Publications

Scientific publications

Young M, Richard D, Grabowski M, Auerbach BM, de Bakker BS, Hagoort J, Muthuirulan P, Kharkar V, Kurki HK, Betti L, Birkenstock L, Lewton KL, and Capellini TD 2022. The developmental impacts of natural selection on human pelvic morphology. Science Advances 8: eabq4884.

Betti L 2021. Shaping birth: variation in the birth canal and the importance of inclusive obstetric care. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 376: 20200024.

Betti L, Beyer R., Jones ER, Eriksson A, Tassi F, Siska V, Leonardi M, Maisano Delser P, Bentley L, Nigst PR, Stock JT, Pinhasi R, and Manica A 2020. Climate shaped how Neolithic farmers and European hunter-gatherers interacted after a major slowdown from 6,100 BCE to 4,500 BCE. Nature Human Behaviour 4: 1004–1010.

Betti L, Shaw P, and Behrends V 2020. Acceptance of biological evolution in first-year Life Sciences university students. Science & Education 29: 395–409.

Betti L and Manica A 2018. Human variation in the shape of the birth canal is significant and geographically structured. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 285: 20181807.

Betti L 2017. Human variation in pelvic shape and the effects of climate and past population history. The Anatomical Record 300: 687–697.

Betti L, Lycett SJ, von Cramon-Taubadel N, and Pearson OM 2015. Are human hands and feet affected by climate? A test of Allen’s Rule. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 158: 132–140.

Betti L, von Cramon-Taubadel N, Manica A, and Lycett SJ 2014. The interaction of neutral evolutionary processes with climatically-driven adaptive changes in the 3D shape of the human os coxae. Journal of Human Evolution 73: 64–74.

Betti L 2014. Sexual dimorphism in the size and shape of the os coxae and the effects of micro-evolutionary processes. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 153: 167–177.

Betti L, von Cramon-Taubadel N, Manica A, and Lycett SJ 2013. Global geometric morphometric analyses of the human pelvis reveal substantial neutral population history effects, even across sexes. PLOS ONE 8: e55909.

Eriksson A, Betti L, Friend AD, Lycett SJ, Singarayer JS, Von Cramon-Taubadel N, Valdes PJ, Balloux F, and Manica A 2012. Late Pleistocene climate change and the global expansion of anatomically modern humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 109: 16089–16094.

Betti L, von Cramon-Taubadel N, and Lycett SJ 2012. Human pelvis and long bones reveal differential preservation of ancient population history and migration out of Africa. Human Biology 84: 139–152.

Betti L, Balloux F, Hanihara T, and Manica A 2010. The relative role of drift and selection in shaping the human skull. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 141: 76–82.

Betti L, Balloux F, Amos W, Hanihara T, and Manica A 2009. Ancient demography, not climate, explains within-population phenotypic diversity in humans. Proceeding of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 276: 809–814.

Lay summaries

Betti L, and Manica A 2019. Women’s birth canals are extremely variable in shape. The Science Breaker.

Cattaneo C, Porta D, Mazzucchi A, Steffenini D, Betti L, De Angelis D 2007. Lo scheletro al servizio dell’archeologia. In Milano Antica V secolo a.C. – V secolo d.C., guida alla mostra permanente. Edizioni Et, Milano. pp. 131–138.

Media coverage

Media reports

• The Financial, 1 October 2022, “What makes us human? It’s all in the hips” (by Juan Siliezar)
• Pourquoi Docteur, 16 September 2022, “Pelvis: comment se forme cette structure osseuse unique à l’être humain?” (by Geneviéve Andrianaly).
• Science, 18 August 2022, “Genes reveal how our pelvis evolved for upright walking” (by Michael Price).
• Der Standard, 12 July 2020, “Kühles Klima bremste in Europa Einwanderung von Bauern aus der Levante”.
• Science, 23 October 2018, “Birth canals are different all over the world, countering a long-held evolutionary theory” (by Erica Tennenhouse).
• Agence France Presse, 24 October 2018, “Women’s birth canals in Kenya, Korea, Kansas not the same: study” / “Le canal que suit un bébé pendant l’accouchement diffère selon l’origine de la mère (étude)” (by Marlowe Hood).
• The Guardian, 24 October 2018, “Focus on western women ‘skewed our ideas of what birth should look like’” (by Nicola Davis).
• The Scientist, 24 October 2018, “Human birth canal varies more widely than previously thought” (by Anna Azvolinsky).
• The New York Times, 27 October 2018, “Why textbooks may need to update what they say about birth canals” (by Steph Yin).
• OggiScienza, 26 November 2018, “Il canale del parto tra evoluzione e assistenza al travaglio” (by Valentina Murelli).
• Science, 20 December 2018, “Our favorite science news stories of 2018” (by David Grimm).
• La Stampa, 27 December 2018, “L’evoluzione del corpo femminile e il parto: ricerca internazionale di due scienziati novaresi” (by Maria Paola Arbeia).
• Il Cittadino Oleggese, 11 January 2019, “La scienziata Lia Betti da Oleggio a Londra” (by Miranda Minella).

Radio interviews

• BBC World Service, World Update (interviewed by Julian Marshall), 24 October 2018.
• BBC World Service, Newshour (interviewed by Rasia Iqbal), 24 October 2018.
• Radio France Internationale, “New birth canal research could improve quality & safety for non-European mothers” (interviewed by Laura Angela Bagnetto), 24 October 2018.