To understand our physiology and health today, it’s critical to look back - a long way - at our evolution, not only to inform our now, but to better understand which mechanisms we may need to sustain us in the face of our changing world. Dr Cara Ocobock is an evolutionary anthropology encyclopaedia, an enthusiastic academic, and an incredibly engaging listen.
In this episode, Dr Cara helps us to understand some of the interactions between our physiology, our evolution and our environments. In Cara’s work with reindeer herders in Finland, she explores physiological and behavioural mechanisms required to cope and adapt to extreme climates and activity. We discuss her findings into brown adipose tissue (BAT or brown fat), metabolic health, male/female differences, the potential drivers of metabolically healthy obesity, and the role of oestrogen in the body (spoiler: gents - you need this too!)
Find Cara:
‘Cara Ocobock’ Twitter, Bluesky, Threads
Cara also has a podcast of her own disseminating innovative research in the field - Sausage of Science
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Mentioned in this podcast:
Jeremy DeSilva
Milford Wolpuff
Herman Pontzer
University of Lapland
University of Oulu
Studies mentioned in this podcast:
Maximal sustained energy budgets in humans and animals
Commentary - fat but fit…and cold?
More of Cara’s work:
Human Energy Expenditure in Anthropology and Beyond
Human Bodies in Extreme Environments
Human cold adaptation: An unfinished agenda v2.0
Brown adipose tissue thermogenesis among a small sample of reindeer herders from sub-Arctic Finland
Between a rock and a cold place: Neanderthal biocultural cold adaptations
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