An anthropologist investigates how U.S. prison policies systematically deny deaf incarcerated people adequate access to hearing aids — severely hindering their sensory engagement and quality of life — By Michele Friedner I grew up wearing two hearing aids and currently have two cochlear implants. From a young age, soon after I was diagnosed as deaf, audiologists and speech and language pathologists instructed my parents to make sure that I always wore my hearing aids. That way, I could…

Great apes provide a window into the story of human evolution — and that’s one more reason to protect them — By Mary Shirley Mitchell When I was a kid, every trip to the zoo featured a visit to the orangutan habitat. I was fascinated by the animals’ long fingers, how they took shelter when it started to rain, the affection they showed for their children, and the way they stretched…

Zooarchaeologists and geneticists are exploring how wolves and domestic dogs have been humanity’s predator, prey, and partner — By Richard Kemeny On a dusty plain, east of the Tigris River in Iraqi-Kurdistan, lies the ancient settlement of Tell Surezha. …

Research shows that real differences exist in athletic capacities, on average, between men and women. But they cut both ways. — By Cara Ocobock As the Summer Olympics gear up to kick off in Tokyo, Japan, on July 23 — delayed a year thanks to the pandemic — sexism in sports has again become a hot topic. …

The 1950s Hollywood movie The Bridge on the River Kwai, about a Japanese POW camp during World War II, nearly contained a fascinating side story about a dedicated archaeologist prisoner. Hendrik Robert van Heekeren deserves the spotlight. — By Cyler Conrad In retrospect, I was probably far too young to be whistling that captivating tune of resistance from the Hollywood classic The Bridge on the River Kwai, but I was enthralled. The visuals, the history, the war: I remember feeling genuinely engrossed in the film, despite being a…

The Southern African concept of ubuntu offers a crucial lesson for the U.S.: By recognizing our interconnections and actively undoing systemic racism, we can all become more fully human. — By Christine Weeber In the weeks leading up to the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, I passed dozens of Donald Trump 2024 banners and thin blue line flags in support of police while traveling through rural Colorado and eastern Utah. …

It is beautiful when museums go beyond returning objects toward “propatriation” — collaborating to commission new objects for display — By Stephen E. Nash Back in 1990, when I was in my third year of graduate school, then-President H.W. …

An anthropological assessment of the differences between pills and injections may shed some light on vaccine hesitancy — By Monica L. Smith If you’re watching a news show or reading a magazine article about vaccine hesitancy, you might find your program interspersed with advertisements for prescription medications: beguiling ads of cheerful, energetic people promising relief from everything from arthritis to late-stage cancer.

Contemplating Pompeii’s sudden demise in A.D. 79, an anthropologist asks what future generations will uncover when they sift through the pandemic’s remains — By Sarah Ives With over 131 million people fully vaccinated in the U.S. and numbers of new infections dropping nationwide, some have started to declare the “end” of the pandemic, despite surging cases across much of the world. Whenever the pandemic officially ends, it will leave traces that will linger…