In this episode, An-Di Yim (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) talks to us about his PhD research looking into the various environmental and genetic factors that contribute to skeletal growth and skeletal form before human adulthood.

What is the ‘population genetics’ approach and how can anthropologists use it to quantify the degrees to which various evolutionary influences affect skeletal growth? Why do some children and teenagers have shorter or longer limbs than others across the world, and do juvenile skeletons globally exhibit these trends right from birth? How does An-Di combine data from forensic samples, genome databases, and archaeological material from different world populations, in his analyses?

We also talk about teaching biological anthropology, as well An-Di’s previous work interning and going out into the field practicing forensic anthropology in real-world situations. Being both from East Asia, Michael shares his impressions of biological anthropology in Hong Kong, while An-Di talks about Taiwanese anthropology, both with an eye of improving the representation of East and Southeast Asian sketal samples in future anthropological work.

Hear what An-Di has to say by pressing ‘Play’ on the episode below. You can also subscribe to our RSS feed, or find us on Spotify, Stitcher, iTunes or anywhere else you typically find podcasts!

Show notes

If you have feedback or questions for An-Di, you can find him on Twitter and on his website.

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