On this Monday episode, Ella Beaudoin (The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History Human Origins Program) talks about a whole range of topics: science communication with diverse and religious publics, evolutionary anthropology as a discipline and fieldwork experiences at Koobi Fora in northern Kenya.

Why is it important for students and teachers in more religiously conservative parts of the United States to be aware of how evolutionary mechanisms work? What is Ella’s favorite object that she has held and studied in her time out in the field? What are some of the challenging situations or comments that science communicators grapple with sometimes and how does Ella address these in her role at the Museum? What are some of the most exciting discoveries in palaeoanthropology this past year?

Find Ella’s episode below, or subscribe to our RSS feed. You can also listen on Spotify, Stitcher, iTunes or anywhere else you typically find podcasts!

Show notes

If you want to get in touch with Ella to share questions or thoughts, you can find her on Twitter and Instagram. More information on the Human Origins Program can be found at their website.

Ella, along with her colleague, Dr. Briana Pobiner, have written two articles mentioned on the episode. In preparation for the 2019 version coming out soon, they are: Top 5 Human Evolution Discoveries of 2017 and Top 6 Human Evolution Discoveries of 2018.

You can find Michael on Twitter and Instagram.

The Arch and Anth Podcast is on Twitter and Instagram, and it has a Facebook page.

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