genetica, territorio e cultura) come italiani ha spesso radici molto più recenti di quanto pensiamo. Nessuno può, insomma, considerarsi un italiano vero, ma capire da dove veniamo e chi, forse, diventeremo è l'unico modo per capire chi siamo davvero.Giacomo Moro Mauretto, in arte Entropy for Life, è dottore in Biologia evoluzionistica. Negli ultimi anni, attraverso i suoi canali social, si è dedicato alla divulgazione scientifica. Ogni giorno, con i suoi video, racconta con chiarezza e un rigoroso approccio scientifico di animali, piante, evoluzione e questioni ambientali. Nel 2023 per Mondadori ha pubblicato Se pianto un albero posso mangiare una bistecca?.IL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarewww.ilpostodelleparole.itDiventa un supporter di questo podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/il-posto-delle-parole--1487855/support.

Broadcast from KSQD, Santa Cruz on 8-14-2025: Dr. Dawn shares the story of Tim Fried, a construction worker who deliberately exposed himself to 850 snake venom doses over 18 years to build immunity. An immunologist developed antivenom from Fried's antibodies that neutralizes venom from 19 deadly snake species, potentially saving thousands of lives annually from snakebite deaths. She describes cuttlefish sign language research revealing four specific arm movements. The cuttlefish respond to videos and water vibrations from these signs, suggesting complex communication abilities rather than simple mimicry, potentially comparable to octopus intelligence. New research challenges the assumption that Neanderthals were hyper-carnivores. While bone nitrogen levels suggested a meat-only diet, dental evidence showed plant consumption. Researchers now theorize Neanderthals ate maggots from rotting meat, which contain 43% more nitrogen than flesh and would explain the contradictory evidence between bone chemistry and tooth wear patterns. CPR guidelines may soon from the traditional ABC approach (airway, breathing, circulation) to focusing immediately on chest compressions. Research on 45 collapsed athletes showed that 27 who received inappropriate airway clearing died or remained comatose, while three who received immediate rapid chest compressions survived with potential for rehabilitation. The recommendationcould become 100-120 compressions per minute without preliminary airway management. Dr. Dawn presents reassuring statistics about spinal abnormalities in pain-free adults over 60. MRI studies show 90% have disc degeneration, 80% have disc bulges, and 40% have protrusions - yet these individuals have no back pain. This raises questions about attributing back pain to imaging findings when so many similar abnormalities exist in asymptomatic people. Australian cockatoos have learned to operate drinking fountains for entertainment rather than necessity. Researchers observed 70 birds attempting and 40 successfully using fountains, waiting in organized lines and taking turns, despite easier water sources being available nearby. An emailer asks about Essiac tea for cancer prevention. Dr. Dawn explains this herbal blend of burdock root, Indian rhubarb, sheep sorrel, and slippery elm shows promise in laboratory studies but lacks quality human research. While not harmful, no studies demonstrate reduced cancer recurrence rates, though the antioxidant properties may provide general health benefits. Another emailer inquires about lithium supplements for Alzheimer's prevention. Dr. Dawn discusses research showing lower brain lithium levels in Alzheimer's patients and how amyloid plaques trap lithium. Studies suggest lithium orotate (unlike lithium carbonate) isn't absorbed by plaques and may help memory in mice. Low-dose lithium orotate appears safe and mildly calming for humans. Groundbreaking research shows exercise dramatically improves colon cancer survival. A study of 900 patients found the exercise group had 80% five-year disease-free survival versus 74% in controls, with 40% reduced death risk. The intensive program required 10 METs weekly exercise with behavioral support sessions over three years. Dr. Dawn explores coffee's health benefits, noting humanity consumes 2 billion cups daily. Multiple studies show moderate consumption (3-4 cups) reduces breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women and slows Parkinson's progression. Compounds like cafestol and chlorogenic acids provide anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, though benefits disappear when adding significant cream or sugar. She warns about Chikungunya outbreaks in China affecting over 8,000 people. This mosquito-borne illness causes severe bone pain and can spread through blood transfusion. With increased global travel and climate change expanding mosquito ranges, Dr. Dawn emphasizes the importance of volunteering travel history to healthcare providers when presenting with fever and body aches.

Sweet poison? New doubts cast over safety of erythritol; Is Greek yogurt a good way to enhance protein intake? Comparing whey, soy, and pea protein isolates; When taking supplements, is it advisable to take periodic breaks to enhance their effectiveness? Tommy John surgery pioneer and longtime Mets medical director dies at 68; Ivermectin, once branded useless “horse paste,” may prove a new weapon against malaria; New findings challenge notion that humans and apes share 99% of their DNA.

Mutation. It is the key to our evolution. As our cells constantly divide and reproduce and replicate our DNA, errors and inconsistencies develop, leading to the incredible variation of life that drives evolutionary change. This episode, we explore the genetic mechanisms behind mutation and we discuss how scientists study mutations to understand the evolutionary history of life on Earth. In the news: Neanderthal tools, caiman food, dancing dinosaurs, and ancient integument. Time markers: Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00 News: 00:09:25 Main discussion, Part 1: 00:40:50 Main discussion, Part 2: 01:35:00 Patron question: 02:28:55 Check out our website for this episode's blog post and more: http://commondescentpodcast.com/ Join us on Patreon to support the podcast and enjoy bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/commondescentpodcast Got a topic you want to hear about? Submit your episode request here: https://commondescentpodcast.com/request-a-topic/ Lots more ways to connect with us: https://linktr.ee/common_descent The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Pizza with THC… Monks on Meth… Harder than ever to cheat… More Millionaires than ever before… Email: ChewingTheFat@theblaze.com Blaze TV subscription deal-limited time / www.faucicoverup.com/jeffy Thieves found guilty in Germany… Vote on favorite stamp to come back… Union Pacific & Norfolk Southern merge… Boeing loses less… Stranger Things S5 finally… Who Died Today: Don Zimmerman 81 / Chris Willingham 74 / Frank Maffei 85 / Un-named 58 year old skydiver / Laura Dahlmeier 31 / Paloma Shemirani 23… Cat stealing clothes in new Zealand… Fugitive Water Monitor Lizard… Earthquake Tsunami recap... Loudest known sound on earth?... Neanderthals likely ate maggots… Joke of The Day… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First up on the podcast, Contributing Correspondent Richard Stone joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about the toll of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and how researchers have been mobilized to help the war effort. In June, Stone visited the basement labs where Ukrainian students modify off-the-shelf drones for war fighting and the facilities where biomedical researchers develop implants and bandages for wounded soldiers.   Next on the show, the isotopic ratios in our teeth and bones record the chemistry of what we eat. When anthropologists recently applied this technique to Neanderthals, they were surprised to find that when it comes to eating meat, our hominin cousins appeared to be on par with lions. Melanie Beasley, assistant professor of anthropology at Purdue University, has an explanation for why Neanderthals chemically look like hypercarnivores: They were just eating a lot of maggots. She talks about how she tested this idea by studying maggots that were fed putrefying human flesh.   Last up on this episode, a new installment of our series of books on death and science. This month's books host Angela Saini talks with Ravi Nandan Singh, a sociologist at Shiv Nadar University, about his book Dead in Banaras: An Ethnography of Funeral Travelling.   This week's episode was produced with help from Podigy.   About the Science Podcast   Authors: Sarah Crespi; Angela Saini; Rich Stone Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scientific Sense ® by Gill Eapen: Prof. Sriram Sankararaman is Professor of Computer Science, Human Genetics, and Computational Medicine at UCLA. He is broadly interested in problems at the intersection of computer science, statistics, and biomedicine. Please subscribe to this channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/ScientificSense?sub_confirmation=1

During the weeks from July 28 through Aug 8---while we take our summer vacation---we're going to be posting the daily news episodes from Bobby's daily science podcast, Daily Science Brief. If you like this short-form podcast and want to hear more, search for Daily Science Brief or head over to https://www.dailysciencebrief.com/--------Maggot meat may have helped Neanderthals thrive, mice get flu shots by flossing, grief might be deadly, and your frenemies could be aging you—literally.SOURCESNeanderthals likely ate fermented meat with a side of maggots | The ConversationNeanderthals, hypercarnivores, and maggots: Insights from stable nitrogen isotopes | Science AdvancesScientists gave mice flu vaccines by flossing their tiny teeth — and it worked | Live ScienceIntensely grieving a loved one could shorten a mourner's life | New ScientistGrief trajectories and long-term health effects in bereaved relatives: a prospective, population-based cohort study with ten-year follow-up | Frontiers in Public HealthNegative social ties, like frenemies, could be ageing you | New ScientistNegative Social Ties as Emerging Risk Factors for Accelerated Aging, Inflammation, and Multimorbidity | medRxivPlease SUBSCRIBE HERE to get the show delivered straight to you.Special thanks to our supporters who help make this show possible.Enjoy the show? You can support us too on Patreon. Help keep the show going. Thank you!Send us email to dailysciencebrief@gmail.comHost, Research, and Writing: Bobby FrankenbergerCover Art: Scott JohnsonOutro Music: StravynBrought to you by the DTNS Family of podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Unas de las últimas noticias que ha ofrecido Lidia G. Merenciano tiene que ver con el hecho, sorprendente, de que aquellas personas que tienen más dependencia del tabaco tienen parte de un gen de origen Neanderthal... Es una de las informaciones que analizamos junto a ella, arqueóloga y antropóloga física. El impacto en redes sociales de sus informaciones es espectacular. Tiene, y lo demuestra, auténtica pasión por la Historia. Nos lo demuestra en esta conversación en la que también hablamos de su libro Penélope (Ediciones B), uno de los bombazos editoriales del momento.

This edition of Unearthed! continues, this time covering the mixed items we call potpourri, shipwrecks, edibles and potables, books and letters, and exhumations. Research: Agencia Brasil. “Cave Paintings Discovered in Rio de Janiero Park.” 4/13/2025. https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/en/educacao/noticia/2025-04/cave-paintings-discovered-rio-de-janeiro-park Anderson, R. L., Salvemini, F., Avdeev, M., & Luzin, V. (2025). An African Art Re-Discovered: New Revelations on Sword Manufacture in Dahomey. Heritage, 8(2), 62. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage8020062 Archaeology Magazine. “5,000-year-old Bread Buried in Bronze Age House.” 6/4/2025. https://archaeology.org/news/2025/06/04/5000-year-old-bread-buried-in-bronze-age-house/ Archaeology Magazine. “Fried Thrush Was a Popular Street Food.” 6/6/2025. https://archaeology.org/news/2025/06/06/fried-thrush-was-a-popular-roman-street-food/ Arnold, Paul. “Dentist may have solved 500-year-old mystery in da Vinci's iconic Vitruvian Man.” Phys.org. 7/2/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-dentist-year-mystery-da-vinci.html Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). “New revelations on sword manufacture in 19th-century Dahomey, West Africa.” Phys.org. 5/11/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-revelations-sword-19th-century-dahomey.html Black, Jo. “Cut-price Magna Carta 'copy' now believed genuine.” BBC. 5/15/2025. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm23zjknre7o Boucher, Brian. “Antique Condom on View at the Rijksmuseum Riles Christian Group.” ArtNet. 6/26/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/antique-condom-rijksmuseum-christian-protest-2661519 Brown, Mark. “Rare wall paintings found in Cumbria show tastes of well-off Tudors.” The Guardian. 4/4/2025. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/04/rare-wall-paintings-found-in-cumbria-show-tastes-of-well-off-tudors Carvajal, Guillermo. “The Oldest Vanilla Pod in Europe, Used in Alchemical Experiments, Discovered at Prague Castle.” LBV. 3/31/2025. https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2025/03/the-oldest-vanilla-pod-in-europe-used-in-alchemical-experiments-discovered-at-prague-castle/ Carvajal, Guillermo. “Thrushes Were the “Fast Food” of Romans in Imperial Cities, Not an Exclusive Delicacy for Banquets.” LBV. 6/3/2025. https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2025/06/thrushes-were-the-fast-food-of-romans-in-imperial-cities-not-an-exclusive-delicacy-for-banquets/ Carvajal, Guillermo. The Spectacular Tomb of the Ice Prince, a Medieval Child Buried in an Ancient Roman Villa, Frozen for Study.” LBV. 5/25/2025. https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2025/05/the-spectacular-tomb-of-the-ice-prince-a-medieval-child-buried-in-an-ancient-roman-villa-frozen-for-study/ Chen, Min. “Roman Villa in Spain Yields More Than 4,000 Painted Wall Fragments.” ArtNet. 4/21/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/roman-villa-villajoyosa-wall-fragments-2634055 Chen, Min. “These Medieval Manuscripts Were Bound With an Unlikely Animal Hide.” ArtNet. 4/12/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/clairvaux-medieval-manuscripts-sealskin-2630996 Chen, Min. “Think Shakespeare Left His Wife? This Newly Discovered Letter Tells a Different Story.” ArtNet. 4/28/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/shakespeare-anne-hathaway-marriage-letter-2636443 Chen, Min. “This 6th-Century Bucket Discovered at Sutton Hoo Is More Than It Seems.” ArtNet. 5/22/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/sutton-hoo-bromeswell-bucket-not-bucket-2648124 Dartmouth College. “Archaeologists uncover massive 1,000-year-old Native American fields in Northern Michigan that defy limits of farming.” Phys.org. 6/5/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-archaeologists-uncover-massive-year-native.html Davis, Josh. “Ancient humans ritually feasted on great bustards as they buried their dead.” Phys.org. 4/17/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-ancient-humans-ritually-feasted-great.html Drenon, Brandon. “Tulsa plans $105m in reparations for America's 'hidden' massacre.” BBC. 6/2/2025. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dqnz37v1wo Equal Justice Initiative. “City Announces Reparations for Tulsa Race Massacre.” https://eji.org/news/city-announces-reparations-for-tulsa-race-massacre/ “Researchers estimate that early humans began smoking meat to extend its shelf life as long as a million years ago.” 6/3/2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1086138 Fox, Jordan. “Anthropologist uncovers the 11,000-year history of avocado domestication.” Phys.org. 6/24/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-anthropologist-uncovers-year-history-avocado.html Fratsyvir, Anna. “Ukraine grants Poland permission to exhume 1939 war graves in Lviv.” The Kyiv Independent. 6/11/2025. https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-grants-poland-permission-to-exhume-1939-war-graves-in-lviv/ Giuffrida, Angela. “Two near lifesize sculptures found during excavations of Pompeii tomb.” The Guardian. 4/1/2025. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/01/two-near-lifesize-sculptures-found-during-excavations-of-pompeii-tomb Guardian staff and agencies in Lima. “Peru drops plan to shrink protected area around Nazca Lines archaeological site.” The Guardian. 6/9/2025. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/09/peru-nazca-lines-protected-area Hamilton, Eric. “Ancient Andes society used hallucinogens to strengthen social order.” EurekAlert. 5/5/2026. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1082461 Hashemi, Sara. “Ancient Chinese Poems Reveal the Decline of a Critically Endangered Porpoise Over 1,400 Years.” Smithsonian. 5/6/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ancient-chinese-poems-reveal-the-decline-of-a-critically-endangered-porpoise-over-1400-years-180986570/ Hung, Hsiao-chun. “Remote cave discovery shows ancient voyagers brought rice across 2,300 km of Pacific Ocean.” Phys.org. 6/26/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-remote-cave-discovery-ancient-voyagers.html Hunt, Katie. “125,000-year-old ‘fat factory’ run by Neanderthals discovered in Germany.” CNN. 7/4/2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/04/science/neanderthal-fat-factory-germany Hurriyet Daily News. “5,000-year-old bread unearthed in Küllüoba goes on display.” 5/23/2025. https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/5-000-year-old-bread-unearthed-in-kulluoba-goes-on-display-209487 Jarus, Owen. “We finally know why Queen Hatshepsut's statues were destroyed in ancient Egypt.” LiveScience. 6/23/2025. https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/ancient-egyptians/we-finally-know-why-queen-hatshepsuts-statues-were-destroyed-in-ancient-egypt Kuta, Sarah. “Did a Neanderthal Who Lived 43,000 Years Ago Paint a Red Nose on a Rock That Looked Like a Face?” Smithsonian. 6/2/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/did-a-neanderthal-who-lived-43000-years-ago-paint-a-red-nose-on-a-rock-that-looked-like-a-face-180986704/ Kuta, Sarah. “How Researchers Discovered a 168-Year-Old Dutch Shipwreck Off the Coast of Australia in Underwater ‘Blizzard’ Conditions.” Smithsonian. 5/16/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-researchers-discovered-a-168-year-old-dutch-shipwreck-off-the-coast-of-australia-in-underwater-blizzard-conditions-180986637/ Kuta, Sarah. “Tourists Are Stuffing Coins Into the Cracks of the Giant’s Causeway, Damaging the Iconic Site in Northern Ireland.” Smithsonian. 6/4/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/tourists-are-stuffing-coins-into-the-cracks-of-the-giants-causeway-damaging-the-iconic-site-in-northern-ireland-180986745/ Kuta, Sarah. “Why Was a 1940s Car Discovered in the Wreck of an American Naval Ship That Sank During World War II?” Smithsonian. 4/23/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-was-1940s-car-discovered-wreck-american-naval-ship-that-sank-during-world-war-ii-180986485/ Larson, Christina. “Ancient DNA confirms New Mexico tribe's link to famed Chaco Canyon site.” Phys.org. 4/30/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-oral-histories-dna-picuris-pueblo.html Lawson-Tancred, Jo. “A Life-Sized Statue of a Bejeweled Ancient Priestess Is Unearthed in Pompeii.” ArtNet. 4/2/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/a-life-sized-statue-of-a-bejeweled-ancient-priestess-is-unearthed-in-pompeii-2627176 Lawson-Tancred, Jo. “Rare Artwork by Emily Brontë Scooped at Auction by Museum.” 4/11/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/rare-artwork-by-emily-bronte-scooped-at-auction-by-museum-2631133 Lawson-Tancred, Jo. “Vatican Brings ‘God’s Architect’ Antoni Gaudí One Step Closer to Sainthood.” ArtNet. 4/15/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/vatican-antoni-gaudi-one-step-closer-to-sainthood-2632185 Leahy, Diana. “Depictions of the Milky Way found in ancient Egyptian imagery.” 4/30/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-depictions-milky-ancient-egyptian-imagery.html MacKay, Mercedes. “'It's a mystery that's hung over our area for 50 years': Salem, Illinois, exhuming grave of unknown Amtrak train derailment victim.” KDSK. 3/13/2025. https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/salem-illinois-exhuming-grave-of-unknown-amtrak-train-derailment-victim/63-2770a303-4e54-4647-8b13-dff304b93e30 net. “Magna Carta at Harvard dates to the Year 1300, historians find.” 5/2025. https://www.medievalists.net/2025/05/magna-carta-at-harvard-dates-to-the-year-1300-historians-find/ net. “Medieval Merlin Manuscript Fragment Revealed Through Digital Unfolding.” 5/2025. https://www.medievalists.net/2025/04/medieval-merlin-manuscript-fragment-revealed-through-digital-unfolding/ net. “Medieval Mystery Solved: Sutton Hoo Bucket Was a Cremation Vessel.” 6/2025. https://www.medievalists.net/2025/06/medieval-mystery-solved-sutton-hoo-bucket-was-a-cremation-vessel/ net. “Rethinking Rye: Study Reveals Medieval Cultivation Was Intensive and Strategic.” 5/2025. https://www.medievalists.net/2025/05/rethinking-rye-study-reveals-medieval-cultivation-was-intensive-and-strategic/ net. “Tudor Wall Paintings Uncovered in Northern England Lodge.” 4/2025. https://www.medievalists.net/2025/04/tudor-wall-paintings-uncovered-in-northern-england-lodge/ Mira, Chad. “Multiple bodies found in exhumed Salem, Ill., grave.” Fox2. https://fox2now.com/news/illinois/multiple-bodies-found-in-exhumed-salem-ill-grave/ Organization of American Historians. “Statement in Response to Secretary Order 3431 and Censorship of History in the National Park Service.” 6/18/2025. https://www.oah.org/2025/06/18/statement-in-response-to-secretary-order-3431-and-censorship-of-history-in-the-national-park-service/ Oster, Sandee. “New Holocene Aboriginal rock art style identified in recent study.” Phys.org. 4/29/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-holocene-aboriginal-art-style.html#google_vignette Oster, Sandee. “Study provides new insights into medieval sex workers and childcare.” Phys.org. 5/22/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-insights-medieval-sex-workers-childcare.html “Exhumations in Volhynia. Wróblewska on the beginning of work in Zboiska.” 6/23/2025. https://www.pap.pl/aktualnosci/ekshumacje-na-wolyniu-wroblewska-o-poczatku-prac-w-zboiskach org. “Race to save Sweden's 17th century warship in preservation project.” 4/9/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-sweden-17th-century-warship.html Pinotti, Thomaz et al. “Picuris Pueblo oral history and genomics reveal continuity in US Southwest.” Nature. 4/30/2025. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08791-9 Public Library of Science. “Italians spent thousands of years perfecting grape cultivation, ancient seeds show.” Phys.org. 4/23/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-italians-spent-thousands-years-grape.html Radio Prague International. “Rare Roman soldier’s wrist purse discovered in South Moravia.” 6/24/2025. https://english.radio.cz/rare-roman-soldiers-wrist-purse-discovered-south-moravia-8854920 Shams, Housnia. “Work begins to exhume remains of 800 dead babies at unwed mothers’ home in Ireland.” 6/17/2025. https://www.irishstar.com/news/ireland-news/work-begins-exhume-remains-800-35409145 SO 3431 - Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History https://www.doi.gov/document-library/secretary-order/so-3431-restoring-truth-and-sanity-american-history Sweeney, Rory Mac. “Leonardo's Vitruvian Man: modern craniofacial anatomical analysis reveals a possible solution to the 500-year-old mystery.” Journal of Mathematics and the Arts. 3/28/2025. https://doi.org/10.1080/17513472.2025.2507568 The History Blog. ‘Installation of Vasa’s new support structure begins.” 4/14/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/72910 The History Blog. “16th c. mural found on the Grand Canal.” 4/15/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/72918 The History Blog. “3,500-year-old bronze daggers found in corn field.” 4/1/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/72799 The History Blog. “First English cheese treatise digitized, transcribed.” 5/1/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/73045 The History Blog. “Life and death of little “Ice Prince” revealed.” 5/26/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/73246 The History Blog. “Oldest baked bread flying off the shelves.” 5/29/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/73273 The History Blog. “Roman soldier’s bronze wrist purse found in Czech Republic.” 6/25/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/73467 University of Leeds. “Curd your enthusiasm: Secrets of oldest book on cheese revealed.” Phys.org. 4/28/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-curd-enthusiasm-secrets-oldest-cheese.html University of St. Andrews. “New tool to identify toxic pigments in historic books.” Phys.org. 6/6/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-tool-toxic-pigments-historic.html#google_vignette Vargas Ariza, Daniela et al. “The Cobs in the Archaeological Context of the San José Galleon Shipwreck.” Antiquity (2025): 1–6. Web. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/cobs-in-the-archaeological-context-of-the-san-jose-galleon-shipwreck/66532DCA302A8C08A1EBFE4AC7E4E6C1 Wexler, Ellen. “The Only Black, All-Female Unit to Serve Overseas in World War II Receives the Congressional Gold Medal.” Smithsonian. 4/30/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-only-black-all-female-unit-to-serve-overseas-in-world-war-ii-receives-the-congressional-gold-medal-180986528/ Whiddington, Richard. “A 19th-Century Condom With a Bawdy Print Makes Its Museum Debut.” 6/3/2025. ArtNet. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/old-condom-erotica-rijksmuseum-show-2652526 Whiddington, Richard. “A Lost WWI Submarine Is Discovered ‘Remarkably Intact’ After 100 Years.” ArtNet. 5/27/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/a-lost-wwi-submarine-is-discovered-remarkably-intact-after-100-years-2649437 Whiddington, Richard. “Archaeologists Identify France’s Deepest Shipwreck.” ArtNet. 6/20/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/france-deepest-shipwreck-camarat-4-2659029 Whiddington, Richard. “Nazca Lines Under Threat? Peru’s Downsizing Plan Sparks Alarm.” Artnet. 6/3/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/nazca-lines-reduced-reserve-plan-2652342 Whiddington, Richard. “Who Designed the Bayeux Tapestry? Its 93 Penises Offer Clues.” 5/2/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/bayeux-tapestry-93-penises-offer-clues-2639001 Wizevich, Eli. “By Shoving a Bed Frame Against the Door, This Pompeii Family Tried to Survive Mount Vesuvius’ Eruption.” Smithsonian. 5/13/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/by-shoving-a-bed-frame-against-the-door-this-pompeii-family-tried-to-survive-mount-vesuvius-eruption-180986608/ Wizevich, Eli. “It could take years for archaeologists to properly excavate and preserve the delicate wooden vessel, which likely became shipwrecked.” 4/30/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/see-the-rare-medieval-boat-discovered-over-18-feet-below-sea-level-in-barcelona-180986524/ Wong, Jun Yi. “The Afterlife of Hatshepsut’s Statuary.” Antiquity 99.405 (2025): 746–761. Web. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/afterlife-of-hatshepsuts-statuary/F22D001E29438008136B6DA04F57C627 Zeilstra, Andrew. “Mediterranean hunter gatherers navigated long-distance sea journeys well before the first farmers.” EurekAlert. 4/9/2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1079385 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This installment of Unearthed! starts with lots of updates! And then some art-related unearthings, and a few things at the end that fall under the category of adult content. Research: Agencia Brasil. “Cave Paintings Discovered in Rio de Janiero Park.” 4/13/2025. https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/en/educacao/noticia/2025-04/cave-paintings-discovered-rio-de-janeiro-park Anderson, R. L., Salvemini, F., Avdeev, M., & Luzin, V. (2025). An African Art Re-Discovered: New Revelations on Sword Manufacture in Dahomey. Heritage, 8(2), 62. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage8020062 Archaeology Magazine. “5,000-year-old Bread Buried in Bronze Age House.” 6/4/2025. https://archaeology.org/news/2025/06/04/5000-year-old-bread-buried-in-bronze-age-house/ Archaeology Magazine. “Fried Thrush Was a Popular Street Food.” 6/6/2025. https://archaeology.org/news/2025/06/06/fried-thrush-was-a-popular-roman-street-food/ Arnold, Paul. “Dentist may have solved 500-year-old mystery in da Vinci's iconic Vitruvian Man.” Phys.org. 7/2/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-dentist-year-mystery-da-vinci.html Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). “New revelations on sword manufacture in 19th-century Dahomey, West Africa.” Phys.org. 5/11/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-revelations-sword-19th-century-dahomey.html Black, Jo. “Cut-price Magna Carta 'copy' now believed genuine.” BBC. 5/15/2025. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm23zjknre7o Boucher, Brian. “Antique Condom on View at the Rijksmuseum Riles Christian Group.” ArtNet. 6/26/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/antique-condom-rijksmuseum-christian-protest-2661519 Brown, Mark. “Rare wall paintings found in Cumbria show tastes of well-off Tudors.” The Guardian. 4/4/2025. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/04/rare-wall-paintings-found-in-cumbria-show-tastes-of-well-off-tudors Carvajal, Guillermo. “The Oldest Vanilla Pod in Europe, Used in Alchemical Experiments, Discovered at Prague Castle.” LBV. 3/31/2025. https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2025/03/the-oldest-vanilla-pod-in-europe-used-in-alchemical-experiments-discovered-at-prague-castle/ Carvajal, Guillermo. “Thrushes Were the “Fast Food” of Romans in Imperial Cities, Not an Exclusive Delicacy for Banquets.” LBV. 6/3/2025. https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2025/06/thrushes-were-the-fast-food-of-romans-in-imperial-cities-not-an-exclusive-delicacy-for-banquets/ Carvajal, Guillermo. The Spectacular Tomb of the Ice Prince, a Medieval Child Buried in an Ancient Roman Villa, Frozen for Study.” LBV. 5/25/2025. https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2025/05/the-spectacular-tomb-of-the-ice-prince-a-medieval-child-buried-in-an-ancient-roman-villa-frozen-for-study/ Chen, Min. “Roman Villa in Spain Yields More Than 4,000 Painted Wall Fragments.” ArtNet. 4/21/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/roman-villa-villajoyosa-wall-fragments-2634055 Chen, Min. “These Medieval Manuscripts Were Bound With an Unlikely Animal Hide.” ArtNet. 4/12/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/clairvaux-medieval-manuscripts-sealskin-2630996 Chen, Min. “Think Shakespeare Left His Wife? This Newly Discovered Letter Tells a Different Story.” ArtNet. 4/28/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/shakespeare-anne-hathaway-marriage-letter-2636443 Chen, Min. “This 6th-Century Bucket Discovered at Sutton Hoo Is More Than It Seems.” ArtNet. 5/22/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/sutton-hoo-bromeswell-bucket-not-bucket-2648124 Dartmouth College. “Archaeologists uncover massive 1,000-year-old Native American fields in Northern Michigan that defy limits of farming.” Phys.org. 6/5/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-archaeologists-uncover-massive-year-native.html Davis, Josh. “Ancient humans ritually feasted on great bustards as they buried their dead.” Phys.org. 4/17/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-ancient-humans-ritually-feasted-great.html Drenon, Brandon. “Tulsa plans $105m in reparations for America's 'hidden' massacre.” BBC. 6/2/2025. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dqnz37v1wo Equal Justice Initiative. “City Announces Reparations for Tulsa Race Massacre.” https://eji.org/news/city-announces-reparations-for-tulsa-race-massacre/ “Researchers estimate that early humans began smoking meat to extend its shelf life as long as a million years ago.” 6/3/2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1086138 Fox, Jordan. “Anthropologist uncovers the 11,000-year history of avocado domestication.” Phys.org. 6/24/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-anthropologist-uncovers-year-history-avocado.html Fratsyvir, Anna. “Ukraine grants Poland permission to exhume 1939 war graves in Lviv.” The Kyiv Independent. 6/11/2025. https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-grants-poland-permission-to-exhume-1939-war-graves-in-lviv/ Giuffrida, Angela. “Two near lifesize sculptures found during excavations of Pompeii tomb.” The Guardian. 4/1/2025. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/01/two-near-lifesize-sculptures-found-during-excavations-of-pompeii-tomb Guardian staff and agencies in Lima. “Peru drops plan to shrink protected area around Nazca Lines archaeological site.” The Guardian. 6/9/2025. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/09/peru-nazca-lines-protected-area Hamilton, Eric. “Ancient Andes society used hallucinogens to strengthen social order.” EurekAlert. 5/5/2026. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1082461 Hashemi, Sara. “Ancient Chinese Poems Reveal the Decline of a Critically Endangered Porpoise Over 1,400 Years.” Smithsonian. 5/6/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ancient-chinese-poems-reveal-the-decline-of-a-critically-endangered-porpoise-over-1400-years-180986570/ Hung, Hsiao-chun. “Remote cave discovery shows ancient voyagers brought rice across 2,300 km of Pacific Ocean.” Phys.org. 6/26/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-remote-cave-discovery-ancient-voyagers.html Hunt, Katie. “125,000-year-old ‘fat factory’ run by Neanderthals discovered in Germany.” CNN. 7/4/2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/04/science/neanderthal-fat-factory-germany Hurriyet Daily News. “5,000-year-old bread unearthed in Küllüoba goes on display.” 5/23/2025. https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/5-000-year-old-bread-unearthed-in-kulluoba-goes-on-display-209487 Jarus, Owen. “We finally know why Queen Hatshepsut's statues were destroyed in ancient Egypt.” LiveScience. 6/23/2025. https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/ancient-egyptians/we-finally-know-why-queen-hatshepsuts-statues-were-destroyed-in-ancient-egypt Kuta, Sarah. “Did a Neanderthal Who Lived 43,000 Years Ago Paint a Red Nose on a Rock That Looked Like a Face?” Smithsonian. 6/2/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/did-a-neanderthal-who-lived-43000-years-ago-paint-a-red-nose-on-a-rock-that-looked-like-a-face-180986704/ Kuta, Sarah. “How Researchers Discovered a 168-Year-Old Dutch Shipwreck Off the Coast of Australia in Underwater ‘Blizzard’ Conditions.” Smithsonian. 5/16/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-researchers-discovered-a-168-year-old-dutch-shipwreck-off-the-coast-of-australia-in-underwater-blizzard-conditions-180986637/ Kuta, Sarah. “Tourists Are Stuffing Coins Into the Cracks of the Giant’s Causeway, Damaging the Iconic Site in Northern Ireland.” Smithsonian. 6/4/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/tourists-are-stuffing-coins-into-the-cracks-of-the-giants-causeway-damaging-the-iconic-site-in-northern-ireland-180986745/ Kuta, Sarah. “Why Was a 1940s Car Discovered in the Wreck of an American Naval Ship That Sank During World War II?” Smithsonian. 4/23/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-was-1940s-car-discovered-wreck-american-naval-ship-that-sank-during-world-war-ii-180986485/ Larson, Christina. “Ancient DNA confirms New Mexico tribe's link to famed Chaco Canyon site.” Phys.org. 4/30/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-oral-histories-dna-picuris-pueblo.html Lawson-Tancred, Jo. “A Life-Sized Statue of a Bejeweled Ancient Priestess Is Unearthed in Pompeii.” ArtNet. 4/2/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/a-life-sized-statue-of-a-bejeweled-ancient-priestess-is-unearthed-in-pompeii-2627176 Lawson-Tancred, Jo. “Rare Artwork by Emily Brontë Scooped at Auction by Museum.” 4/11/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/rare-artwork-by-emily-bronte-scooped-at-auction-by-museum-2631133 Lawson-Tancred, Jo. “Vatican Brings ‘God’s Architect’ Antoni Gaudí One Step Closer to Sainthood.” ArtNet. 4/15/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/vatican-antoni-gaudi-one-step-closer-to-sainthood-2632185 Leahy, Diana. “Depictions of the Milky Way found in ancient Egyptian imagery.” 4/30/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-depictions-milky-ancient-egyptian-imagery.html MacKay, Mercedes. “'It's a mystery that's hung over our area for 50 years': Salem, Illinois, exhuming grave of unknown Amtrak train derailment victim.” KDSK. 3/13/2025. https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/salem-illinois-exhuming-grave-of-unknown-amtrak-train-derailment-victim/63-2770a303-4e54-4647-8b13-dff304b93e30 net. “Magna Carta at Harvard dates to the Year 1300, historians find.” 5/2025. https://www.medievalists.net/2025/05/magna-carta-at-harvard-dates-to-the-year-1300-historians-find/ net. “Medieval Merlin Manuscript Fragment Revealed Through Digital Unfolding.” 5/2025. https://www.medievalists.net/2025/04/medieval-merlin-manuscript-fragment-revealed-through-digital-unfolding/ net. “Medieval Mystery Solved: Sutton Hoo Bucket Was a Cremation Vessel.” 6/2025. https://www.medievalists.net/2025/06/medieval-mystery-solved-sutton-hoo-bucket-was-a-cremation-vessel/ net. “Rethinking Rye: Study Reveals Medieval Cultivation Was Intensive and Strategic.” 5/2025. https://www.medievalists.net/2025/05/rethinking-rye-study-reveals-medieval-cultivation-was-intensive-and-strategic/ net. “Tudor Wall Paintings Uncovered in Northern England Lodge.” 4/2025. https://www.medievalists.net/2025/04/tudor-wall-paintings-uncovered-in-northern-england-lodge/ Mira, Chad. “Multiple bodies found in exhumed Salem, Ill., grave.” Fox2. https://fox2now.com/news/illinois/multiple-bodies-found-in-exhumed-salem-ill-grave/ Organization of American Historians. “Statement in Response to Secretary Order 3431 and Censorship of History in the National Park Service.” 6/18/2025. https://www.oah.org/2025/06/18/statement-in-response-to-secretary-order-3431-and-censorship-of-history-in-the-national-park-service/ Oster, Sandee. “New Holocene Aboriginal rock art style identified in recent study.” Phys.org. 4/29/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-holocene-aboriginal-art-style.html#google_vignette Oster, Sandee. “Study provides new insights into medieval sex workers and childcare.” Phys.org. 5/22/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-insights-medieval-sex-workers-childcare.html “Exhumations in Volhynia. Wróblewska on the beginning of work in Zboiska.” 6/23/2025. https://www.pap.pl/aktualnosci/ekshumacje-na-wolyniu-wroblewska-o-poczatku-prac-w-zboiskach org. “Race to save Sweden's 17th century warship in preservation project.” 4/9/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-sweden-17th-century-warship.html Pinotti, Thomaz et al. “Picuris Pueblo oral history and genomics reveal continuity in US Southwest.” Nature. 4/30/2025. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08791-9 Public Library of Science. “Italians spent thousands of years perfecting grape cultivation, ancient seeds show.” Phys.org. 4/23/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-italians-spent-thousands-years-grape.html Radio Prague International. “Rare Roman soldier’s wrist purse discovered in South Moravia.” 6/24/2025. https://english.radio.cz/rare-roman-soldiers-wrist-purse-discovered-south-moravia-8854920 Shams, Housnia. “Work begins to exhume remains of 800 dead babies at unwed mothers’ home in Ireland.” 6/17/2025. https://www.irishstar.com/news/ireland-news/work-begins-exhume-remains-800-35409145 SO 3431 - Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History https://www.doi.gov/document-library/secretary-order/so-3431-restoring-truth-and-sanity-american-history Sweeney, Rory Mac. “Leonardo's Vitruvian Man: modern craniofacial anatomical analysis reveals a possible solution to the 500-year-old mystery.” Journal of Mathematics and the Arts. 3/28/2025. https://doi.org/10.1080/17513472.2025.2507568 The History Blog. ‘Installation of Vasa’s new support structure begins.” 4/14/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/72910 The History Blog. “16th c. mural found on the Grand Canal.” 4/15/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/72918 The History Blog. “3,500-year-old bronze daggers found in corn field.” 4/1/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/72799 The History Blog. “First English cheese treatise digitized, transcribed.” 5/1/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/73045 The History Blog. “Life and death of little “Ice Prince” revealed.” 5/26/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/73246 The History Blog. “Oldest baked bread flying off the shelves.” 5/29/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/73273 The History Blog. “Roman soldier’s bronze wrist purse found in Czech Republic.” 6/25/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/73467 University of Leeds. “Curd your enthusiasm: Secrets of oldest book on cheese revealed.” Phys.org. 4/28/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-curd-enthusiasm-secrets-oldest-cheese.html University of St. Andrews. “New tool to identify toxic pigments in historic books.” Phys.org. 6/6/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-tool-toxic-pigments-historic.html#google_vignette Vargas Ariza, Daniela et al. “The Cobs in the Archaeological Context of the San José Galleon Shipwreck.” Antiquity (2025): 1–6. Web. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/cobs-in-the-archaeological-context-of-the-san-jose-galleon-shipwreck/66532DCA302A8C08A1EBFE4AC7E4E6C1 Wexler, Ellen. “The Only Black, All-Female Unit to Serve Overseas in World War II Receives the Congressional Gold Medal.” Smithsonian. 4/30/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-only-black-all-female-unit-to-serve-overseas-in-world-war-ii-receives-the-congressional-gold-medal-180986528/ Whiddington, Richard. “A 19th-Century Condom With a Bawdy Print Makes Its Museum Debut.” 6/3/2025. 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When fossilised remains were discovered in the Djurab desert in 2001, they were hailed as radically rewriting the history of our species. But not everyone was convinced – and the bitter argument that followed has consumed the lives of scholars ever since By Scott Sayare. Read by Bert Seymour. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

00:48 The past 35,000 years of diseaseAncient DNA evidence shows that the advent of agriculture led to more infectious disease among humans, with pathogens from animals only showing up 6,500 years ago. The DNA, extracted from human teeth, shows the history of diseases present in Eurasia over tens of thousands of years. The approach used could be a powerful way to understand how illness has shaped humanity, but it is unable to detect some bacteria that enter the bloodstream at low concentrations or some viruses, so future work could seek to fill that gap.Research Article: Sikora et al.News: Animal diseases leapt to humans when we started keeping livestock10:58 Research HighlightsDNA studies confirm that sardines were a major ingredient of the Roman Empire's favourite fish sauce, and how analysis of animal manure identified global hotspots for antibiotic-resistance genes.Research Highlight: Ancient DNA helps trace stinky Roman fish sauce to its sourceResearch Highlight: Poo of farm animals teems with drug-resistance genes13:17 Using whale poo to study toxic algae in the ArcticA 19-year experiment sampling bowhead whale faeces reveals a link between warming Arctic waters and increasing levels of toxic algae, researchers say. While climate change is expected to drive increases in the prevalence of harmful algal blooms, long-term data is lacking. To address this, a team worked with indigenous communities to collect and sample whale poo, showing that increases in algal toxins in the Arctic food chain are linked to rising ocean temperatures. The researchers suggest levels of these toxins need to be closely monitored to protect Arctic communities that depend on marine resources for food.Research Article: Lefebvre et al.24:06 Briefing ChatAn object from beyond our solar system has been spotted zipping past Jupiter, and evidence that Neanderthals created ‘fat factories' to extract vital nutrients from animal bones.Nature: Neanderthals boiled bones in ‘fat factories' to enrich their lean dietNature: Rare find: interstellar visitor seen blazing through our Solar SystemSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.