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Traded species have distinctive life histories with extended reproductive lifecycles

A new study has revealed that vertebrate species involved in the live wildlife trade have distinctive life history traits that determine the frequency and timing of reproduction.
Chameleon

Birds build hanging-nests to protect offspring from nest invaders

A new study led by a pioneering researcher from our Department of Anthropology has found that birds build hanging-nests, particularly those with extended entrance tunnels, to help protect offspring against nest invaders like snakes and parasitic cuckoos.
Bird nest

What’s really going on when a child is ‘overtired’ – and how to help them go to sleep

Professor Helen Ball from our Department of Anthropology is also the Director of the Durham Infancy & Sleep Centre (DISC). She discusses what 'overtiredness' means for babies, and how help them handle this emotional state.
Baby yawning

Exploring the Victorian Occult

As Halloween approaches, we talk to Dr Efram Sera-Shriar, Associate Director of Research for the Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies, International, at Durham. His research explores the study of the occult and its intersection with the sciences. He is the lead organiser for Beyond the Veil: Cross-Cultural & Interdisciplinary Studies of Horror, Gothic, and the Occult in the Nineteenth Century, taking place on Halloween, 31 October.
Apparition during palm reading from 1869

Can you help record the UK’s mammal activity?

If you’re interested in conservation and ecology, our MammalWeb project needs your help to chart the activity of the UK’s mammals.
Otters stare at the camera after being caught on a camera trap

Dr Michael Crawley wins prestigious Anthropology Award

The Boards of Directors of the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) and the American Anthropology Association (AAA) have selected Dr Michael Crawley to receive the Margaret Mead Award for 2022.
Book cover featuring runners in Ethiopia subtitled 'Running wisdom and magic from above the clouds in Ethiopia.

£2bn cost of mental ill health ‘parallel pandemic’

We’ve contributed to a report which shows that the negative effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on mental health was largest and most prolonged in the North of England.
A close up of people holding hands

Durham Anthropology Postgraduate Conference: Divided - Review

On 27th April 2022, students and staff participated in an exciting day of presentations and discussions at the Calman Learning Centre – the Postgraduate Conference, in what promised to be the department’s flagship event of the year.
Poster for the Anthropology postgraduate conference 2022

Give bidi cigarette rollers a voice to find new jobs, researchers say

India’s bidi cigarette workers need to be at the heart of discussions about finding alternatives to working in the tobacco industry, according to a new study.
2 people rolling bidi cigarettes

Fairy Tales 'Explained': Prof. Jamie Tehrani features in Netflix series

Prof. Jamie Tehrani from our Anthropology department features in the Netflix series 'Explained'.
Screenshot from Netflix Explained season 3 episode 14

Congratulations to our summer 2021 Anthropology graduates!

The Anthropology Department would like to congratulate each and every one of our 2021 graduates on their degree results.
Students at graduation

New Sleep Training Article featuring Prof. Helen Ball

"The Promise and Peril of a High-Priced Sleep Trainer" - Professor Helen Ball features in a new article on sleep training featured in the New Yorker
baby with mother looking over them