🎙️ New podcast episode! Chris Lynn and Courtney Manthey talk with Seth Quintus, Pacific Island archaeologist and professor at the University of Hawai‘i.

🎙️ New podcast episode! Courtney Manthey and Chris Lynn sit down with Stephen McGarvey, Professor Emeritus at Brown University and 2025 Franz Boas Distinguished Achievement Award recipient from the Human Biology Association.

Testosterone decline with age and adiposity is often considered “normal” based on high-income population studies. However, this pattern may not reflect testosterone variation across diverse socio-ecological conditions.

Childbirth has long been assumed to be the key threat to women’s survival in ancient societies. This study confirms that reproductive women in Tang Dynasty China (618–907 CE) died significantly earlier, but it also shows that biology is only part of the story.

Child development is biocultural, meaning both genetics and environment shape life history outcomes.

The study aimed to assess the changes (in the two decades of 21st century), in the skinfold thickness and fat distribution in children and adolescents (aged 8-18) from Kraków, Poland.

How do genetics, history, and politics shape human variation? 🧬🌍 Cara and Chris talk with Dr. Theodore “Tad” Schurr about genetic prehistory, evolving bioethics, and new approaches to understanding human diversity across time and place. 🎧 soundcloud.com/sausageofsci...

Chris Lynn and Courtney Manthey talk with Dr. Kyle Wiley about how stress and trauma during pregnancy become biologically embedded, shaping maternal and infant health across generations. 🎧 soundcloud.com/sausageofsci...

How does language shape science, identity, and health? 🗣️🧠 Chris and Mecca talk with Dr. Cindi SturtzSreetharan about inclusive language, ethnography, masculinity, and how everyday talk produces stigma around bodies and health. 🎧 soundcloud.com/sausageofsci...

Our world is marked by deep geopolitical sorrow — from Gaza to Sudan and Ukraine — with trauma that echoes across generations. New research explores how war-related trauma can be transmitted epigenetically, shaping lives long after conflict ends.

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Molly Zuckerman about ethics, care, and responsibility in bioarchaeology, from restoring personhood to human remains to navigating ethical challenges in the field. 🎧 soundcloud.com/sausageofsci...

The SCRIBE (SystematiC Reviews In Biocultural rEsearch) Toolkit provides a structured, accessible framework for integrating biocultural perspectives into scoping and systematic reviews.

Dr. Nicola Hawley bridges epidemiology, anthropology, and global health to improve maternal and child health in Sāmoa and beyond. A leader in community-engaged research! 🌺📊 soundcloud.com/sausageofsci...

Putrefied meat, maggots, and stable isotopes, oh my! 🧪💀 Cara and Chris chat with Dr. Melanie Beasley about forensic isotopes, media chaos, and the anthropology of tomorrow. 🎧 soundcloud.com/sausageofsci...

Ever wonder why children are vulnerable to skeletal tuberculosis?  Or why ovulation or depression might lead to latent tuberculosis reactivation?

New episode: Cecilia Padilla Iglesias discusses nomads, genomes, and mobility in human evolution. soundcloud.com/sausageofsci...

Chris Lynn and Courtney Manthey interview Dr. Larry Schell on urban stress, PCBs, lead, and health in Akwesasne. soundcloud.com/sausageofsci...

Sausage of Science dives into pica in pregnancy with Dr. Leila Larson, from Malawi research to new U.S. studies. soundcloud.com/sausageofsci...

The study demonstrates how social and economic change in Russia influenced adult height for cohorts born between 1966 and 2000, and projects continued increases through 2050. These findings underscore the lasting impact of living conditions on human growth. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

This 2-year follow-up study examined the impact of different sports on changes in handgrip strength (HGS) during development and found that kendo athletes who use bamboo swords showed greater improvements in HGS than soccer players, who do not rely on gripping for their sport.

Check out this Student Webinar! Courtney Callidora Manthey and Madison Honig chat with Dr. Josh Snodgrass about navigating fieldwork as graduate students. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJo8...

New Student Webinar! Dr. Eric Shattuck, an Assistant Professor at Florida State University, sits down with Courtney Callidora Manthey and Madison Honig to talk about submitting abstracts to the Human Biology Association. www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRKT...

A pioneer in Evolutionary Anthropology, Jane B. Lancaster (1935–2025) integrated primatology with human evolution. She did groundbreaking work on sex roles, parental investment, and life history strategies. She also founded the journal Human Nature. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

[new paper alert!!]. Taking another look at the traditional Out of Africa I model… 😎😎 @courtneymanthey.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

🎥 Dr. Bill Leonard, editor of the American Journal of Human Biology, joins hosts Madison Honig and Courtney Callidora Manthey to discuss publishing in academia, from navigating peer review to building a strong research career. 👉 Watch now on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Pzf...

Chris and Courtney sit down with Dr. Sofía Pacheco-Fores, a bioarchaeologist whose research explores migration and violence in ancient Mexico using biogeochemical approaches. 🔗 soundcloud.com/sausageofscience/sos-254-a-biogeochemical-approach-to-migration-and-violence-with-sofia-pacheco-flores

Chris and Courtney sit down with Dr. Sofía Pacheco-Fores, a bioarchaeologist whose research explores migration and violence in ancient Mexico using biogeochemical approaches. 🔗 soundcloud.com/sausageofscience/sos-254-a-biogeochemical-approach-to-migration-and-violence-with-sofia-pacheco-flores

In Memoriam We honor the legacy of Dr. Gretel H. Pelto — a pioneering matriarch of applied nutritional and medical anthropology. Her work continues to inspire generations of scholars dedicated to understanding the intersections of food, health, and culture.

Our study analyzed over 47,000 births in Jujuy, Argentina, to explore how geographical altitude shapes newborn body composition. We found that babies born at high altitude had less fat mass and body fat percentage, but more fat-free mass, compared with those born at lower altitude.

New Sausage of Science! This week, Chris and Cara talk with Dr. Josh Brahinsky, a researcher at UC Berkeley’s Social Interaction Lab and teaching faculty at UC Santa Cruz, whose work bridges anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience. soundcloud.com/sausageofsci...

In our newly published systematic review in the American Journal of Human Biology, we explore the association between the 2D:4D digit ratio—a proposed marker of prenatal androgen exposure—and cardiometabolic risk factors such as obesity, blood pressure, lipid profiles, and metabolic syndrome.

How do gendered social inequalities shape how bodies develop? This article uses the case of Aussie Rules football to show how gender disparities accumulate across the athlete lifecourse, resulting in entirely different developmental pathways for women and men and shaping ACL injury risk.

📢The Student Webinar Series is back! Join Courtney Callidora Manthey and Madison Honig as they kick off the season with Dr. Christopher Bae (University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa) for a conversation on publishing as a grad student. Don’t miss this great start to the series! www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHmE...

This paper by Luis Alberto Flores and colleagues examined differences in somatic maturation status among Mexican children and adolescents across geographic regions of the country, considering SES and their association with body mass index (BMI)-based overweight and obesity.

This article revisits “Field and Laboratory Methods in Human Milk Research” published in 2013 in AJHB. In it, we celebrate +10 years of milk research in the journal, as part of the 50th anniversary of the Human Biology Association.

🎙️ New Episode Alert! This week we sit down with Jake Aronoff, a human biologist exploring the intersections of immune function, aging, and inequality. soundcloud.com/sausageofsci...

Parallel Editorials in the AJHB & AHB on addressing current threats to research & global engagement in human biology. doi.org/10.1002/ajhb... doi.org/10.1080/0301...

According to the current study, newborns who had antenatally detected hydronephrosis, which is often temporary, showed a significant association with their digit ratio (the length of the index finger relative to the ring finger), an indirect marker of prenatal androgen exposure.

New Sausage of Science episode! Dr. Luisa María Rivera is a critical biocultural anthropologist whose work examines how social inequality, trauma, and structural violence shape reproductive and maternal–infant health. Listen Here: soundcloud.com/sausageofsci...

The paper “Son preference and 3rd birth interval comparative analysis of polygynous vs monogamous families in Pakistan” investigates the influence of son preference on fertility behavior, with a specific focus on birth intervals and the sex composition of existing children,

This study was conducted to determine whether potential allometries in hand digit lengths affect the observed sexual dimorphism in digit ratios.

Extreme climatic events pose threats to livelihoods and health. This new study demonstrates how chronic stress measured via fingernail cortisol and high levels of water insecurity were associated with greater levels of inflammation during a historic 2022 drought in northern Kenya.

In this study in a rural Maya community from Yucatan, we showed that rapid integration into market economy favour larger secular increases in children's BMI and smaller increases in height. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

🎙️ New Sausage of Science Episode! Meet Leela McKinnon, PhD Candidate in Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Toronto. Her research explores sleep health in Indigenous Wixárika communities in Jalisco, Mexico—focusing on how rural-to-urban migration impacts sleep and circadian rhythms.

15 year AJHB retrospective on intergenerational effects of racism on CVD: Kuzawa & Sweet propose a new “push-pull” model decoupling health effects of racism from birth weight. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Height of men of the German Armed Forces born between 1865 and 1975 was correlated with indicators of economic prosperity (GDP), nutrition, infant mortality, income inequality and household wealth share. Before 1916, average height increased by 0.45 mm/year, between 1916 and 1933 by 2.15 mm/year

HBA is recruiting a Junior Service Fellow (Assistant Producer) for “The Sausage of Science.” 🗣️ Bilingual EN/ES required 🕒 ~6 hrs/mo | 🎧 Edit + schedule + show notes + social 💸 $750 HBA travel grant Training provided. Apply: email interest + CV + adviser letter to [email protected]

This study explores how bone microanatomy can reflect early developmental changes in perinatal remains from past populations. By analyzing humeral cross-sections from nine selected individuals, including three recovered from maternal-fetal burials, researchers identified microstructural

Season 9 starts NOW! New Sausage of Science episode! Chris Lynn and Courtney Manthey sit down with Dr. Haley Ragsdale to discuss intergenerational signals of matrilineal experience. soundcloud.com/sausageofsci...

New perspective on the maternal capital hypothesis reviews evidence on how societal stresses inflict penalties on maternal phenotype that are transmitted to the offspring, and shows how interventions can benefit both mothers and infants.