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 subscribe. Learn more at https://www.science.org/podcasts

Origin Stories is audience-supported. Additional support comes from Jeanne Newman, the Anne and Gordon Getty Foundation, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.

This is a story about sweat, survival, speed, and the peculiar ways running may have shaped us as humans. Armed with a hydration vest, a dream, and paleoanthropologist Daniel Lieberman’s endurance running hypothesis, filmmaker Nicole Teeny set out to push the limits of her own endurance. Nicole’s mission takes her from the Kalahari Desert to Kansas to see if humans really did evolve to run. Along the way, she discovers humans' unusual superpower and asks, can a human outrun a horse?

This episode was written and produced by Nicole Teeny. Sound designed and produced by Ray Pang. Edited by Audrey Quinn. Our host and executive producer is Meredith Johnson.

Want more of this story? Listen to Nicole's four-episode series on ESPN's 30 for 30 podcast!

Support our show and the science we talk about! Until August 31, all donations to Origin Stories and The Leakey Foundation will be quadruple-matched by Leakey Foundation trustee Nina Carroll and the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.

After 10 years of exploring the stories behind breakthrough science, it's time to tell our own origin story! In this special anniversary episode, we're flipping the script to share how Origin Stories began. Join us behind the scenes, revisit three milestone episodes, and get an exciting update on the Punan Batu community's fight for their ancestral lands in Borneo.

Here's to our listeners who've made this decade of science and storytelling possible, and to many more stories ahead.

Links to learn more:

• On Two Feet with Carol Ward
• Ancestor with Isaiah Nengo
• The Cave Punan with Steve Lansing

Support science:

In honor of 10 years of Origin Stories, please consider donating $10 per month to support the show and the science we talk about! Your donation will be matched, doubling your impact!

Donate at leakeyfoundation.org/originstories

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and education.

This episode was generously sponsored by Don Dana. Origin Stories is also sponsored by our community of listeners, along with Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.

Origin Stories is produced by Meredith Johnson and Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.