Dr. Daniel Benyshek of UNLV joins the show to discuss plancentophagy.

You might not know it, but there’s a cottage industry in Los Angeles that supports women interested in eating their placentas in the early days of motherhood for the reputed health benefits.

The impacts of colonialism and unseemly research reverberate to this day. But, outside of the social sciences and some genomics, efforts to involve and protect Indigenous peoples remain nebulous.

The science behind the idea of restoring the intestinal microbiome to an ancestral state is shaky, skeptics say, and in some cases unethical.

A group of social scientists who conduct cross-cultural research are casting a critical lens on their own practices.

A life without bees is no life at all. Literally. Not only are they essential for pollination of plants but they are intricately entwined with the evolution of our species. University of Nevada paleoanthropologist Alyssa Crittenden argues that honey and bee larvae consumption are what “made it possible for early Homo to nutritionally out-compete other species of hominid and may have provided critical energy to fuel their enlarging and evolving brains”.

Dan Saladino looks at the legal and illegal trade in wild meat. Links made between Covid-19 and wild animals has led to calls for a total ban. This could be a mistake Dan explains.

Humans are one of the most successful species on the planet: We live on frozen continents and arid deserts, create tools that help us survive and even push the boundaries of our biology. Our ingenuity and adaptability serve as our species' superpowers, but the origins of that power may be found in unexpected places — like the armpit sweat of our closest living relatives.

Honey — it’s a popular “better-for-you” sweetener for tea and baked goods alike, but because it’s made by bees, the question of its vegan status is an on-going discussion in communities.

YAEDA VALLEY IN TANZANIA—As we hike down a rocky slope, through thorny acacias that snag our clothes and past the emaciated carcass of a cow, we hear people singing. We are approaching a small camp of Hadza hunter-gatherers, and our Tanzanian guide thinks they must be celebrating something.

There are two kinds of sleepers in this world. Night owls who have energy well into the evening and go to bed late. And early birds, the ones who subscribe to the early-to-bed-early-to-rise regimen. You probably have a good idea of which category you fall into most of the time, but you might not know why or how to switch over into the other camp. Or even if you should.

It may not seem obvious at first, but the pollination prowess of bees affects much of what, how and why we eat. And it goes far beyond honey served from a jar.