Barbara J. King
Barbara J. King is a contributor to the NPR blog 13.7: Cosmos & Culture. She is a Chancellor Professor of Anthropology at the College of William and Mary. With a long-standing research interest in primate behavior and human evolution, King has studied baboon foraging in Kenya and gorilla and bonobo communication at captive facilities in the United States.
Recently, she has taken up writing about animal emotion and cognition more broadly, including in bison, farm animals, elephants and domestic pets, as well as primates.
King's most recent book is How Animals Grieve (University of Chicago Press, 2013). Her article "When Animals Mourn" in the July 2013 Scientific American has been chosen for inclusion in the 2014 anthology The Best American Science and Nature Writing. King reviews non-fiction for the Times Literary Supplement (London) and is at work on a new book about the choices we make in eating other animals. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for her work in 2002.
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When it comes to finding and preparing food, we're a continually inventive species. Anthropologist Barbara J. King asks: What are the food trends of the future?
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A storm of this magnitude affects many animals. Uplifting videos show people rescuing all kinds of animals from Hurricane Harvey's floodwaters, says anthropologist Barbara J. King.
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Barbara J. King, a professor emerita of anthropology at William and Mary, discusses whether Neanderthals had "religious capacity."
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Can't see The Boss in concert? Pick up his new memoir, which begins with 7-year-old Springsteen watching Elvis on TV. From $3-a-night shows to swooning stadiums, it's a wild and well-written ride.
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Patricia Wright arrived in the Amazon armed only with intense curiosity about secretive owl monkeys. She emerged from the jungle on a new life trajectory. Since that singular experience, she has gone on to become well known for her work with Lemurs in Madagascar. Commentator Barbara J. King interviews Wright about her new memoir.
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There's a lot to be gained from repeating the same creative tasks over and over again, introducing small variations with each turn, says commentator Barbara J. King after reading about a Van Gogh exhibit set to open this weekend at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.
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Ivan spent decades confined within a small department store display, until activists won the gorilla's transfer to a zoo. Anthropologist and ape observer Barbara J. King remembers Ivan and considers the intense impact — positive and negative — that human actions have on individual animals' lives.
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Commentator Barbara J. King recommends five novels that touch on topics in the natural and social sciences. She connects them with themes taken up here by the five writers at the 13.7 Cosmos and Culture blog.