Investigations into explaining human diversity

Testing new methods of talking about culture

Observations about society and contemporary social issues

Research on the human condition

Culture Lab @ DMNS is an anthropology web channel for the public. With magazine-style articles, editorials, news updates, and experiments with digital media, Culture Lab seeks to explain the core concepts of culture and also to share the newest anthropological research with the public. Culture Lab is run by Dr. Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh, a curator at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

The top conversations about culture currently found on the web:

1. From The New Yorker's Annals of Anthropology, read Malcolm Galdwell's article "Drinking Games," a fascinating account of how a person's response to alcohol is shaped by culture. Read here.

2. With stunning photos and stories, National Geographic Explorer Wade Davis celebrates the extraordinary diversity of the world's indigenous cultures, which are disappearing from the planet at an alarming rate. Watch here.

3. Where do good ideas come from? Author Steven Johnson's creative summation of his latest book, which answers this question with spellbinding twists and turns. Watch here.

Culture Lab readers' questions answered here:

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Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh (pronounced, chawn-ta-pone) is Curator of Anthropology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. His research interests include: Native American ethnology and archaeology, heritage management, collaborative methods, social and political uses of history, repatriation, cultural landscapes, and research ethics. Dr. Chip received his PhD from Indiana University and his BA from the University of Arizona. Before coming to the Museum, he held a post-doctoral fellowship with the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He sits on the editorial board of American Anthropologist, and currently is co-editor of Museum Anthropology. He has published more than 30 articles and book chapters, and has authored and edited eight books. He is a recipient of the 2009 National Council on Public History Book Award.