Dr. Tessa Solomon-Lane, Asst. Professor of Biology, Keck Science Dept., Claremont McKenna, Pitzer & Scripps Colleges More info: https://tessasolomonlane.com/ This speaker will be presenting in person. Growing up in a dynamic social world: early-life effects on behavior and neuroendocrine function   Abstract: Why, and how, do individuals behave the way they do? Social behavior has long […]

Dr. Assal Habibi, Assoc. Professor of Psychology, University of Southern California This speaker will be presenting in person. The Brain's Crescendo; How Music Training Impacts Child Development  Abstract: In an ongoing multi-year longitudinal study, we have been investigating the effects of a group-based music training program on development of children, beginning at age 6, using […]

Dr. Amy Lu, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Anthropology, Stony Brook University This talk will be presented via Zoom. Female counterstrategies to infanticide in lactating gelada females: adaptive, but not cost-free Abstract: Adverse socioecological conditions can have pervasive effects on health and fitness. For mothers, adverse conditions can trigger cost-cutting strategies that limit investment in reproduction. […]

Dr. Laurel Fogarty, Senior Scientist, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology This talk will be presented via Zoom. Cultural rescue: avoiding extinction with gene-culture coevolution.  Abstract: It is often suggested that the adaptability and success of human populations is a direct result of our sophisticated cultural abilities. Previously, we have suggested that in cases where […]

Dr. Caroline Schuppli, Max Planck Research Group leader, MPI for Animal Behavior This talk will be presented via Zoom on some date yet to be determined in spring of 2023.  Skill acquisition and life history: towards a better understanding of cognitive evolution Abstract: Cognitive capacity gets selected for via skills and abilities which provide individuals […]

Dr. Marina Davila-Ross, Reader in Comparative Psychology, University of Portsmouth This talk will be presented via Zoom. Laughter and Smiles: Towards understanding the Complexity and Phylogenetic Continuity of Positive Communication in Hominids Abstract: Laughter and smiles are arguably the strongest behavioural indicators of positive emotional states in humans and they also represent pervasive tools of […]

Dr Amanda Lea, Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University http://lea-lab.org/index.html Title: Lifestyle change and health in the Turkana of northwest Kenya Abstract: The environments experienced by individuals living “modern”, “urban”, or “Western” lifestyles are deeply diverged from the ancestral selection pressures that have shaped human genomes through evolutionary time. Consequently, many have hypothesized that this […]

Dr. Asher Rosinger Department of Biobehavioral Health, Penn State https://hhd.psu.edu/contact/asher-rosinger This talk will be presented via Zoom. Abstract: Dr. Asher Rosinger will discuss one of humanity's oldest and increasingly important questions, how do populations meet their water needs in areas with water problems and how do these strategies affect health and well-being. This talk will discuss how […]

Dr. Sriram Sankararaman UCLA Departments of Computer Science, Human Genetics, and Computational Medicine http://web.cs.ucla.edu/~sriram/ This talk will be in person as well as being accessible via Zoom. Title: The role of archaic admixture in human evolution                                        […]

Dr. Tina Lasisi, Quantitative and Computational Biology, USC https://anth.la.psu.edu/research/research-labs/jablonski-lab/dr-tina-lasisi/ Dr. Lasisi will present in person, as well as via Zoom. Title: Hair, skin, and the racialization of human variation. Abstract: After decades of broadcasting the message that race is a social construct, we find uncritical taxonomic groupings of humans creep back into discussions across disciplines. […]