A conversation about what makes us human, paleontological time machines and bigging up science education with Dr. Briana Pobiner

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This episode features paleoanthropologist and science educator Dr. Briana Pobiner.

Briana works in the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. She is also Associate Research Professor in the Department of Anthropology at George Washington University. 

Briana’s anthropological research focuses on understanding the human diet, and changes therein over the past few million years. Her work on science education and communication focuses on promoting understanding of evolution through examples from our own bushy branches of the evolutionary family tree. 

In the interview, we cover a range of topics including:

• the question "what makes us human?"
• reconstructing the diets of our ancestors using paleontological 'time machines'
• ancient hominins sharing the savannas - and food? - with ancient carnivores
• busting some common myths, like the idea of linear evolution and the 'paleodiet'
• balancing doing, teaching and communicating science to broad audiences
• how to go about becoming a strong communicator of scientific ideas
• being a mom in the field with kids

There is so much in this interview for everyone, and we couldn't be happier to be sharing it on The PrimateCast. 

Here are a few links to help you learn more about Briana Pobiner and her work:

• Briana's professional bio
• Briana's research website
• Answer the question "what does it mean to be human" yourself on the Smithsonian Human Origins Program’s website 
• A brilliant 2016 paper on accepting, understanding, teaching and learning evolution in the US
• Briana's academic page on GWU's website

Photo Credit: Smithsonian

The PrimateCast is hosted and produced by Andrew MacIntosh. Artwork by Chris Martin. Music by Andre Goncalves.

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