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Briana Pobiner

Briana Pobiner leads the National Museum of Natural History’s Human Origins Program’s education and outreach efforts and manages the Human Origins Program's public programs. Her research centers on the evolution of human diet (with a focus on meat-eating), but has included topics as diverse as human cannibalism and chimpanzee carnivory. Her favorite field moments include falling asleep in a tent in the Serengeti in Tanzania while listening to the distant whoops of hyenas, watching a pride of lions eat a zebra carcass on the Kenyan equator, and discovering fossil bones that were last touched, butchered and eaten by one of her 1.5-million-year-old ancestors.

Stories from this author

Some of the most exciting discoveries in human evolution happened in the last decade. (Human Origins Program, Smithsonian Institution)

These are the Decade’s Biggest Discoveries in Human Evolution

Celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Smithsonian’s “David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins” with some of the biggest discoveries in human evolution from the last 10 years.

Last summer, I brought my son, Toby, with me on a field work trip to Kenya for the first time. It wasn’t easy but I’m glad I did it and would definitely do it again. (Briana Pobiner, Smithsonian Institution)

How to Balance Motherhood and a STEM Career

Smithsonian paleoanthropologist Briana Pobiner shares tips for balancing motherhood and a STEM career.

The traditional Thanksgiving turkey is delicious, but is it paleo? (Photo Credit: Tim Sackton via Flickr)

This Thanksgiving, Try the Real Paleo Diet

With Thanksgiving almost here, many people are looking forward to turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. But as a scientist who studies what people ate in the deep past - the real paleo diet – I’m bracing myself for the inevitable questions from people who want to know what’s on the menu that qualifies. If, like me, you enjoy the friendly debunking of baseless nutritional lore, here are some conversation starters for this holiday weekend.