Women are more resilient than men during Army Ranger training…but let’s do go on denying women in the military their earned promotions while simultaneously completely misunderstanding the physiological role & variation of testosterone. Stupidity & cruelty are an incredibly dangerous combination.

Men at Ranger School face greater hormonal changes than women, study finds

Army researchers found that Ranger School had a greater impact on men's hormones and physiological responses than on women in the course.

taskandpurpose.com

What in the gym-bro “science” is this nonsense?

Pentagon chief announces plan to test U.S. troops for low testosterone | CBC News

U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth says new initiative "not about artificial enhancement" as service members have come under scrutiny in recent years for using testosterone and similar substances to b...

cbc.ca

A former student of mine is running across America to raise support for #youth #mentalhealth. If you have some spare money to donate, I know he and the cause would be very grateful: www.gofundme.com/f/help-devon...

Donate to Running Across America: 3,300 Miles for Youth Mental Health, organized by Project RAAM Project RAAM

CLICK HERE TO CONNECT! The Mission: Running To Raise Awar… Project RAAM Project RAAM needs your support for Running Across America: 3,300 Miles for Youth Mental Health

gofundme.com

Hey, #BlueSky - anyone out there themselves or know of someone who has successfully been award an #NIH F31? My graduate student is interested in applying, and I have no experience with this mechanism.

Anthropological research on subsistence is offered in the dangerous and authoritarian “report” on the humanities as a key example of supposed ideological weakening of scholarship. This critique begins to show how the key example cited actually proves the opposite. Let’s go into it in some depth 1/

Academic Authoritarianism in New Attack on Humanities Scholars

There is virtually no evidence offered in the report for its sweeping conclusions about the entirety of the humanities.

insidehighered.com

New Publication! The 9+ month marathon: How pregnancy may have shaped human endurance capacities This was tough to write & a bit terrifying, if I am honest. Fortunately, it is fully open access, so all can read and critique. anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... 1/8

The 9+ month marathon: How pregnancy may have shaped human endurance capacities

Anthropology has long considered the evolution of our uniquely human endurance capacities to be the result of selection upon anatomical and physiological features imposed by the demands of thermoregu...

anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

For me, nothing smells as good as a rainy forest in northern Finland.

New pub! Part review, part hypothesis presentation. Review: the various process that activate and fuel brown fat. Hypothesis: brown fat relies on aerobic & anaerobic metabolism. This was a fun one to write with current & former mentees. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Burning fast & slow: a review of the differential metabolic routes of brown adipose tissue activity during cold exposure and their implications for populational variation - Lipids in Health and Diseas...

Lipids in Health and Disease - Brown adipose tissue (BAT) has received renewed attention for its ability to increase metabolic rate and heat production, via non-shivering thermogenesis, in response...

link.springer.com

Why is the U.S. National Science Foundation important? Why is NSF SBE important? Please share your stories! Use the hashtags #WithoutNSF or #WithoutScience or #WithoutNSFsbe

This is Ding Dong. He is peak orange boi cat. He also resembles an ancient Sumerian statue.

Two posts in a day!!! Not usual for me. But, here is a short, fun piece I co-wrote with @leosapien.bsky.social for @us.theconversation.com on how the weather conditions at this year's Winter Olympics affect athletes' bodies and gear: theconversation.com/winter-olymp...

Winter Olympians often compete in freezing temperatures – physiology and advances in materials science help keep them warm

While physical exertion helps athletes stay warm, sweating can lead to dehydration.

theconversation.com

Have a listen to me talking about my research and wild teaching methods, which does include a unicorn! Thanks to @notredame.bsky.social, Jenna for being so fun to work with, and the whole media crew. fightingfor.nd.edu/podcast/cold...

Cold plunges and unicorns | What would you fight for? | University of Notre Dame

In this episode of Notre Dame Stories, anthropologist Cara Ocobock uses hands-on lessons, extreme cold research, and insights from our evolutionary past to e...

fightingfor.nd.edu

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

Chilled to the bone!

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...

SoS 261: Inclusive language for improving our science with Cindi SturtzSreetharan

In this episode, hosts Chris and Mecca interview Dr. Cindi SturtzSreetharan about language decoding, why inclusive language matters for better science, the importance of clearly defining the terms we

soundcloud.com

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...

SoS 262: Pregnancy Under Pressure with Dr. Kyle Wiley

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Kyle Wiley, Assistant Professor of Sociology & Anthropology at the University of Texas at El Paso, about how social and traumatic stressors during pregnancy become bi

soundcloud.com

Hear me talk about how we biologically and culturally deal with the cold on BBC CrowdScience: www.bbc.com/audio/play/w...

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...

SoS 260: From Collections to Care: Ethics in Bioarchaeology with Molly Zuckerman

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Molly Zuckerman, Professor of Biological Anthropology at Mississippi State University, about ethics, care, and responsibility in bioarchaeology. We discuss her recent

soundcloud.com

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...

SoS 259: A Culturally Adapted Health Intervention in Samoa with Nicola Hawley

Dr. Nicola Hawley is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, where she also holds a secondary appointment in Anthropology. She serves as Associate Director for Diss

soundcloud.com

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...

SoS 258: Maggots on the Menu: Rethinking Hominin Diet with Melanie Beasley

In this fun and “soupy” episode, hosts Cara and Chris chat with Dr. Melanie Beasley about putrefied meat, maggots, stable isotopes, and media attention at the most inconvenient times. Dr. Beasley dire

soundcloud.com

All NSF SBE DDRIG solicitations have been archived and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Grants currently submitted will be processed, but as always, chances of funding remain very low. This means anyone aiming for the upcoming deadline will not be able to submit. 1/3

ICYMI Notre Dame Anthropology will be hiring a post-doc for 2026-2028. This is part of a university-wide initiative to support early career scholars. Deadline is Oct. 31...sorry for late notice. apply.interfolio.com/171503

Me in Halloween form.

“More than half of the work done by women in the period between the 16th and 18th centuries took place outside of the home, and around half of all housework and three-quarters of care work was conducted professionally for other households” [England] phys.org/news/2025-10...

A woman's place was not in the home: Challenging the assumptions about women's work in early modern history

New research has revealed that women played a fundamental role in the development of England's national economy before 1700.

phys.org

The anthropologist was famous for her pioneering research with chimpanzees and her influence on conservation

Jane Goodall, Trailblazing Primatologist and Chimpanzee Conservationist, Has Died

The anthropologist was famous for her pioneering research with chimpanzees and her influence on conservation

scientificamerican.com

New paper out! This was a fun collaboration with Dr. Trent Holliday, Libby Cowgill, and Scott Maddux to work up a broad review on Neanderthal cold adaptations ranging from technological to physiological. This is a good one for teaching. We referred to our collaboration as the "Coldies but Goodies"

Neandertal Cold Adaptation: Technological, Anatomical, and Physiological Responses to Cold Stress in One of Our Closest Fossil Relatives

Neandertals occupied western Eurasia for over 100 000 years, repeatedly enduring climates that ranged from seasonally cold to glacial. This paper reexamines the question of Neandertal cold adaptation...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

📢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...

Student webinar Series: Publishing for Students with Dr. Christopher Bae

YouTube video by Human Biology Association

youtube.com

🎙️ 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...

SoS 250: Jake Aronoff's incredible journey into aging (of immune cells)

Jake Aronoff is a human biologist studying immune function and aging from an evolutionary and ecological perspective. During his PhD, he studied how stress and social inequality impacts inflammation a

soundcloud.com

🎙️ 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.

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 cocobock@nd.edu