This is the big review article I wrote for Annual Review of Anthropology covering the ways humans have adapted and acclimatized to extreme environments. I talk about the class big three (hot, cold, high altitude) and then discuss emerging extremes such as climate change and socioeconomic disparities.
This is a great article for undergraduate classes because of its scope, citations, and accessibility.
The indomitable Dr. Charles Roseman and I have a commentary out in Scientific American. In it we discuss the ever-controversial topic of sex and gender. We present a question first framework, as the questions should drive the ways in which we operationalize sex. We contend that a strict sex binary is useful in some circumstances (evolutionary questions about sexual reproduction or utilizing historical demographic data, for example), but in others it is inadequate (e.g., associations between the sexes, hormones, and athletic performance).
We also discuss why non-human comparisons are not particularly helpful in the current debates, and suggest that “Scientists like us would do well to embrace intellectual humility and listen carefully before deciding that any one definition of sex is useful for understanding the living world.”
Thank you to Kate Wong for working with us on this commentary
Growing up, my family made regular trips to Borders Books (yes, that still existed in my childhood). The first thing I did upon entering the story was run to the magazine section and check out the latest issue of Scientific American. I loved the accessibility of the articles and clear, engaging graphics. Scientific American instilled my love of science early on; however, never did my 10-year-old-self imagine writing for Scientific American much less having an article be the cover story.
Well, today the article I wrote with Dr. Sarah Lacy hits the stands, AND it is the cover story! A massive thank you to Kate Wong for approaching us to write the story and working with us to produce the final version. We also want to thanks Samantha Mash for the gorgeous artwork both on the cover and the inside spread. Thank you also to the whole production crew for pulling together the figures and layout.
This has been wonderful and overwhelming. Thank you to all the friends and family who have supported us through this process and continue to support us through the social media frenzy.
Important to note, the SciAm article is based on our two American Anthropologist articles you can find here: https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/…/aman.13915
And here: https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/…/aman.13914
They are behind a paywall, so PLEASE email us for copies!
So very excited to finally be able to share two papers I worked on with my dear friend and colleague, Dr. Sarah Lacy, in which we argue against the persistent idea that hunting (performed by men) was the driving force in human evolution.
We present anatomical and physiological reasons why women were just as physically capable and potential even more capable of hunting than men.
Woman the Hunter: The Physiological Evidence
We then follow up with the archaeological and ethnographic evidence that clearly supports female participation in hunting as well as tool making.
Woman the Hunter: The Archaeological Evidence
The story of evolution has been largely written by and about men. These two articles break down why that is not only problematic but also poor science.
This was a labor of love. Sarah and I enjoyed every minute of writing and revising these articles. Gigantic thank you to American Anthropologist for working with us to make sure these articles appeared together and for the speedy publishing process post-acceptance.
More than happy to send pdfs – just message me!
New paper out with the wonderful Katie Rose Hejtmanek!
This is the second of three articles on our study of how COVID-19 stay at home orders affected exercise routines and the resulting impact on physical and mental wellbeing.
Surprise surprise, not being able to go to gyms, fitness centers, boxes, etc. resulted in worse physical and mental wellbeing.
However! Those who were part of a formal fitness community (e.g. CrossFit) fared significantly better than those who in less formal fitness communities (regular gym going with more informal relationships/groups). These formal communities found ways to foster engagement online in creative ways as well as loaning out fitness equipment.
Both formal communities and and creative flexibility in reaching out to those communities helped to mitigate some of the negative impact that stay at home orders had on physical and mental wellbeing in terms of exercise routines.
The third and final article from this study will appear as a chapter in a forthcoming edited volume!
Back in May 2020 (which, let’s be honest, feels like a decade or more ago), I hadn’t been to a gym in over two months and I lost so much of my hard earned muscle mass. COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on almost every facet of everyone’s lives. There are the obvious health and socioeconomic hardships experienced due to the pandemic. There were other aspects the pandemic harmed as well such as social connections and routine disruption. One such disruption was to exercise routines. Due to gym and wellness center closures and altered work-home situations, many people had to drastically shift how and where they exercised.
During the depths of the lockdown, I attempted working out at home, but it just wasn’t the same as powerlifting in the gym. I didn’t have the equipment, and more importantly, I didn’t have my community. I shifted to doing long walks and lots of yoga to maintain some level of physical activity, but it never provided the same fulfillment. I figured that I wasn’t alone in this.
So, I contacted my friend and colleague Dr. Katherine Rose Hejtmanek to see if she wanted to collaborate on a survey based study to see how exercise routines were disrupted by COVID-19, especially the stay at home orders. She immediately agreed, which lead to a wonderful collaboration that is resulting in three publications.
The first one just came out! This one focuses on the ways in which the stay at home orders revealed how exercise routines are a part of vitality politics (“vitality politics” of everyday life, or the “growing capacities to control, manage, engineer, reshape, and modulate the very vital capacities of human beings as living creatures,” Rose, 2007 page. 3).
In response to the pandemic, white, affluent women (who were the most common respondents to our survey) shifted their motivations for working out from one of pleasure to an almost business-like motivation. They were no longer working out for the joy/entertainment of working out and interacting with others, but did so to maintain some level of physical and mental wellbeing.
There is a great deal more in this article that touches on the intersections among race, class, body ideals, and politics – so give it a read!
Another article that has been accepted but not published yet examines how the COVID-19 pandemic differentially affected regular gym goers vs. CrossFitters. That should be out any time now. And the third article is a chapter in an edited volume – this one explores the ways in which women displayed greater resilience and flexibility in their exercise routines during the pandemic relative to men. Be on the lookout!!!!
It is rare when I truly love something I write or an idea that I have. I tend to be hypercritical and continually play devil’s advocate with myself. And though that is likely a good thing for science, it often means I get less joy from the grueling process I put myself through. This new article, however, is the exception.
Dr. Alexandra Niclou and I recently published a commentary in Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health. In this article, we not only tear down the current concept and broad use of body mass index (BMI), but also present how the suite of features we typically see among cold climate populations may confer a metabolically healthy obese phenotype (or the fit and fat phenotype). The idea of a fit and fat phenotype has been around for a short while – it suggests that individuals can have a high BMI/high body adiposity but not suffer any of the cardiometabolic consequences often association with a high BMI/high body adiposity.
I have been percolating this idea for a fair amount of time since working through the data on reindeer herders, who despite having high BMI/body adiposity, have relatively healthy indicators of cardiometabolic health. There is a growing body of evidence, though not without controversy, that a metabolically healthy obese phenotype is a reality, rare, but a reality. I began to wonder how some of the interesting physiological and morphological variation we ascribe to cold climate populations may predispose these folks to a metabolically healthy obese phenotype.
In this paper, Alex and I work through the evidence and present a fit, fat, and cold hypothesis that still needs a great deal of testing. Theoretical though it may be, I think this is an intriguing possibility and one that could impact how individuals with high adiposity (and low adiposity) are treated by medical doctors.
I was fortunate enough to be invited to contribute to an American Journal of Human Biology special issue on extreme weather events and they impact they can have on human health and wellbeing. Thank you to Asher Rosinger for the invite and putting together a timely and important series of articles!
My main research focuses on how reindeer herders of subArctic Finland cope with a physically demanding occupation in extreme cold. However, it is hard to work in Finland and not see the dramatic impacts that climate change are having on the landscape and the people. My wonderful collaborators, Drs. Minna Turunen and Päivi Soppela, have conducted a great deal more research on how climate change has impacted the reindeer herding occupation. For this contribution, the three of us worked with Dr. Sirpa Rasmus to review the ways in which climate change has increased the number of extreme events, in particular icing events in Finland and in turn how these events impact the landscape, the reindeer, reindeer herding, and the herders themselves.
In short, an increased number of rain-on-snow events that create icing conditions dramatically impact the reindeer herding livelihood from forcing herders to increase greater control of their herd, needing to increase agricultural production to feed reindeer, poor reindeer health, and negatively impacted herder heath through increased risk of cold related injuries and mental health concerns. Reindeer herders demonstrate a wide range of resilience behaviors for confronting these extreme events; however, there is likely a limit to what can be done.
It has been a wonderful and fruitful journey (not without its troubles thanks to COVID and my changing institutions), but I am so VERY PROUD to say that my student, Alexandra Niclou, is now Dr. Alexandra Niclou.
Alex is beyond brilliant, and I consider myself exceptionally lucky to have been a part of this process. Watching her grow, manage so many obstacles, and surpass me has truly been an honor and humbling experience.
Alex’s dissertation work focused on brown adipose tissue (BAT) among individuals in Samoa. This work is not only fascinating, but unique and groundbreaking, as it is the first time BAT has been measured among an adult tropical population. This work provides critical insight into the question, “Do all humans have BAT?” and, if so, “How does BAT function differently in different populations?” In order to conduct this work successfully, she developed collaborations with colleagues who work in Samoa. This includes Dr. Nicola Hawley from Yale and the Samoan Obesity, Lifestyle and Genetic Adaptations Study (OLaGA) team.
Alex found the cold adaptive BAT among the tropical Samoans. This unexpected finding suggests that BAT may be present in all humans. However, she also found that it functioned differently than among the Albany population she worked with previously and work conducted among cold climate populations by other researchers. By examining the presence or absence of this tissue in a tropical population, she has greatly added to our understanding of the role brown adipose tissue plays in human evolution and adaptation as well as addressing human variation and the unique morphologies exhibited by Polynesian populations. Furthermore, this work has the potential to reveal a therapeutic role for BAT in treating the global obesity epidemic and diabetes given the metabolic and glucose disposal properties. This is all to say that Alex’s work is not only exceptional within the field of human biology and anthropology, but also has real world implications.
Yes, I am WAY behind on updating my website with various things! Here is another brown adipose tissue article recently out. This one is done in collaboration with Drs. Päivi Soppela, Minna Turunen, Ville Stenbäck, and Karl-Heinz Herzig.
We measured brown adipose tissue activity (using indirect calorimetry, thermal imaging, and mild cold exposure) among reindeer herders in Finland. We found that herders do indeed have active brown adipose tissue (BAT). When activated, resting metabolic rates increase significantly by 8.7%, warmer supraclavicular temperatures (BAT positive region) relative to sternum temperatures (BAT negative regions), and BAT among this sample preferentially uses fatty acids for fuel (a low RQ – respiratory quotient). This is different from other studies that have shown a preference for glucose or mixed glucose-fatty acid as fuel among other populations.
There were no correlations of BAT with any anatomical or physiological variables with the exception of a negative correlation between a change in RQ and the change in supraclavicular surface temperatures. Based on work by Dr. Stephanie Levy, this lack of correlation with various anatomical and physiological variables might be due to BAT activity being determined or at the very least influenced by cold exposure during key developmental periods in childhood.
This study shows that BAT activity is highly variable even among different cold climate populations, and that like high altitude populations, there are often different ways the body copes and adapts to similar environments.
