Groupishness is a tendency to commit prosocial acts for which the pathway to compensatory fitness benefits is unpredictable. It is unique to humans, and its evolution is not well understood. A difficulty is that the adaptive value of groupishness comes from indirect reciprocity, which is hard to explain in societies that contain power asymmetries such […]
For better or worse, humans are now one of the major causal forces acting on the earth’s biosphere. Many would point to technology as the reason, but what exactly is technology? In this lecture, I will develop an evolutionarily grounded definition of technology that highlights three key features: material production, social collaboration, and cultural reproduction. […]
This is a special BEC talk in honor of the retirement of one of BEC's core faculty members, Joe Manson. Please note the special time! Refreshments and snacks on the balcony of the anthropology department will follow Joe's talk.
The 600-million-year history of human affective disorder Barbara Natterson-Horowitz Division of Cardiology, UCLA School of Medicine Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UCLA Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School Fifty years ago this October, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to three animal […]
The Gero-Exposome, a life history approach to diversity of human longevity Caleb Finch, PhD ARCO and Kieschnick Professor, Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, USC From egg to exit, human life history is determined by environmental interactions with our genome (GxE). The Gero-Exposome provides a framework for analyzing GxE interactions with life style, biomes, and systemic […]
Intergenerational impacts of adversity on mind-body health - pathways through interoception and the gut-brain axis Bridget Callaghan Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, UCLA Children’s early experiences with caregivers impact their mental and physical health across the lifespan. Such early caregiving experiences can become biologically and psychologically embedded within an individual, contributing to intergenerational transmission of […]
Reward and Cognitive Function in Adolescent Psychopathology Katie Karlsgodt UCLA Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry Adolescence is a time when exploration, and even risk-taking, can be considered an adaptive part of the typical developmental experience. This period of enhanced risk-taking allows for new learning, particularly about the social world, and is a critical part of establishing […]
Exploration of human genetic and phenotypic diversity through cell villages Michael Wells Assistant Professor, UCLA Department of Human Genetics Human genome variation contributes to diversity in neurodevelopmental outcomes and vulnerabilities; recognizing the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms will require scalable approaches. Here, I will describe a ‘‘cell village’’ experimental platform we used to analyze genetic, […]
Social aging in wild chimpanzees Zarin Machanda Tufts University, Departments of Anthropology and Biology Humans are living longer lives than ever before and so it is critical to understand the process of aging. It has become increasingly recognized that successful aging is not just about physical health but also about our social lives. Chimpanzees are […]
Traditionalism, pathogen avoidance, and competing tradeoffs during a global pandemic Theo Samore University of Otago Individuals vary in the extent to which they embrace their society’s traditions, as well as in the perception of threats as salient and necessitating mitigation. Traditionalism and threat sensitivity may be linked if—over evolutionary time—traditions offered avenues for reliably addressing […]
