Chris and Mallika sit down with Sean Prall, an Assistant Professor and evolutionary anthropologist at the University of Missouri. His interests center on human health and reproduction, reproductive decision-making, and evolutionary ecology. He examines costs and trade-offs associated with investments in reproduction. He utilizes a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, including anthropometrics, demography, endocrinology, actigraphy, validated health surveys, and dyadic peer ratings, alongside semi-structured demographic interviews and measures of social norms. Sean’s work is inf ..read more

Chris and Mallika chat with Florence Lee, a PhD candidate at the University of Albany (SUNY), to discuss her collaboration with the Akwasane Task Force on the Environment. Their work investigates pollutant exposure and autoimmunity in Akwesasne Mohawk women. In this episode, Florence discusses the biological consequences of a century of DDT and PCB contamination along the St. Lawrence River for the indigenous women who continue to live there. ------------------------------ Find the publication discussed in today’s episode here: “Associations between autoimmune dysfunction and pollutants in Akw ..read more

Elizabeth Holdsworth, PhD, joins the Sausage of Science to chat about her new paper titled “Maternal–infant interaction quality is associated with child NR3C1 CpG site methylation at 7 years of age.” The paper can be found at the AJHB website here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajhb.23876 ------------------------------------- Dr. Elizabeth Holdsworth is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Meehan lab at Washington State University. Elizabeth is a researcher of mother-infant relationships, infant growth, and the early life origins of health. She received her PhD in Anthropolog ..read more

Chris and Mallika bring back repeat offender Dr. Stephanie Levy an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at Hunter College, a faculty member at the CUNY Graduate Center Department of Anthropology, and a core faculty member of the New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology (NYCEP). Dr. Levy returns to catch us up on her recent work in human energetics, biological adaptation, circumpolar populations, seasonality, social influences on health disparities, cardiometabolic health, and climate change. She graciously shares her experiences and research as a co-PI on the Indigenous ..read more

Alicia DeLouize, PhD candidate at the University of Oregon, joins Sausage of Science to chat about minimally invasive biomarkers, cancer, and why "Aging is an Earth thing" (maybe). ------------------------------------- Alicia M. DeLouize is a PhD candidate in Biological Anthropology with previous experience in psychology, oncology, and translational research. She specializes in global health, human evolutionary biology, and applied statistics. Her research focuses on the evolutionary and environmental underpinings of physiological systems, including aging, metabolism, the immune system, cancer ..read more

Chris and Mallika check in with Dr. Crystal Patil, (Ph.D. Anthropology from Ohio State University) whose research focuses on how the social world becomes embodied and expressed as health, illness, or suffering. The motivation for her research stems from a concern for social justice. Her research draws on ecological and social determinants frameworks to make sense of complex health-related problems. She applies these models as she develops and tests strategies to reduce health disparities and strengthen health systems both in the USA and in sub-Saharan Africa. Her mentoring focuses on fostering ..read more

In this episode, Mallika and Chris chat with Dr. Jason DeCaro, Professor and Chair of the University of Alabama's Anthropology Department. Dr. DeCaro studies the intersection of cultural models, everyday practices, and human physiology in the production of differential well-being across the life course, especially but not exclusively focusing on children. His Developmental Ecology and Human Biology Lab is a biological anthropology "wet lab" providing a center within the department for biocultural research involving immunological, endocrine, nutritional, and other biological markers. His recent ..read more

What happens when hypercapitalism intersects with human fertility? Professor Diane Tober joins Chris and Mallika to reveal some of the nuances of Assisted Reproductive Technologies, with a focus on egg donation. ------------------------------------- Diane Tober is Associate Professor at the University of Alabama Department of Anthropology and Institute for Social Science Research. She is a medical anthropologist with a focus on biocultural aspects of health, gender and sexuality, the commodification of the body, science and technology studies, bioethics, and social and reproductive justice. Sh ..read more

Welcome Sausage of Science's newest host Dr. Mallika S. Sarma! Mallika joins Chris as co-host while Cara is out on sabbatical. In this episode, Mallika and Chris chat with Dr. Paula Tallman about several aspects of water insecurity, notably an important overlap with gender-based violence. Dr. Paula Skye Tallman is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Loyola University Chicago. Her research examines the drivers of health inequities among marginalized populations in South America and Southeast Asia, with a focus on connecting this scholarship to environmental and social policy. Dr. Tallman ..read more

On this show Dr. Asher Rosinger joins Cara and Chris to discuss his new paper in the American Journal of Human Biology (AJHB) titled “Cross-cultural variation in thirst perception in hot-humid and hot-arid environments: Evidence from two small-scale populations.” Dr. Rosinger’s paper is available here:  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajhb.23715  For more insight on this topic please see the upcoming AJHB special issue on Extreme Climatic Events and Human Biology and Health, which will be released in January and ties into the theme of thirst and extreme thermal environmen ..read more