The First Story

Origin Stories by Meredith Johnson

Aug 30, 202429:23Science & Medicine

Over 50,000 years ago on what is now the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, someone climbed a towering rock formation and painted a mysterious image on a cave ceiling. The painting shows three half-human, half-animal figures...

Related Episodes

Continue listening to more episodes from Origin Stories.

What Should We Eat? Evolution, Diet, and Health

Sep 29, 2026 - 31:26

What does evolutionary science tell us about what we should eat? In this episode, Harvard paleoanthropolo...

The Not So Naked Ape: The Origins of Clothing

Jul 28, 2026 - 38:38

Humans are the only animals that get dressed every day. Clothing is one of our most important inventions,...

Biruté Mary Galdikas - A Life Among Orangutans

Mar 31, 2026 - 31:28

Biruté Mary Galdikas passed away on March 24, 2026, at the age of 79. She spent more than 50 years studyi...

Top Human Origins Discoveries of 2025

Dec 31, 2025 - 42:15

2025 was another exciting year in human origins research! In this episode, four scientists and Leakey Fou...

Origin Stories x The Science Podcast

Sep 5, 2025 - 38:25

This episode features two stories from the Science Podcast. First, Science writer Ann Gibbons tells the s...

Can a Human Outrun a Horse?

Aug 6, 2025 - 39:01

This is a story about sweat, survival, speed, and the peculiar ways running may have shaped us as humans....

The Origin Story of Origin Stories - 10th Anniversary

Jun 24, 2025 - 36:31

After 10 years of exploring the stories behind breakthrough science, it's time to tell our own origin sto...

The Shanidar Cave Neanderthals

Apr 29, 2025 - 33:46

Shanidar Cave is a unique archaeological site in Kurdistan where scientists found the remains of 10 Neand...