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 […]

Hunter-gatherers, evolutionary mismatch and mental disorder Nikhil Chaudhary Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge *Note: This speaker will be remote; However, we will still be meeting in Haines 352 to watch the talk and conduct the Q&A. Humans lived as hunter-gatherers for the vast majority of our evolutionary history, therefore it has […]

Dawn of the Anthropocene: How humans in a warming climate drove Pleistocene mammal extinctions and re-shaped California’s landscapes Emily Lindsey Tar Pits/UCLA The relative roles late-Quaternary climate changes and human actions played in the extinction of most of the world’s large mammals at the end of the Ice Age have been long-debated.  One key challenge […]

Insights from the tropics: a social-ecological systems approach to understanding climate change Elsa Ordway UCLA The tropics are experiencing dramatic changes as a result of climate change and land-use change. Shifts in carbon flux dynamics, water cycling, and species composition are resulting in feedbacks with globally important consequences. However, tropical forests are not a monolith. […]

How Past Pandemics Shaped the Evolution of Human Immunity – Lessons from Ancient Genomes Eduardo Amorim Cal State Northridge Pathogen exposure has played a pivotal role in shaping human evolution. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) reveal that the genetic predisposition to infections arises from the contribution of thousands of loci across the genome, indicating a polygenic […]

The effect of population history on patterns of genetic diversity at the TAS2R bitter taste receptor genes in West Central and Central African populations Michael Campbell USC Bitter taste perception is a highly variable trait in humans, and the ability to detect bitter compounds has been largely attributed to genetic variants in 25 bitter taste […]