{"podcast":{"title":"On Humans","slug":"on-humans-5714769","podcast_index_feed_id":5714769,"rss_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/b6269808/podcast/rss","website_url":"https://onhumans.substack.com/about","image_url":"https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/staging/podcast_uploaded_nologo/30459826/30459826-1759510527619-3882a9600a0e7.jpg","author":"Ilari Mäkelä","episode_count":111,"summary":"Where do we come from? How did we get here? And what kinds of creatures are we? On Humans features conversations with leading scholars about the human story, making new research about humanity more accessible to everyone and more meaningful to the big questions about who we are. In addition to regular episodes, the show now includes longer series on some of the greatest arcs in the journey of our species, covering everything from the evolution of apes to the making of the modern economy. https://onhumans.substack.com/about","last_synced_at":"2026-07-26T20:17:23.337618+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/on-humans-5714769"},"episode":{"title":"Encore: Walking Towards the Human Condition (with Jeremy De Silva)","slug":"encore-walking-towards-the-human-condition-with-jeremy-de-silva","published_at":"2026-04-04T02:37:47+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/on-humans-5714769/encore-walking-towards-the-human-condition-with-jeremy-de-silva","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/on-humans-5714769","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ilari-makela/episodes/Encore-Walking-Towards-the-Human-Condition-with-Jeremy-De-Silva-e3hdik3","audio_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/b6269808/podcast/play/117934147/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-3-4%2F53b5d26d-5410-ffc6-e035-6e4c7e753bc4.mp3","summary":"Something big is coming soon. Stay tuned! Whilst waiting, you can enjoy one of my all-time favourites from the archives. A lot of the recent episodes have mentioned the impact of bipedalism in the human story, but the remarks have hardly done justice to the depth of the matter. Jeremy DeSilva did it justice. Enjoy! ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES Humans are odd in many ways. But perhaps the oddest of our features is our upright posture. We walk on two legs. And we are the only mammal to do so. So why do we walk upright? And why does it matter? Jeremy DeSilva is a fossil expert and a professor of paleoanthropology at Dartmouth College. He is also the author of a remarkable book, aptly titled First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human DeSilva’s treatment of the subject is sweeping: while tracing the journey of human posture, he draws remarkable links between bipedalism and many facets of the human condition, from difficult births to complex language and from lower back pains to the beauty of friendships. In this episode, we talk about questions such as: What Darwin got right and wrong about the role of walking in human evolution When and why did we start walking upright? Why the common picture of human evolution is wrong - and what would be a better picture Why walking makes us fragile How our ancestors survived bone fractures - and why this is a big deal Why is human birth so difficult Why walking is so good for us: introducing the “myokines” What studying the human journey has taught DeSilva about our species _________ Please consider becoming a supporter of On Humans. Even small monthly donations can make a huge impact on the long-term sustainability of the program. Visit: ⁠⁠ Patreon.com/OnHumans ⁠⁠ _________ Names mentioned Charles Darwin / Ian Tattersall / Donald Johanson /…","meta_description":"Something big is coming soon. Stay tuned! Whilst waiting, you can enjoy one of my all-time favourites from the archives. A lot of the recent episodes have…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4963,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/on-humans-5714769/episodes/encore-walking-towards-the-human-condition-with-jeremy-de-silva/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/on-humans-5714769/encore-walking-towards-the-human-condition-with-jeremy-de-silva.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}