Cara Ocobock

Me!

Where are all the women (glad they made that a focus of the article)?

Winter Olympians often compete in freezing temperatures – physiology and advances in materials science help keep them warm While physical exertion helps athletes stay warm, sweating can lead to dehydration.

Two posts in a day!!! Not usual for me. But, here is a short, fun piece I co-wrote with @leosapien.bsky.social for @us.theconversation.com on how the weather conditions at this year's Winter Olympics affect athletes' bodies and gear: theconversation.com/winter-olymp...

Cold plunges and unicorns | What would you fight for? | University of Notre Dame In this episode of Notre Dame Stories, anthropologist Cara Ocobock uses hands-on lessons, extreme cold research, and insights from our evolutionary past to e...

Have a listen to me talking about my research and wild teaching methods, which does include a unicorn! Thanks to @notredame.bsky.social, Jenna for being so fun to work with, and the whole media crew.

fightingfor.nd.edu/podcast/cold...

🎙️ New podcast episode! Chris Lynn and Courtney Manthey talk with Seth Quintus, Pacific Island archaeologist and professor at the University of Hawai‘i.

Hat tip to you!

A giant 12ft Home Depot Halloween skeleton that has more than a foot of snow piled on its head and shoulders. The skeleton is also standing behind a wildlife sanctuary sign.

Chilled to the bone!

Thank you for this! The real star of that show was my colleague Libby. That was a wild experience for sure.

SoS 261: Inclusive language for improving our science with Cindi SturtzSreetharan In this episode, hosts Chris and Mecca interview Dr. Cindi SturtzSreetharan about language decoding, why inclusive language matters for better science, the importance of clearly defining the terms we

How does language shape science, identity, and health? 🗣️🧠
Chris and Mecca talk with Dr. Cindi SturtzSreetharan about inclusive language, ethnography, masculinity, and how everyday talk produces stigma around bodies and health. 🎧 soundcloud.com/sausageofsci...

SoS 262: Pregnancy Under Pressure with Dr. Kyle Wiley In this episode, we talk with Dr. Kyle Wiley, Assistant Professor of Sociology & Anthropology at the University of Texas at El Paso, about how social and traumatic stressors during pregnancy become bi

Chris Lynn and Courtney Manthey talk with Dr. Kyle Wiley about how stress and trauma during pregnancy become biologically embedded, shaping maternal and infant health across generations. 🎧 soundcloud.com/sausageofsci...

Hear me talk about how we biologically and culturally deal with the cold on BBC CrowdScience: www.bbc.com/audio/play/w...

SoS 260: From Collections to Care: Ethics in Bioarchaeology with Molly Zuckerman In this episode, we talk with Dr. Molly Zuckerman, Professor of Biological Anthropology at Mississippi State University, about ethics, care, and responsibility in bioarchaeology. We discuss her recent

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Molly Zuckerman about ethics, care, and responsibility in bioarchaeology, from restoring personhood to human remains to navigating ethical challenges in the field. 🎧 soundcloud.com/sausageofsci...

SoS 259: A Culturally Adapted Health Intervention in Samoa with Nicola Hawley Dr. Nicola Hawley is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, where she also holds a secondary appointment in Anthropology. She serves as Associate Director for Diss

Dr. Nicola Hawley bridges epidemiology, anthropology, and global health to improve maternal and child health in Sāmoa and beyond. A leader in community-engaged research! 🌺📊 soundcloud.com/sausageofsci...

SoS 258: Maggots on the Menu: Rethinking Hominin Diet with Melanie Beasley In this fun and “soupy” episode, hosts Cara and Chris chat with Dr. Melanie Beasley about putrefied meat, maggots, stable isotopes, and media attention at the most inconvenient times. Dr. Beasley dire

Putrefied meat, maggots, and stable isotopes, oh my! 🧪💀 Cara and Chris chat with Dr. Melanie Beasley about forensic isotopes, media chaos, and the anthropology of tomorrow. 🎧 soundcloud.com/sausageofsci...

NSF - U.S. National Science Foundation NSF's mission is to advance the progress of science, a mission accomplished by funding proposals for research and education made by scientists, engineers, and educators from across the country.

The solicitations for this program were recently archived as we work to improve how we support the SBE research community. Future solicitations to support early career talent development will appear on nsf.gov and grant.gov.” 3/3

Here is the standard language they are using in response to inquiries:
"Thank you for your interest in the directorate for Social Behavioral and Economic Sciences Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant program. 2/3

All NSF SBE DDRIG solicitations have been archived and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Grants currently submitted will be processed, but as always, chances of funding remain very low. This means anyone aiming for the upcoming deadline will not be able to submit. 1/3

This is great! Thanks for sharing and for the shoutout.

Miss you!

ICYMI Notre Dame Anthropology will be hiring a post-doc for 2026-2028. This is part of a university-wide initiative to support early career scholars. Deadline is Oct. 31...sorry for late notice.

apply.interfolio.com/171503

A skeleton/mummy sitting on a wooden bench on a porch. The skeleton/mummy is petting a skeleton cat with one hand, and is holding a Long Drink can in the other.

Me in Halloween form.

Thank you for the kind words!

A woman's place was not in the home: Challenging the assumptions about women's work in early modern history New research has revealed that women played a fundamental role in the development of England's national economy before 1700.

“More than half of the work done by women in the period between the 16th and 18th centuries took place outside of the home, and around half of all housework and three-quarters of care work was conducted professionally for other households” [England]

phys.org/news/2025-10...

Jane Goodall, Trailblazing Primatologist and Chimpanzee Conservationist, Has Died The anthropologist was famous for her pioneering research with chimpanzees and her influence on conservation

The anthropologist was famous for her pioneering research with chimpanzees and her influence on conservation

Neandertal Cold Adaptation: Technological, Anatomical, and Physiological Responses to Cold Stress in One of Our Closest Fossil Relatives Neandertals occupied western Eurasia for over 100 000 years, repeatedly enduring climates that ranged from seasonally cold to glacial. This paper reexamines the question of Neandertal cold adaptation...

New paper out! This was a fun collaboration with Dr. Trent Holliday, Libby Cowgill, and Scott Maddux to work up a broad review on Neanderthal cold adaptations ranging from technological to physiological. This is a good one for teaching.

We referred to our collaboration as the "Coldies but Goodies"

Student webinar Series: Publishing for Students with Dr. Christopher Bae YouTube video by Human Biology Association

📢The Student Webinar Series is back!
Join Courtney Callidora Manthey and Madison Honig as they kick off the season with Dr. Christopher Bae (University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa) for a conversation on publishing as a grad student.
Don’t miss this great start to the series!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHmE...

SoS 250: Jake Aronoff's incredible journey into aging (of immune cells) Jake Aronoff is a human biologist studying immune function and aging from an evolutionary and ecological perspective. During his PhD, he studied how stress and social inequality impacts inflammation a

🎙️ New Episode Alert!

This week we sit down with Jake Aronoff, a human biologist exploring the intersections of immune function, aging, and inequality.

soundcloud.com/sausageofsci...

🎙️ New Sausage of Science Episode!
Meet Leela McKinnon, PhD Candidate in Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Toronto. Her research explores sleep health in Indigenous Wixárika communities in Jalisco, Mexico—focusing on how rural-to-urban migration impacts sleep and circadian rhythms.

HBA is recruiting a Junior Service Fellow (Assistant Producer) for “The Sausage of Science.”
🗣️ Bilingual EN/ES required
🕒 ~6 hrs/mo | 🎧 Edit + schedule + show notes + social
💸 $750 HBA travel grant
Training provided.
Apply: email interest + CV + adviser letter to cocobock@nd.edu

Doing well and keeping busy. I was on sabbatical all this last year, spending most of my time collecting data in Finland. I’m back in the classroom this fall.