Surprise!

As a special holiday treat, the SAPIENS team is presenting this unedited conversation between SAPIENS host Chip Colwell and acclaimed science journalist Carl Zimmer about DNA, identity, and heredity.

This conversation was previously excerpted in our episode “Is Your DNA You?” It took place in front of a live audience at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science on June 20, 2018.

Carl Zimmer’s new book is She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity. Learn more about Zimmer’s work at carlzimmer.com.

This episode of SAPIENS was produced by Paul Karolyi, edited by Matthew Simonson, and hosted by Chip Colwell, with support from SAPIENS co-hosts Esteban Gómez and Jen Shannon.

SAPIENS producer Arielle Milkman, executive producer Cat Jaffee, and House of Pod intern Lucy Soucek provided additional support.

Fact-checking is by Christine Weeber, illustration is by David Williams, and all music is composed and produced by Matthew Simonson.

SAPIENS is part of the American Anthropological Association Podcast Library.

This is an editorially independent podcast funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation and produced by House of Pod. Additional funding for this episode was provided by our friends at Imago Mundi Fund at Foundation for the Carolinas.