The Big Picture: From the Origin of Life to the Rise of Humans ~ Tim Coulson
Welcome to the first episode of the Origins of Humankind! In this sweeping pilot, we cover the entire planetary backstory of human existence – from the origins of life to the climate change that kicks...
25 Mar 20251h 4min
Trailer | Origins of Humankind
Where do we come from? How did we get here? What kind of creature are we?The science of human origins has made great progress in answering these timeless questions. From carbon isotopes to ancient DNA...
24 Mar 20252min
What About India? Part II: Success and Stagnation In the World’s Largest Democracy ~ Bishnupriya Gupta
India’s history isn’t just the story of one nation—it’s the story of one-sixth of humanity. It’s also a lens for understanding how colonialism, democracy, and globalization shaped the modern world. Th...
24 Feb 202530min
What About India? Part I: Mughals, British, and the Causes of Poverty ~ Bishnupriya Gupta
Following the success of last year’s What About China -trilogy, I’m delighted to introduce a two-part series on the economic history of India. This series examines the origins of modern India by foc...
14 Feb 20251h 7min
Why Patriarchy? Foragers, Farmers, and the Origins of Gender Inequality ~ Angarika Deb
Why are history books so full of men? Why have so many societies treated women as property? In short, why is patriarchy so pervasive?A casual thinker might find an easy answer from biology. Men tend t...
28 Jan 202554min
Bonus | Evolution Beyond the Selfish Gene (with Eva Jablonka)
“We are survival machines – robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes.” - Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene In 1976, Richard Dawkins published one of the mos...
16 Jan 202519min
Bonus | The Real Lessons From The World Happiness Report (with Lara Aknin)
Each year, the World Happiness Report ranks countries based on their citizen's life satisfaction. My home country, Finland, tends to come at the top. Sure. But lessons can we draw from all this? Beyon...
9 Jan 202516min
Bonus | Some Myths About Human Mating (with Katie Starkweather)
Many traditional societies accept polygyny (one man, many wives). Monogamy, too, is practised across the globe. But what about polyandry — one woman, many husbands? Is this a "dubious idea" as sometim...
5 Jan 202511min
