Synthy 4

AI Is Taking Over!

In this fun and “soupy” episode, hosts Cara and Chris chat with Dr. Melanie Beasley about putrefied meat, maggots, stable isotopes, and media attention at the most inconvenient times. Dr. Beasley directs the BioAnth Isotope Ecology Research Laboratory (BIER Lab) at Purdue University. Her work focuses broadly on human-environment interactions throughout the hominin lineage when the environment is influencing our evolutionary history, in the Holocene when humans are influencing the availability of prey resources, and in modern forensic contexts when the environment imprints meaningful geolocation information in biological tissues. She uses stable isotope geochemistry to connect humans and the environment they live in to understand changing climate, resource availability, and life history. The use of stable isotope geochemistry and the big data generated by such an analytical method in anthropology has only scratched the surface of what it can offer to the discipline and its contributions to humanity’s grand challenges. Through her scholarship, she sees the Anthropology of Tomorrow as an interdisciplinary blending of the social and natural sciences in an applied approach that makes anthropology relevant to living communities. Dr. Beasley is also interested in science communication to engage with the public about anthropology.

Please contact her via email if you are interested in working in the lab as an undergraduate or for enquiries about graduate student training. Dr. Beasley is accepting applications for future MA/PhD students.
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Find the paper discussed in this episode:
Beasley, M. M., Lesnik, J. J., & Speth, J. D. (2025). Neanderthals, hypercarnivores, and maggots: Insights from stable nitrogen isotopes. Science Advances, 11(30), eadt7466. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adt7466 

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Contact Dr. Beasely: melmbeas@purdue.edu 
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Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and the Human Biology Association:
Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc

Chris Lynn, Co-Host 
Website: cdlynn.people.ua.edu/, E-mail: cdlynn@ua.edu, Twitter:@Chris_Ly
Cara Ocobock, Co-Host
Website: sites.nd.edu/cara-ocobock/, Email:cocobock@nd.edu, Twitter:@CaraOcobock
Mecca Howe, SoS Co-Producer, HBA Fellow
Email: howemecca@gmail.com


SoS 258:  Maggots on the Menu: Rethinking Hominin Diet with Melanie Beasley

lyrics

All the fat cats made it a long winter 
black friday sales protesters in jail 
invade our rights cant buy us dinner 
but no one knows 
somethings missing this year
chorus 2x 
Ringaling! 
Don’t you wanna hear those revolution bells ring?
Ringaling! 
it’s the only thing that makes me really wanna sing?

Sleigh bells ring
Are you listenin
Cold winters night
What are you missing
It's time to fight
For all the children
Bombs light the sky
The teardrops glisten
It's time to wake up
It's time to get up
It's time to punch up
Make them listen
Revolutions in the air
How else can we make them care
We have to start somewhere
 back to chorus


Revolution Bells

As we prepare for what's coming in the new year, we’re releasing a Best of 2025 series—by no means objective, and making plenty of tough decisions to leave a few favorites out. Each of these will also be posted in the public feed. We’ll be back early in the new year with new episodes.

To support the show and help make episodes like this one possible, become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod

Original description: Beatrice speaks with Sophie Lewis about the history of “fascist feminisms,” what this history can tell us about the current state of US politics, and the need to embrace more radical and liberatory forms of feminism.

Find Sophie’s book, Enemy Feminisms: TERFs, Policewomen, and Girlbosses Against Liberation here: https://bookshop.org/a/118130/9798888902493

Show links:

We're testing out a new Bookshop.org page (still under construction), where you can find books by past guests and book recommendations from the hosts. Find it here: bookshop.org/shop/deathpanel

Get Health Communism here: bookshop.org/a/118130/9781839765179

Find Tracy's book Abolish Rent here: bookshop.org/a/118130/9798888902523

Find Jules' latest book, A Short History of Trans Misogyny, here: bookshop.org/a/118130/9781804291603

Outro by Time Wharp: timewharp.bandcamp.com/track/tezeta

Become a patron

Best of 2025: Enemy Feminisms w/ Sophie Lewis

As we prepare for what's coming in the new year, we’re releasing a Best of 2025 series—by no means objective, and making plenty of tough decisions to leave a few favorites out. Each of these will also be posted in the public feed. We’ll be back early in the new year with new episodes.

This episode was originally released April 21st 2025 for Death Panel patrons and is being unlocked today for the first time. To support the show and help make episodes like this one possible, become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod

Original description: Beatrice speaks with Dean Spade about holding together political coalitions, friendships, and organizing partnerships in the face of a culture of disposability and a world on fire.

Find Dean's new book, Love in a Fucked-Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell Together, here: https://bookshop.org/a/118130/9781643756462

Show links:

We're testing out a new Bookshop.org page (still under construction), where you can find books by past guests and book recommendations from the hosts. Find it here: bookshop.org/shop/deathpanel

Get Health Communism here: bookshop.org/a/118130/9781839765179

Find Tracy's book Abolish Rent here: bookshop.org/a/118130/9798888902523

Find Jules' latest book, A Short History of Trans Misogyny, here: bookshop.org/a/118130/9781804291603

Outro by Time Wharp: timewharp.bandcamp.com/track/tezeta

Best of 2025: Love in a Fucked Up World w/ Dean Spade

Gillian Welch Tribute

Acoustic guitars and vocals : Bill Liggett

Scarlet Town

Michelle Ellner: To hear a U.S. president talk about a country as something to be managed, stabilized, and handed over once it behaves properly, it hurts. It humiliates. And it enrages.

“We’re Going to Run the Country:” Preparing an Illegal Occupation in Venezuela

The US government bombed Venezuela, and Donald Trump abducted President Nicolás Maduro and flew him out of the country to be tried in a show trial on politically motivated charges. Ben Norton explains the real reasons behind the USA's imperialist war on Venezuela.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnD0p5F7MNs

Topics
0:00 USA kidnaps Venezuela's President Maduro
1:07 Trump bombs Venezuela
2:01 Reasons for US war on Venezuela
5:00 Marco Rubio's crusade in Latin America
7:02 Political balance in Latin America
8:04 Venezuela's oil
9:43 (CLIP) Trump vows to take oil & ships
10:14 (CLIP) Trump wants oil & land
10:58 Coup leader María Corina Machado
11:24 (CLIP) Machado offers $1.7 trillion in assets
13:02 (CLIP) Corporations will "make a lot of money"
13:56 Critical minerals & rare earths
15:37 Colonial Monroe Doctrine
16:20 US National Security Strategy
17:26 'Trump Corollary' is imperialism
18:26 US colonialism in Latin America
19:57 USA seeks control over Latin America
20:31 Trump targets Brazil
21:07 Sanctions on Colombia's Gustavo Petro
22:10 Trump threatens to attack Mexico
22:46 US meddling in Latin America
23:25 Argentina's Javier Milei
24:14 Electoral coup in Honduras
25:00 Trump frees drug trafficker
25:36 USA supports drug traffickers
27:10 "Cartel of the Suns" doesn't exist
27:40 Lies about drugs & Venezuela
28:13 (CLIP) Biden official debunks drug lies
29:23 WMD: Weapons of Mass Destruction 
30:38 USA plans show trial against Maduro
31:31 China & Latin America
33:09 Trump targets China in Venezuela
34:29 China partnership with Venezuela
36:36 Why Latin America prefers China
37:05 Venezuela-China relations
37:47 Russia partnership with Venezuela
38:20 Iran partnership with Venezuela
38:42 Global South unity
39:04 Palestine
39:16 Africa (Burkina Faso)
39:47 Latin American regional unity
41:19 US imperialism vs humanity
42:04 Outro

The real reason why Trump bombed Venezuela and abducted President Maduro

Israel has become the first country on Earth to recognize the de facto independent Republic of Somaliland, in exchange for a committment from Somaliland to join the Abraham Accords and recognize Israel. However, not three years ago, Israel joined the US as the only two countries on Earth to recognize Morocco's claim to sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara—a betrayal of the occupied Sahrawi Arab people who seek an independent state. And of course both these deals constitute a betrayal of the Palestinians. Somaliland and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic should be natural allies, and instead they are being pitted against each other in the Great Power game. Yet another example of how a global divide-and-rule racket is the essence of the state system. In Episode 311 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg breaks it down.

Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

https://www.patreon.com/countervortex

Production by Chris Rywalt

We ask listeners to donate just $1 per weekly podcast via Patreon -- or $2 for our new special offer! We now have 61 subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 62!

Somaliland and Western Sahara: forbidden symmetry


Activist and writer, Cole Sandick talks about how there’s increasingly popular legislation to limit teenagers’ access to social media platforms and why he believes that while this sounds promising on the surface, in practice, it's leading to more government surveillance, privacy infringement and fails to keep young people off the internet. 


Dec. 16, 2025: Activist Cole Sandick Talks about Social Media Surveillance and Access

Just a lispy musician who gets easily distracted and writes mostly sad tunes!

Synthy 4

Justin Kennedy 14

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