Yara Haridi
👤 Person
4
appearances
Podcast Appearances
NPR News Now
NPR News: 05-21-2025 5PM EDT
Scientists have been reasonably sure our teeth evolved from the bumpy, armored exoskeletons of prehistoric fish. Yara Haridi is an evolutionary biologist at the University of Chicago.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 05-21-2025 5PM EDT
But researchers didn't know whether there was more to the bumps than self-defense. Haridi and her colleagues have now shown, through experiments on both extinct and living animals, that that armor likely allowed the ancient fish to sense the water around them.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 05-21-2025 5PM EDT
Hundreds of millions of years later, our teeth, which originated from that armor, have inherited the ability to sense cold and pain as well. Ari Daniel, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 05-21-2025 5PM EDT
How the hunt for gangster Al Capone launched the IRS to power.