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cover of episode Will your family turn you into a chatbot after you die? Plus, synthetic squid skin, and the sway of matriarchs in ancient Anatolia

Will your family turn you into a chatbot after you die? Plus, synthetic squid skin, and the sway of matriarchs in ancient Anatolia

2025/6/26
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Science Magazine Podcast

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Analysis of ancient DNA and isotopes from the 9,000-year-old Çatalhöyük settlement in Turkey reveals insights into kinship patterns. Maternal lines were important, challenging previous assumptions of patriarchal structures in Neolithic societies. The study also highlights the importance of gender in structuring society.
  • Ancient DNA from Çatalhöyük shows children were related through mothers, indicating matrilineal kinship.
  • Women were more likely to stay in their birth houses, while men came from other settlements.
  • Later layers show a decline in genetic kinship, suggesting changes in family structures over time.
  • Isotopic evidence shows shared diets, suggesting potential fostering or adoption practices.

Shownotes Transcript

First up on the podcast, Contributing Correspondent Andrew Curry joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss a pair of Science papers on kinship and culture in Neolithic Anatolia. The researchers used ancient DNA and isotopes from 8000 to 9000 years ago to show how maternal lines were important in Çatalhöyük culture.  

●     E. Yüncü et al., Female lineages and changing kinship patterns in Neolithic Çatalhöyük), 2025

●     D. Koptekin et al., Out-of-Anatolia: Cultural and genetic interactions during the Neolithic expansion in the Aegean), 2025

 

Next on the show, researchers were able to make a synthetic material that changes color in the same way squids do. Georgii Bogdanov), a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Irvine, talks about how his lab was able to discover the subcellular arrangement of proteins in the squid cells) and mimic this structure synthetically using titanium dioxide deposition.

 

Finally, the latest book in our series on science and death. Books host Angela Saini talks with Tamara Kneese) about her book Death Glitch: How Techno-Solutionism Fails Us in This Life and Beyond) and whether our families can turn us into chatbots after we die.

 

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy). 

About the *Science *Podcast)

 

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Andrew Curry; Angela Saini

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