Herman Pontzer

Herman Pontzer (Adaptable: How Your Unique Body Works and Why Our Biology Unites Us) is an evolutionary anthropologist, author, and associate professor at Duke University. Herman joins the Armchair Expert to discuss growing up at the end of a dirt road in a house his dad built, unpacking the dark history of anthropometry, and the ewok chapter of human evolution. Herman and Dax talk about why the brain is the most expensive organ in the body, the first full human skeleton found being named after a Beatles song, and why people burn more calories being anxious. Herman explains the hockey stick inflection point of intelligence when we began hunting and gathering, why research on early humans debunks the paleo diet, and the story of the guy that accidentally killed the world's oldest living organism.

Herman Pontzer: @hpontzer
Armchair Expert: @armchairexppod
Dax Shepard: @daxshepard

Created & Produced by: Dax Shepard, Monica Padman, & Rob Holysz
Hosted by: Dax Shepard
Associate Producer: Emma Lawrence
Video Edit by: Todd Hughlett & Anthony Pacheco
Audio Edit by: Monica Padman & Emma Lawrence
Mixed & Mastered by: Daniel Good
Armchair Expert