Baylor anthropology was very proud to have Fran Rivera represent our department at the Baylor Academic Honors Convocation on behalf of two of our students - Morgan Dillard and Riley Brown.

There is a fully-funded PhD position at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology to pursue dissertation research among the Mayangna of Nicaragua, expanding a longitudinal study of subsistence strategies and behavioral ecology. Please share the posting!
www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit...

Note: The missing "s" in "Congratulations" was due to the Bluesky server outage yesterday, and @bayloranthro.bsky.social takes no responsibility.

Congratulation to one of our newest grad students My Linh Huynh-Lucero (@mylinhhulu.bsky.social) who has secured a highly competitive NSF GRFP award, recognizing outstanding graduate students in STEM. This year there was only a 5% acceptance rate in the life sciences, so very well done My Linh.

Garrett Cook and John Shaver were honored to receive a military challenge coin from Anthropology major Cyrus Cellers. This is an honor from the military community and reflects the appreciation student veterans have for the support, mentorship, and dedication of faculty to veterans at Baylor.

It's student research week at Baylor and there has been a great showing from Anthropology students, with posters and talks exploring topics as diverse as cortisol, zoonoses, healthcare, decomposition and bone weathering!

Yet *more* Baylor anthropology successes from Denver! Marcela Pfaff-Nash won the EAS student podium presentation award for her talk "Intestinal energy loss among Indigenous Shuar children of Amazonian Ecuador" at the HBA/EAA meeting. The talk was a labor of love, and it's so nice seeing it pay off!

More Baylor anthropology successes! Shinina Shani won the HBA Phyllis Eveleth Outstanding Graduate Student Poster Presentation Award for her poster "Glucose breath tests among Maasai children in rural Kenya" at the HBA/EAA meeting in Denver ! Well done Shinina! Hongera sana!

Abhi Rajkumar (in Baylors the HEBHL Lab) won the HBA Hilde Spielvogel Outstanding Undergraduate Student Poster Presentation Award for his poster "Market integration and children’s gut health" at the HBA meeting in Denver this month. Well done Abhi!

Baylor Anthropology's Samuel Urlacher was elected as an AAAS Fellow – a lifetime honor – by the American Association for the Advancement of Science this morning. This is an outstanding accomplishment, and we are all very proud of him!

www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

Congratulations to Baylor Anth's own Rahab Felix on her poster presentation, "Faith, Farming, and Responses to Climate Change: A Comparative Study of Amish and Mennonite Farmers in Cayo District, Belize,” at the annual conference of the Society for Applied Anthropology, in Albuquerque, March 19.

Impaired Intestinal Function Among Indigenous Shuar Children of Amazonian Ecuador: Evidence From Lactulose:Mannitol Tests of Absorption and Permeability Objectives Intestinal function is an important but often overlooked aspect of human biological variation, with the intestines serving as both a barrier against external pathogens/contaminants and th...

New research lead by @marcela-pfaff-nash.bsky.social shows children living in low-resource, rural settings experience intestinal challenges that can persist well beyond early childhood, highlighting the role of globally varying intestinal function for childhood health and development.

Baylor Anth's own Muthoni Thuku presented her poster on "Forensic analysis of hacksaw paint transfer in dismemberment" at the Texas Academy of Science. Her work explores potential of Raman Spectroscopy in tool mark analysis. Well done Muthoni!

Congratulations to former Baylor Anth undergraduate, Garrett Crole who will soon be completing his residency in orthopedic surgery at Case Western Reserve where he will have access the unparalleled Hamann-Todd human skeletal collection. We are proud of Garrett and all his successes!

Baylor Anth's own Muthoni Thuku presented her poster on "Forensic analysis of hacksaw paint transfer in dismemberment" at the Texas Academy of Science. Her work explores potential of Raman Spectroscopy in tool mark analysis. Well done Muthoni!

Impaired Intestinal Function Among Indigenous Shuar Children of Amazonian Ecuador: Evidence From Lactulose:Mannitol Tests of Absorption and Permeability Objectives Intestinal function is an important but often overlooked aspect of human biological variation, with the intestines serving as both a barrier against external pathogens/contaminants and th...

New research lead by @marcela-pfaff-nash.bsky.social shows children living in low-resource, rural settings experience intestinal challenges that can persist well beyond early childhood, highlighting the role of globally varying intestinal function for childhood health and development.

The “I” in egalitarianism: Hadza hunter-gatherers averse to inequality primarily when personally unfavorable Abstract. Many economists contend that humans have strong, universal, other-regarding equality preferences with deep evolutionary roots. Indeed, many hunte

📢 New Paper 🚨

Hadza food-sharing is egalitarian, yet offers in giving games have never matched the equitable redistribution seen in real life.

In this study, we allowed people to give *or* take. Lifelike equitable distributions only appeared when people took from peers in surplus.

bit.ly/4kvLOwA

Oxidative Stress and Its Relationship With Market Integration and Pathogen Exposure Among Indigenous Shuar Children of Amazonian Ecuador Objectives Oxidative stress (OS) plays a key role in human aging and lifelong health. Problematically, little attention has been given to OS during childhood or outside of wealthy, industrialized po...

New paper lead by @annasamsonov.bsky.social.
The first direct assessment of how childhood oxidative stress relates to market integration. Among the Ecuadorian Shuar, key predictors of childhood OS included running water, household size, and pathogen exposure.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Join us on Feb 4th for the Anthropology Hosts: Climate Change event, where our presenters from universities across Texas will discuss interdisciplinary approaches to understanding the nature, impacts, and forecasts for climate change past and present.

calendar.web.baylor.edu/event/2026/1...

Got something to say about human counter dominance and the mechanics of egalirianism? Five days left to submit a commentary proposal on our new article.

Full instructions here:

resolve.cambridge.org/core/journal...

I tried to set this up as a 'starter pack' to allow one-click following of the accounts on this list. Unfortunately, I couldn't see how to do so without including myself. Nevertheless, if it's useful:

Favorite article on how evolution and culture (sociocultural, not CET) aren't at odds with each other. Go!

Baylor researchers take R1 research into local schools to inspire the next generation The research being done at Baylor impacts lives on multiple levels. There are the people who benefit directly from the research itself -- the people served by improved water quality, or mental health ...

For National STEM day, Baylor's educator's have been taking their research into high school, middle school and elementary school classrooms across the county!

Here's our very own Sam Urlacher who led students at Mart Elementary School, measuring human energetics.

www2.baylor.edu/baylorproud/...

CALLING ANTHROPOLOGY PHD APPLICANTS! Interested integrative approaches to #health and #humanbehavior? Our #PhD program might be for you! State-of-the-art facilities. #Global perspective. Full funding. Competitive stipend. Application Jan 5th!

anthropology.artsandsciences.baylor.edu/graduate-pro...

Interested in doing a PhD with Baylor Anthropology?

Here's our final staff showcase. See the attached info sheets for Drs. Flinn, Ferraro, Muehlenbein and Cook!

Any questions, don't hesitate to reach out.

Interested in doing a PhD with Baylor Anthropology?

Another day another staff showcase. Here are info sheets for Dr. Ulracher, Dr. Alexander, and Dr. Binetti.

Any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Interested in doing a PhD with Baylor Anthropology? This week we’ll be showcasing our faculty starting with John, Julie and Duncan (That’s me!).

We’ve prepared info sheets with contact info and research specialisms. Any further questions, please drop us an email.

CALLING ANTHROPOLOGY PHD APPLICANTS! Interested integrative approaches to #health and #humanbehavior? Our #PhD program might be for you! State-of-the-art facilities. #Global perspective. Full funding. Competitive stipend. Application Jan 5th!

anthropology.artsandsciences.baylor.edu/graduate-pro...

Validation of an Enzyme‐Linked Immunosorbent Assay for Measuring Leptin, a Key Metabolic Hormone, in Dried Blood Spot Samples Objectives Leptin is an established biomarker of appetite regulation and energy status. Problematically, heavy reliance on invasive venipuncture sampling has limited leptin research with diverse hum...

New paper from Baylor Grad Student Lizzy Kim validating the measurement of appetite-regulating hormone, leptin, in dried blood spots.

This minimally invasive approach offers a reliable, cost-friendly tool for studying metabolic health across the world.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

📣 New BBS preprint out now! 📣

"Models casting egalitarian societies as crucibles of equality perpetuate the factually uninformed notion that foragers are somehow more noble. Critiques portray egalitarianism as romantic fantasy. Neither characterization is wholly justified."

doi.org/10.1017/S014...