What the Anthropology of Smell Reveals About HumanityDid Margaret Mead Think a Healed Femur Was the Earliest Sign of Civilization?

An anthropologist digs into the origins of a popular story attributed to Margaret Mead about the original sign of civilization.

Living With the Prospect of Assisted Dying

In a culture that valorizes battling for life until the very end, a man diagnosed with ALS grapples with what it means to stop fighting.

Is Donated Blood a Gift or a Commodity?

An anthropologist dives into the morally fraught blood and plasma industry and what it reveals about human societies—the good, the bad, and the gory.

Do Children Need Special Foods?

An anthropologist slices through myths about “picky” eating and the biological necessity of kids’ foods, and reimagines ways to feed future generations.

We Should Talk More About the Abortion Pill

The abortion pill revolutionized activists’ fight for reproductive rights in Ireland in the 2000s—but in the U.S., cultural narratives have been slow to catch up to how medication has transformed abortion access.

Impossible Choices at the Crossroads of Motherhood and Fieldwork

Two anthropologists who’ve conducted fieldwork while being pregnant or new moms bravely share their personal experiences and call for family-friendly work cultures that align with human evolution.

Unmasked: Illustrating COVID-19 in Okoboji

An anthropologist and comic artist collaborated to bring to life the cultural squabbles and social complexities of the first pandemic year in Okoboji, a tourist town in northwest Iowa.

Nurturing Autism Acceptance in Indonesia

Two new films based on ethnographic research follow autistic Indonesian youth and their families as they seek and create new networks of care and support.

Athletics, IQ, Health: Three Myths of Race

An evolutionary biologist and biological anthropologist break down why differences in human athleticism, IQ, and health can’t be explained by the concept of race.