DAVID R. SAMSON, Ph.D
PROFESSOR OF EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
About David
David Samson is an Associate Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Toronto, Mississauga, and Director of the Sleep and Human Evolution Lab (SHEL). He is the author of The Sleepless Ape: The Story of Sleep in Human Evolution (Princeton University Press, 2026) and Our Tribal Future: How to channel our foundational human instincts into a force for good.
Prior to joining the University of Toronto, David completed his PhD at Indiana University and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Duke University.
Media
David has been an invited guest speaker at organizations around the world, including National Geographic Society and The World Sleep Society. He has made guest appearances on CBC's The Nature of Things, narrated by David Suzuki. CBC Radio-Quirks & Quarks. BBC's Chris Packham's Animal Einsteins and TVOL's The Agenda with Steve Paikin. He's given talk at Anthropology and Psychology departments throughout North America and Europe.
Time: Humans sleep less than closely-ralated mammals ~ By Victor Luckerson
BBC News: Lark or night owl? Blame your ancestors ~ By Helen Briggs
New York Times: Down from the trees, humans finally got a decent night's sleep ~ By Carl Zimmer
Featured Publications
2025 Samson, D.R. & McKinnon, L. Are humans undergoing a sleep epidemic or enlightenment? Sleepers in the Global North exhibit long and efficient sleep yet weaker circadian function. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 292: 20242319.
2021 Samson, D.R. The human sleep paradox: the unexpected sleeping habits of Homo sapiens. Annual Review of Anthropology.
2017 Samson, D.R., A.N. Crittenden, I.A. Mabulla, A.Z.P. Mabulla, and C.L. Nunn. Evidence that humans evolved to be natural, nighttime sleep sentinels. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 284: 20170967.
2017 Samson, D.R., et al. The evolution of human sleep: technological and cultural innovation with sleep-wake regulation among Hadza hunter-gatherers. Journal of Human Evolution.
2015 Samson, D.R. & Nunn, C.L. Sleep intensity and the evolution of human cognition. Evolutionary Anthropology. 24(6): 225-237.
2014 Samson, D.R. & Hunt, K.D. Chimpanzees preferentially select sleeping platform construction tree species with biomechanical properties that yield stable, firm but compliant nests. PLOS ONE. 9: e103769.
Speaking
Featured Talk: The Sleepless Ape
Teaching
Applied evolutionary science exists, but just barely….part of that problem emerges out of mechanistic assumptions that can lull scientists into believing that once a system or domain is adequately modeled, it will be obvious how to create change – just pull the right levers!
~ Paul Atkins, David Sloan Wilson, and Steven Hayes (2019)
Propaganda and disinformation, divisive ideologies, and political extremism: these account for a sizable portion of human misery. But how do we keep these "mind parasites" from proliferating? In fact, a developing science can help us study mental immune systems, work out how to strengthen them, and together inoculate willing minds. This new science is Cognitive immunology and is the study of mental immunity – a mind's resistance to bad ideas, misinformation and divisive ideologies. I believe my role as an academic striving towards excellence in teaching goes beyond simple knowledge transfer. The role of an excellent teacher is to enhance the cognitive immune system of their students. The new approach centers on an unnerving idea: bad ideas act like mind parasites – literal pathogens that infect our mind and its ability to discriminate ideas that are good from bad. Mental immunity functions to ask questions, test ideas, harbor reservations and revise opinions. When an entire society has compromised mental immune systems, it results in a cultural immune disorder. Applying cognitive immunology in the classroom may be one of the greatest responsibilities of 21st century teachers.
Books
THE SLEEPLESS APE: THE STORY OF SLEEP IN HUMAN EVOLUTION
Despite sleep’s critical role in health and cognition, humans sleep less than any other primate. David Samson reveals how our unique sleep patterns evolved when early humans left the trees, forming social sleeping groups that fueled survival, innovation, and deeper cognition. A groundbreaking look at how our evolutionary sleep legacy can solve modern sleep challenges.
OUR TRIBAL FUTURE
In an age of polarization, David Samson shows how understanding our tribal nature — rooted in deep evolutionary history — can help us build stronger communities and navigate division. Blending anthropology, psychology, and real-world insight, this book offers a hopeful path toward cooperation in a fractured world.
Contact me
Speaking Inquiries & Media
Canada
Speakers Spotlight
request@speakers.ca
(Please include your full name in the subject line)
US Talks
Princeton University Press
pupspeaks@press.princeton.edu
(For speaking engagements)
Watch Recent Talks
