How Scientific Taxonomy Constructed the Myth of Race
Botanist Carl Linnaeus' classification system has been adopted around the globe—but have we adequately reckoned with how his ideas about humans laid the groundwork for scientific racism?
Biology
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Mapping Human and Neanderthal Genomes
The Human Genome Project first published the modern human genome 20 years ago, and the Neanderthal genome was sequenced a little more than a decade ago. What do these maps mean for our understanding of humanity?
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Is Love a Biological Reality?
Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist at the Kinsey Institute and an adviser to the dating site Match.com, studies human mating to explain the mysteries of romance, partnership, and lust.
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Who First Made the Caribbean Home?
An archaeologist recounts collaborations with geneticists to map the 6,000-year ancestry of Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean.
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Time to Rethink Teeth
New research is overturning long-held assumptions about tooth enamel and human diversity.
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The CDC Needs Social Science
Sickness is not just biological—it’s social. That’s why social science should be central to controlling and preventing diseases.