Podcast appearances and mentions of rick potts

The scientists said their new findings on the mixing and mating of the groups suggested the activities happened a little more recently than thought in the past. They believe the contact continued over many generations. 科学家们表示，他们关于这些群体混合和交配的新发现表明，这些活动发生的时间比过去想象的要晚一些。他们相信这种接触持续了好几代人。Priya Moorjani was co-writer of the study appearing in Science. She is an assistant professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley. She told Reuters, “Genetic data from these samples really helps us paint a picture in more and more detail.” Priya Moorjani 是发表在《科学》杂志上的这项研究的合著者。她是加州大学伯克利分校分子和细胞生物学助理教授。她告诉路透社，“这些样本的基因数据确实帮助我们越来越详细地描绘了一幅图景。” The team noted that it is difficult to know the exact nature of the interactions between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals based on the examined data. The researchers also could not confirm exactly where the mixing and mating happened. However, they believe it was most likely somewhere in the Middle East. 研究小组指出，根据检查的数据很难了解智人和尼安德特人之间相互作用的确切性质。研究人员也无法确定混合和交配发生的确切位置。然而，他们认为它很可能在中东某个地方。 The researchers noted most modern humans still have genetic material from Neanderthals that accounts for an estimated one to two percent of their DNA. They said modern-day genetic traits linked to skin color, hair color and even nose shape can relate back to the Neanderthals. Our genetic makeup also includes links to another group of human ancestors called Denisovans. 研究人员指出，大多数现代人类仍然拥有来自尼安德特人的遗传物质，估计占其 DNA 的百分之一到百分之二。他们说，与肤色、头发颜色甚至鼻子形状相关的现代遗传特征可以追溯到尼安德特人。我们的基因构成还包括与另一群人类祖先（丹尼索瓦人）的联系。 Moorjani noted that the history of Neanderthals living outside Africa for thousands of years likely gave them a greater ability to deal with climate and diseases in new environments. “Some of their genes may have been beneficial to modern humans,” she added. 穆尔贾尼指出，尼安德特人在非洲以外生活了数千年的历史可能使他们在新环境中应对气候和疾病的能力更强。“它们的一些基因可能对现代人类有益，”她补充道。 Rick Potts is director of the Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins program. He was not involved in the new research. Potts told The Associated Press he hopes future genetic studies can help scientists learn even more details about the interactions of Neanderthals and modern humans. 里克·波茨 (Rick Potts) 是史密森学会人类起源项目的主任。他没有参与这项新研究。波茨告诉美联社，他希望未来的基因研究能够帮助科学家了解更多关于尼安德特人和现代人类相互作用的细节。 He said, “Out of many really compelling areas of scientific investigation, one of them is: well, who are we?” 他说：“在许多真正引人注目的科学研究领域中，其中之一是：嗯，我们是谁？”

Our very ancient animal ancestors had tails. Why don't we have them now?我们非常古老的动物祖先有尾巴。为什么我们现在没有它们？ From the time of Charles Darwin, a scientist from the 1800s who studied evolutionary biology, scientists have questioned why and how this happened. 从 1800 年代研究进化生物学的科学家查尔斯·达尔文 (Charles Darwin) 时代起，科学家们就一直质疑这种现象为何以及如何发生。 The answer is somewhere around 20 million or 25 million years ago. That was the time apes, the group of animals humans are part of, split from another animal group, monkeys. During that split, our branch of the tree of life lost its tail. 答案是大约 2000 万或 2500 万年前。那时，猿猴是人类的动物群体，与另一个动物群体猴子分开。在那次分裂中，我们生命之树的树枝失去了尾巴。Now, scientists have identified at least one of the genetic differences that led to this change. 现在，科学家们已经确定了至少一个导致这一变化的遗传差异。 “We found a single mutation in a very important gene,” said Bo Xia. He is a geneticist at the Broad Institute and helped write the study recently released in the publication Nature. “我们在一个非常重要的基因中发现了一个突变，”夏波说。他是布罗德研究所的遗传学家，并帮助撰写了最近在《自然》杂志上发表的这项研究。 The researchers compared the genomes of six kinds of apes, including humans, and 15 kinds of monkeys with tails to find important differences between the groups. Once they identified an important mutation, they tested their theory by using the gene-editing tool CRISPR. They used it to change the same place in embryos of an animal often used in laboratories, mice. Those mice were born without tails. 研究人员比较了包括人类在内的六种猿类和 15 种有尾巴的猴子的基因组，以发现这些群体之间的重要差异。一旦他们发现了一个重要的突变，他们就使用基因编辑工具 CRISPR 测试了他们的理论。他们用它来改变实验室常用动物——小鼠——胚胎中的同一位置。这些老鼠生来就没有尾巴。 Xia said, however, that other genetic changes may also play a part in losing tails. 不过，夏说，其他基因变化也可能是导致尾巴脱落的原因之一。 Another mystery: Did having no tails help these ape ancestors – and eventually, humans – survive? Or was it just a chance mutation in a population that survived for other reasons? 另一个谜团：没有尾巴是否有助于这些猿类祖先以及最终人类的生存？或者这只是由于其他原因幸存下来的种群中的偶然突变？ “It could be random chance, but it could have brought a big evolutionary advantage,” said Miriam Konkel. She is an evolutionary geneticist at Clemson University, who was not involved in the study. “这可能是随机的机会，但它可能带来巨大的进化优势，”米里亚姆·康克尔说。她是克莱姆森大学的进化遗传学家，没有参与这项研究。As to why having no tails may have helped our ancestors, there are many interesting theories. They include some that link being tailless to learning to walk upright. 至于为什么没有尾巴可能对我们的祖先有帮助，有很多有趣的理论。其中一些将无尾与学习直立行走联系起来。 Rick Potts directs the Human Origins Project of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. He was not involved in the research. Potts suggests being tailless may have been a first step toward some apes standing upright, even before they left the trees. 里克·波茨 (Rick Potts) 是华盛顿特区史密森尼学会人类起源项目的负责人。他没有参与这项研究。波茨认为，无尾可能是一些猿类直立站立的第一步，甚至在它们离开树林之前也是如此。 Not all apes live on the ground today. Orangutans and gibbons are tailless apes that still live in trees. But Potts notes that they move very differently than monkeys, who move along the tops of branches, using their tails for balance. Those apes hang below branches, holding onto the branches with their arms while hanging largely upright. 今天，并非所有猿类都生活在地面上。猩猩和长臂猿是仍然生活在树上的无尾猿。但波茨指出，它们的移动方式与猴子非常不同，猴子沿着树枝顶部移动，用尾巴来保持平衡。这些猿类悬挂在树枝下方，用手臂抓住树枝，同时基本上直立悬挂。 New York University biologist Itai Yanai helped write the study. He said that losing our tails was clearly a large change. But the only way to truly know the reason “would be to invent a time machine,” he said. 纽约大学生物学家 Itai Yanai 帮助撰写了这项研究。他说，失去尾巴显然是一个很大的变化。但他说，真正了解原因的唯一方法“就是发明一台时间机器”。

Studies using swabs from coronavirus patients seem to contradict earlier findings from cell cultures which showed Omicon replicated faster than earlier variants. As Benjamin Meyer from the centre for Vaccinology at the University of Geneva, explains there may be other reasons why omicron is spreading faster not just how quickly it reproduces. Predicting how the pandemic will develop is not possible, however predicting what individual mutations in the virus may develop and the impact they might have individually and collectively is getting closer, Cyrus Maher and Amalio Telenti of the biotech company Vir, have developed a way to model potential future viral mutations which they hope will now be used by many scientists worldwide looking to understand the virus. There are concerns that other viruses may be on the rise, bird flu in particular, which as Nicola Lewis of the Royal Veterinary College explains is now spreading to part of the world where it is not usually seen, and infecting other animals as well as birds. And we've news of a massive collection of nests – at the bottom of the sea, Deep sea Ecologist Autun Perser describes how he found them in Antarctica. Also, Are big heads smarter? We live in a world where bigger is often seen as better - and the size of someone's brain is no exception. But a listener in Nairobi wants to know, does size really matter when it comes to grey matter? CrowdScience presenter Marnie Chesterton is on a mission to find out if the physical attributes of our head and brain can tell us anything about what's going on inside. We certainly thought so in the past. In the 1800s, phrenology – determining someone's characteristics by their skull shape – was very fashionable and curator Malcolm MacCallum gives us a tour of the extensive phrenological collection of death masks and skulls in Edinburgh's anatomy museum. It's a 'science' that's now been completely debunked. Yet there's no escaping the fact that over our evolutionary history, human brain size has increased dramatically alongside our cognitive capabilities. But is it the whole story? Rick Potts, Director of the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian tells of the point in time when human brains expanded the most; a time when the climate was changing, resources were unreliable and the intelligence to be adaptable might mean the difference between life and death. Adaptability is also key to Professor Wendy Johnson's definition of intelligence, although she points out that IQ test, flawed as they are, are still the best predictor we have for intelligence… and that, yes, there is a weak correlation between having a larger head, and doing better at IQ tests. Why is that? We don't know, says Dr Stuart Ritchie from KCL. According to him, neuroscientists are only in the foothills of understanding how a physical difference in the brain might underpin a person's psychology. But researching this could offer valuable insights into how our amazing brains work. (Image: Getty Images)

We live in a world where bigger is often seen as better - and the size of someone's brain is no exception. But a listener in Nairobi wants to know, does size really matter when it comes to grey matter? CrowdScience presenter Marnie Chesterton is on a mission to find out if the physical attributes of our head and brain can tell us anything about what's going on inside. We certainly thought so in the past. In the 1800s, phrenology – determining someone's characteristics by their skull shape – was very fashionable and curator Malcolm MacCallum gives us a tour of the extensive phrenological collection of death masks and skulls in Edinburgh's anatomy museum. It's a 'science' that's now been completely debunked. Yet there's no escaping the fact that over our evolutionary history, human brain size has increased dramatically alongside our cognitive capabilities. But is it the whole story? Rick Potts, Director of the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian tells of the point in time when human brains expanded the most; a time when the climate was changing, resources were unreliable and the intelligence to be adaptable might mean the difference between life and death. Adaptability is also key to Professor Wendy Johnson's definition of intelligence, although she points out that IQ test, flawed as they are, are still the best predictor we have for intelligence… and that, yes, there is a weak correlation between having a larger head, and doing better at IQ tests. Why is that? We don't know, says Dr Stuart Ritchie from KCL. According to him, neuroscientists are only in the foothills of understanding how a physical difference in the brain might underpin a person's psychology. But researching this could offer valuable insights into how our amazing brains work. [Image: Brain being measured. Credit: Getty Images]

Rick Potts has always had an interest in origins. As a kid, exploring the origins of musical instruments and the solar system fascinated him. In high school he stumbled upon the study of human origins; he has not stopped investigating since. Dr. Potts tells Jim stories of excavations in China and southern Kenya and of people encountering the exhibit on Human Origins around the US. Reverberating throughout their conversation is the question, ‘What does it mean to be human?' Find out more about the Hall of Human Origins on the Smithsonian website. This episode originally aired on May 30, 2019 Join a conversation about this episode on the BioLogos Forum.

We're back for season two and we want to know how science communication makes you feel. Empathy is the name of the game this season, as we explore why research sometimes makes people angry, why emotional connections lead to greater understanding, and why we should never forget about hope. We've all had those frustrating conversations about whether or not the facts are the facts. Whether arguing over evidence feels like an interrogation or makes you feel like screaming into a pillow, our guests Naomi Oreskes, author of Why Trust Science, Rick Potts, Director of the Smithsonian's Human Origins Program, and Jim Hilbert, of the Expert Witness Training Academy, have tips to help you win over your critics. Presented by Mary-Ann Ochota and Professor Danielle George. Produced by Listen Entertainment. 

Rick Potts has always had an interest in origins. As a kid, exploring the origins of musical instruments and the solar system fascinated him. In high school he stumbled upon the study of human origins; he has not stopped investigating since. Dr. Potts tells Jim stories of excavations in China and southern Kenya and of people encountering the exhibit on Human Origins around the US. Reverberating throughout their conversation is the question, ‘What does it mean to be human?’ Dr. Rick Potts is a paleoanthropologist and curator of the Hall of Human Origins at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Before coming to the Smithsonian in 1985, he received his Ph.D. in biological anthropology from Harvard University and taught anthropology at Yale University. He has lead excavations throughout the East African Rift Valley as well as in southern and northern China. His research focuses on human adaptation to environmental change. Find a conversation about this episode at the BioLogos Forum.

Rick Potts of the Smithsonian Institution addresses how climate instability affected the evolution of human adaptability. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 29690]

Rick Potts of the Smithsonian Institution addresses how climate instability affected the evolution of human adaptability. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 29690]

This symposium presents varied perspectives from earth scientists, ecologists, and paleoanthropologists on how climate may have shaped human evolution, as well as the prospects for the future of world climate, ecosystems, and our species with Peter deMenocal on African Climate Change and Human Evolution, followed by Jean-Jacques Hublin on The Climatic Framework of Neandertal Evolution, and Rick Potts on Climate Instability and the Evolution of Human Adaptability. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 29683]

This symposium presents varied perspectives from earth scientists, ecologists, and paleoanthropologists on how climate may have shaped human evolution, as well as the prospects for the future of world climate, ecosystems, and our species with Peter deMenocal on African Climate Change and Human Evolution, followed by Jean-Jacques Hublin on The Climatic Framework of Neandertal Evolution, and Rick Potts on Climate Instability and the Evolution of Human Adaptability. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 29683]

The Incident Report, Episode 13, Jane King – Snake Story. This is the spring installment of the Incident Report. Since nothing says spring quite like snakes, we invited Jane King to tell a snake story. Jane is simply fabulous. We will hear more from Jane in future Installments. The soundtrack was composed and executed by our man about sound, Rick Potts. The song that opens and closes the segment is called Artforms in Nature. It appears on Rick’s CD, Labyrinthitis. Learn more about Rick here: http://www.lafms.com and here: http://rickpotts.drupalgardens.com Illustration is by Nib Geebles, Abira Ali and Eliza Henderson.

The Incident Report, Episode 12, Rick Potts – Cat Food. In this episode, Incident Report coconspirator Rick Potts, gets up, feeds the cat and goes to work. Rick composed a stellar soundtrack to accompany this report. You can find out more about Rick’s activities here: http://www.lafms.com and here: http://rickpotts.drupalgardens.com The illustration is by Nib Geebles, Abira Ali and Eliza Henderson.

The Incident Report, Episode 8, Jessica Lee Williamson – What’s with the Neighbors? “When it comes to silver linings, there’s nothing like a meth lab to bring a community together.” In this episode the voice of our collective conscience, Jessica Lee Williamson, and her neighbors unite. The episode is scored by Rick Potts. Illustration by Abira Ali, Gordon Henderson and Eliza Henderson.

Rick Potts (Smithsonian Institution) suggests that the complexity of climate dynamics, and associated resource uncertainty, likely influenced the evolution of adaptive versatility in our species, expressed by the expansion of mobile technologies, symbolism, social networks, and behavioral diversity. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 25390]

Rick Potts (Smithsonian Institution) suggests that the complexity of climate dynamics, and associated resource uncertainty, likely influenced the evolution of adaptive versatility in our species, expressed by the expansion of mobile technologies, symbolism, social networks, and behavioral diversity. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 25390]

One of the enduring questions of human origins is when, where and how we "Behaviorally Modern Humans" emerged and why and how we eventually replaced all the other human-like species. This series takes a fresh look at the situation today with a critical examination of the available evidence from multiple sources. Rick Potts (Smithsonian Institution) leads off with a talk about African Climate of the Last 400,000 Years, followed by Alison S. Brooks (George Washington Univ/Smithsonian Institution) on East African Archaeological Evidence, and Lyn Wadley (Univ of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg) on South African Archaeological Evidence. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 24970]

One of the enduring questions of human origins is when, where and how we "Behaviorally Modern Humans" emerged and why and how we eventually replaced all the other human-like species. This series takes a fresh look at the situation today with a critical examination of the available evidence from multiple sources. Rick Potts (Smithsonian Institution) leads off with a talk about African Climate of the Last 400,000 Years, followed by Alison S. Brooks (George Washington Univ/Smithsonian Institution) on East African Archaeological Evidence, and Lyn Wadley (Univ of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg) on South African Archaeological Evidence. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 24970]

Rick Potts links high climate variability across 5 million years in East Africa and the ways early humans used their surroundings to human adaptability to environmental change. Both all the genera that essentially define the human evolutionary tree, and all the major changes in stone technology are associated with periods of high climate variability.