Episode 104: What role could olfaction have played in human evolution? How can we study urban spaces anthropologically?

The Arch and Anth Podcast

For this Friday edition of the podcast, Dr. Kara Hoover (University of Alaska Fairbanks) talks all about a wide range of topics: the evolution of our sense of smell, human resilience and adaptability, studies of urban geography and social welfare, surveillance and much, much more.

How important does she see olfaction for humans navigating different ecological contexts? What is the interaction between biological resilience and cultural resilience? What are the applications or greater implications for us living today, especially populations living in urban environments with anthropogenic smells and other forms of pollution?

We also discuss her latest co-authored book chapter entitled, 'The Unseen'. From the book, How to Run a City Like Amazon and Other Fables, this short science-fiction story is her colleague Jeremy Crampton's and her imagination of a not-too-distant future where data-sharing will be near-universal, inspired by recent news stories of data leaks at Cambridge Analytical.

You can find more information in the show notes under the episode on our website.

If you have feedback or questions for Kara, you can find her on Twitter or her university department page. She has a website, The Smell of Evolution, where she blogs as well.

You can find Michael on Twitter and Instagram too.

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