Carta - Center For Academic Research And Training In Anthropogeny (audio)

In this talk, Cynthia Beall (Case Western Reserve Univ) describes different patterns of adaptive biological characteristics among high-altitude native populations and the accumulating evidence explaining why and how those different responses came about. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 31607]

Ajit Varki explores the human capacity for denial of reality and how that has shaped our evolution; Sheldon Solomon different philosophies surrounding mortality; and Nicholas Humphrey provides a comprehensive look at the motivations for, prevalence of and reactions to the uniquely human act for suicide. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32048]

Joseph LeDoux explores the physiological distinctions between human response to fear and anxiety and how that can inform our understanding of behaviors and concepts associated with death and mortality; Colin Renfrew explores representations of death and immortality across time and cultures as a lens with which we can understand different cultural responses to mortality and Rita Astuti examines rituals surrounding death as ways to unite communities and affirm kinship and identity within societies. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32047]

While evidence of atherosclerosis in both ancient and contemporary preindustrial humans exists, Michael Gurven (UC Santa Barbara) explains in this talk that there is less evidence that such pathology is clinically relevant.  While there may not be a single smoking gun that explains a human heart-friendly lifestyle, he argues that the importance of a well-regulated immune system may be central. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 31605]

Oxford University's Dora Biro, University of Washington's John Marzluff and Harvard's Paul Harris explore reactions of other animals to death among their own kind, and what and how concepts of death develop in children. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32046]

Matthias Meyer (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology) discusses the technical difficulties one faces when working with poorly preserved ancient material and the insights this work provides into human evolution in the Middle Pleistocene (e.g., the 400,000 year-old hominin remains from a cave site in Northern Spain). Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30977]

Harvard’s Daniel Lieberman argues that genus Homo differs from other early hominins through an integrated suite of behaviors, collectively termed hunting and gathering, that emerged sometime between 3 and 2 mya. The emergent properties associated with hunting and gathering made possible increased access to energy. More energy, in turn, led to further selection for increased brain size, larger body size, and slower life histories, characteristics which are all associated with the genus Homo. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30640]

Q&A, and Closing Remarks for Awareness of Death and Personal Mortality: Implications for Anthropogeny Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32060]

Nicholas Humphrey provides opening remarks and context for the CARTA symposium: Awareness of Death and Personal Mortality: Implications for Anthropogeny Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32059]

Fred Gage opens the CARTA symposium Awareness of Death and Personal Mortality: Implications for Anthropogeny. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32058]

Sheldon Solomon explores how humans manage the terror of death, and the larger implications of this quest for immortality via death denial.  Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32056]

Ajit Varki gives an in-depth look at how and why the unique human characteristics or abilities of denying reality, self-deception, holding false beliefs, optimism bias and irrational risk-taking behavior; traits that should be evolutionarily maladaptive, developed, and are part of what makes us human. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32053]

In this presentation, Leslie Aiello explains that although the fossil record offers clues that cooperative childcare may have been present early in the evolution of genus Homo, the full human life history pattern including both extended childhood growth and development and longevity were much more recent evolutionary developments. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30644]

Charles Nunn (Duke Univ) identifies selective pressures that may play a role in favoring shorter sleep in humans, and considers the consequences of these evolutionary changes for understanding human sleep disorders, health across the lifespan, and health disparities. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 31609]

"My mother's kin are not my father's kin."  David Haig (Harvard Univ) explains in this talk that this asymmetry results in conflicting selective forces acting on genes of maternal and paternal origin revealed in the phenomenon of genomic imprinting.  He provides several examples of disorders of imprinted gene expression. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 31602]

This symposium brings together experts who offer examples of applications of evolutionary biology and comparative medicine to the understanding, prevention, and treatment of various illnesses. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 31598]

Joshua Akey (Univ of Washington) and his team have developed methods to identify Neandertal sequences that persist in the DNA of modern individuals and applied it to whole-genome sequences from over 1,500 geographically diverse individuals. Their data provide new insights into hominin evolutionary history and genomic regions that may harbor substrates of uniquely modern human phenotypes. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30980]

This symposium brings together experts who offer examples of applications of evolutionary biology and comparative medicine to the understanding, prevention, and treatment of various illnesses. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 31597]

This symposium brings together experts who offer examples of applications of evolutionary biology and comparative medicine to the understanding, prevention, and treatment of various illnesses. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 31596]

Barbara Natterson-Horowitz (UCLA) explains in this talk why increasing awareness of the occurrence of "diseases of civilization" in humans and in wild animal species offers a path towards a more empathic and more accurate understanding of the nature of health and disease. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 31601]