April 2, 2018 9:11 pm

Re-Visit “What Makes Us Human?” with Natalia Reagan, Now Extended with a Conversation on Cloning

This week on StarTalk All-Stars, we’re re-visiting “What Makes Us Human” with Natalia Reagan, now extended with a conversation on cloning, both human and primate. If you haven’t listened to the original episode, it’s a great exploration of human ancestry that tries to piece together what makes us, well, us.

Natalia, comic co-host Patrick Melton and paleoanthropologist Marc Kissel investigate the evolution of wisdom, “symbolic thinking,” and why examples of societal behavior are more important than acts of individual behavior when studying the fossil record. You’ll also hear about the evolutionary mystery of language – and the difficulties and tricks of trying to put the puzzle together.

On the new extended segment, Natalia welcomes a new crew. Joined by comic co-host Chuck Nice and biological anthropologist Ryan Raaum, Natalia Reagan looks into the recent cloning of macaques and how that impacts the scientific world. We also ponder the implications of cloning and bringing back Neanderthals.

Typically, conversations about cloning end up at the same question: Why? And, as you’ll hear, it’s always a reliable question for stirring up debate. Is it ethical to clone Neanderthals? Or animals? Or anything for that matter? If you want a deeper dive into cloning, make sure to check out Cloning Genetics and Ethics, with Natalia Reagan where Natalia, Chuck, Ryan, and Ross MacPhee take a hard look at the wild, wacky world of cloning today.

But for now, enjoy this extended classic and don’t forget to ask yourself…what makes you human?

Please join us tomorrow night for Extended Classic – “What Makes Us Human?” with Natalia Reagan at 7pm EDT right here on our website, as well as on our All-Stars channels on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and TuneIn. And if you’re an All-Access subscriber, you can watch or listen to this episode ad-free at 7pm, too.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
–Ian Mullen