Emma Marris – SAPIENS

New Stories All Stories

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Training

Table of contents

Introduction 0 Why Write for the Public? 1 What to Expect, from Pitch to Publication 2 How to Write a Pitch 3 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 1: Structure 4 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 2: Style 5 Navigating Ethics and Reducing Harms 6 Habits of Thriving Public Anthropologists 7 Cultivating the Craft of Writing 8

Table of contents

Introduction 0 Why Write for the Public? 1 What to Expect, from Pitch to Publication 2 How to Write a Pitch 3 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 1: Structure 4 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 2: Style 5 Navigating Ethics and Reducing Harms 6 Habits of Thriving Public Anthropologists 7 Cultivating the Craft of Writing 8

Amazon hunting - For decades, conservationists have viewed subsistence hunting by Indigenous peoples in the Amazon as a contributing factor to “empty forests”—forests where trees remain but wildlife is all but gone.

essay / Viewpoint

Lessons From a Forgotten Amazonian Slaughter

Emma Marris and Glenn H. Shepard Jr.

Conservationists have long worried about the effects of subsistence hunting on animal populations in the Amazon. But species resilience and local knowledge complicate the story.

anthropologist climate change

“The Anthropologist” Isn’t Another Climate Change Horror Flick

An evocative new film brings the realities of climate change out of Hollywood and into the intimacy of our everyday lives.

Arboreal human ancestors - John Kappelman, an anthropology professor at the University of Texas at Austin, conducted a paleoforensic analysis on Lucy, the celebrated 3.18-million-year-old hominin skeleton. A new study led by Kappelman brings fresh insight into Lucy’s life and death, suggesting that she spent some of her time living in trees.

Iconic Fossil Assigned Probable Cause of Death: A Big Fall

An intriguing new study adds cred to the theory that Lucy and her relatives spent some of their time in trees.

Hobbit hominin evolution

New Discovery Expands the Hobbit Family Tree

Fossil finds are challenging our understanding of the diminutive hominins discovered in Indonesia in 2003.

eating raw meat - Although cooking was important in human evolution, the consumption of a food resembling tartare, finely chopped meat served raw, may have led to big changes in our ancestors’ skeletal features.

Raw Deal

A new study suggests that changes to the head and teeth seen in our early human ancestors could have occurred before cooking—thanks to the invention of chopping raw meat.

neanderthal DNA - Humans and Neanderthals interbred about 50,000–60,000 years ago. The genetic legacy of those liaisons, including possibly depression, is only now coming to light.

I’ve Got the Neanderthal Blues

New research suggests that depression risk, smoking addiction, and other health and cognitive traits may be partially shaped by the Neanderthal DNA that persists in modern humans.