Origin Stories x The Science Podcast

This episode features two stories from the Science Podcast. First, Science writer Ann Gibbons tells the story of three ancient hominin species that lived side-by-side in South Africa's Cradle of Humankind. Then, anthropologist Melanie Beasley discusses her new study on why chemical signals in Neanderthal teeth and bones make them look like hypercarnivores. Her research suggests they were just eating a lot of maggots! Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to funding human origins research and sharing discoveries. The Science podcast is a weekly show from the journal Science and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Search for Science Magazine in any podcasting app to

You can listen to Origin Stories x The Science Podcast online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Origin Stories x The Science Podcast is an episode from Origin Stories by Meredith Johnson.

This episode is 38:25 long.

This episode was published on Sep 5, 2025.

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