Why Am I Like This?

Science and Nature Series / 1 Season

Being a human can be weird. Even when everything is "normal" (whatever that means), you might not always get what your body is doing…or why. Dr. Tina Lasisi, full-time biological anthropologist and part-time human, is here to help you make sense of how and why our bodies do what they do.

10m 38s

How Did We Evolve a Sense of Smell?

S1 E1 / 10m 38s

Have you ever stopped mid-task from catching a whiff of your own odor? It really gets you thinking— why DO we smell in the first place? In this episode, Dr. Tina Lasisi walks us through how our brain processes smell; why we associate smells with certain memories; why we developed our sense of smell in the first place; and how losing our sense of smell can impact our daily life.

Where Does My Skin Color Come From?

S1 E2 / 9m 20s

Have you ever been convinced that you’re adopted because your parents have a radically different skin color? How DO we inherit skin color in the first place? In this episode, Dr. Tina Lasisi walks us through how we genetically inherit traits, how skin color is distributed across the globe, and how the inheritance of skin color is not as straightforward as we might think.

Why Do We Have Different Hair Types?

S1 E3 / 9m 46s

Have you ever wondered why your hair grows out of your scalp the way it does? Maybe you've also wondered why our body hair isn't as dense as most other mammals. Dr. Tina Lasisi walks us through why hair varies so much across all humans, how hair is a part of our impressive thermoregulatory system, and the shortcomings of addressing hair variation in scientific literature.

Where Does Our Stress Come From?

S1 E4 / 9m 31s

Do you feel stressed right now? Have you ever had a panic attack upon remembering a deadline at the last minute? Why DO we experience stress and anxiety? In this episode, Dr. Tina Lasisi walks us through the evolutionary function of stress, how different stress hormones affect our bodies, and why some people have completely different responses to the same stressors.

Why Do We Get Allergies? (And Are They Really Necessary?)

S1 E5 / 10m 55s

Have you ever felt like your immune system is a bully who doesn't keep your best interests at heart? It really gets you thinking— Why DO we have allergies in the first place? In this episode, Dr. Tina Lasisi walks us through how our immune system evolved, what affects our allergies, and things we can do to improve our our immune responses.

Can Humans Change Their Sleep Cycle?

S1 E6 / 8m 3s

Have you ever wondered why some people are early birds, and others are night owls? Are you the type who always falls asleep at 8 pm no matter what, or do you stay awake until 2 am finishing work? It really gets you thinking-Why DO we have sleep.

Can We Change Our Body Type?

S1 E7 / 12m 13s

Have you ever wished to walked through a machine and change your body completely at a push of a button? Is this dystopian or can we really change our bodies? In this episode, Dr. Tina Lasisi walks us through the types of muscles we can change in our body, hormones that affect our height, and dispel the myth that we are "built different" across races.

Why Does My Voice Sound Like This?

S1 E8 / 7m 48s

Dr. Tina Lasisi has strange encounters with the production team and notices their voices are quite...different. Is there a glitch in the matrix, or is this our final episode of 'Why Am I Like This?'— In this episode, Dr. Lasisi talks us through how the structure of our vocal tract produces sound, how accents are learned, and why we seem to be the only species to "speak."

Supported by