CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (Audio)

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]

New fossil evidence of hominin diversity suggests that there was not a single transition to human-like body form in early Homo. In this talk, Carol Ward explains how this may be changing our ideas about the origins of our genus. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30643]

Canadian Rap-Artist, award-winning playwright, and former tree-planter Baba Brinkman brings his singular form of "peer-reviewed" Rap to the CARTA symposium Implications of Anthropogeny for Medicine and Public Health with a very special performance of unique Raps on disease, evolution and even the symposium itself. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 31611]

In this inaugural presentation to incoming UC San Diego Medical School students, Dr. Ajit Varki, Executive Co-Director of CARTA, provides an evolutionary perspective on understanding human health and disease. Why? Because The biological aspects of medicine are rooted in understanding the evolution of our species, and those of other organisms that interact with us in health and disease. Thus, to paraphrase Dobzhansky, “nothing in the biological aspects of medicine makes sense except in the light of evolution.” Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 31730]

In the last seven years, two hominin species possessing a mixture of primitive and Homo-like morphology – Australopithecus sediba and Homo naledi – have been discovered in South Africa. Duke University’s Steven Churchill believes that these remarkable finds call for new models in not only understanding the origins of genus Homo, but also the emergence of Homo erectus. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30642]

Harvard’s Philip Rightmire describes the rich array of early hominin fossils discovered at the Dmanisi site in the Georgian Caucasus. He maintains that these fossils can most reasonably be attributed to Homo erectus, but several of the skeletons display primitive anatomy. That means that the boundaries between H. erectus and other early Homo taxa are less distinct, making it difficult to identify diagnostic traits. He concludes that the emergence of the Homo clade was characterized more by an overlap of groups evolving 2.0 to 1.0 mya, rather than obvious diversity between species. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30639]

Welcome and introduction to the CARTA syposium, Implications of Anthropogeny for Medicine and Public Health. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 31599]

Opening remarks to the CARTA syposium, Implications of Anthropogeny for Medicine and Public Health. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 31600]

Closing Remarks and Audience Questions for the CARTA syposium, Implications of Anthropogeny for Medicine and Public Health. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 31610]

The search for the “origin of Homo” suggests we know what we are looking for, so unless we are clear about that, then how will we know when we have found it? In this talk, Bernard Wood (George Washington Univ) explains what he looks for within the fossil record when searching for the origins of our own genus, Homo. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30637]

The age of origin of the Homo lineage is thought to have fallen between 2.5 and 3.0 mya. However, William Kimbel (Arizona State Univ) argues in this talk that recent fossil and stone tool discoveries call for a new evaluation of factors involved in the origin and the early evolution of Homo. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30638]

The human species underwent a watershed change in the biochemical composition of its cell surfaces, via a genetic event estimated to have occurred ~2-3 mya, which is also the apparent period of the emergence of the genus Homo. In this talk, UC San Diego’s Pascal Gagneux explains how this radical makeover of cell surfaces in early Homo would have brought about a mismatch between females lacking a certain cell surface sialic acid and males still expressing it, essentially providing a mechanism for reproductive isolation and speciation. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30641]

Jeff Severinghaus of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego addresses Abrupt Climate Transitions and Humans. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 29691]

Jessica Sommerville (Univ of Washington) reviews evidence to suggest that, within the first year of life, infants develop an understanding of transient mental states (such as goals and desires), enduring personal dispositions (such as preferences), and socio-moral norms (such as fairness norms), that is driven by their own actions on the world, as well as their interactions with other people. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 26082]

Johannes Krause (Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History) and his research team analyzed more than 200 ancient human genomes spanning the last 10,000 years of Western Eurasian pre-history. They found direct evidence for two major genetic turnover events at the beginning and at the end of the Neolithic time period in Europe, which they attribute to two major migrations. This explains why all modern European populations are a genetic mixture of steppe pastoralist, early farmers and indigenous European hunter-gatherers in varying proportion. This genetic mixture together with local biological adaptation has led to major changes in human phenotypes such as eye color, skin color, and the ability to digest milk sugar over the past 10,000 years. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30982]

Tony Capra (Vanderbilt Univ) and his team analyzed the contribution of common Neandertal variants to over 1000 electronic health record (EHR)-derived phenotypes in ~28,000 adults of European ancestry. Their results establish that archaic admixture influences disease risk in modern humans, provide hypotheses about the effects of hundreds of Neandertal haplotypes, and demonstrate the utility of HER data in evolutionary analyses. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30981]

In this talk, María Avila-Arcos (National Autonomous University of Mexico) presents a review of the current state of knowledge of the genetic history of the Americas as revealed by ancient and modern DNA studies. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30983]

Conclusion, Audience Questions and Closing Remarks for the CARTA symposium: Ancient DNA and Human Evolution. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30984]

UC Santa Cruz’s Ed Green delivers the opening remarks for the CARTA symposium: Ancient DNA and Human Evolution Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30974]

Brenna Henn (Stony Brook Univ) explores patterns of genetic diversity across Africa and models for modern human origins in this talk. She discusses whether genetic data is concordant with archaeological data and suggests directions for future research. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30979]

Pascal Gagneaux welcomes guests to the CARTA symposium: Ancient DNA and Human Evolution Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30973]

In this talk Kay Prüfer (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology) explains that the analysis of high coverage genome sequences from two archaic human individuals (a Neandertal and a Denisovan) has revealed that they are more closely related to one another than they are to modern humans. The analysis also shows that gene flow was not uncommon among human groups in the Pleistocene. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30978]

This symposium brings together researchers at the forefront of ancient DNA research and population genetics to discuss current developments and share insights about human migration and adaptation. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30972]

This symposium brings together researchers at the forefront of ancient DNA research and population genetics to discuss current developments and share insights about human migration and adaptation. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30971]

This symposium brings together researchers at the forefront of ancient DNA research and population genetics to discuss current developments and share insights about human migration and adaptation. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30970]

Rachel Mayberry of UC San Diego and her team have discovered that linguistic stimulation during early life is necessary for the human language capacity to develop fully. The longer the child matures without language, the more atypical linguistic functioning and brain language processing become in adulthood. Thus, the universal human ability to learn language and the ability of the traditional regions of the brain to process language crucially depend upon the timing of linguistic experience in early human development. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 29404]

Charles Kennel of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego provides introductory background for this symposium which presents varied perspectives from earth scientists, ecologists, and paleoanthropologists on how climate may have shaped human evolution, as well as the prospects for the future of world climate, ecosystems, and our species. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 29687]

Robert Franciscus (Univ of Iowa) explains that anatomically modern humans are recognized in the fossil record primarily by retraction and diminution of the facial skeleton compared to pre-modern “archaic” humans. He then describes a promising model for the advent of facial diminution, which suggests that anatomically modern humans represent a ‘self-domesticated’ species where selection for increased social tolerance led to growth and developmental alterations producing craniofacial “feminization,” which itself results in a phenotypic signal of reduced aggressiveness. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 28897]

Veerabhadran Ramanathan of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego addresses efforts towards mitigation of climate change. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 29696]

In this talk, Wenda Trevathan of New Mexico State University focuses on energetic and biomechanical factors that converge at the time of birth to set the stage for an enormously expanded role of child-rearing in human evolution. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 28029]

William Ruddiman of the University of Virginia on how humans took control of climate. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 29692]

The evolution of mostly naked skin in the human lineage heralded major changes in the biological and social functions of skin. Nina Jablonski of Pennsylvania State University provides many examples of both in this wonderful presentation. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30211]

This symposium explores evidence bearing on the emergence of our genus, focusing on possible antecedents to Homo, changes in diet and body form as Australopithecus evolved toward Homo, ancient species within the genus, and evolutionary processes likely operating 2.5 - 1.5 million years ago. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30634]

Steven Churchill opens the symposium on Origins of Genus Homo. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30636]

Margaret Schoeninger welcomes you to the symposium on Origins of Genus Homo. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30635]

In this talk, Herman Pontzer investigates humans’ evolving metabolic strategy and its origins in the fossil record. He discusses the ecological pressures that shaped our genus and the evolutionary origins of obesity and metabolic disease. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30645]

Philip Rightmire and Ajit Varki wrap up the symposium with a questions and answer session and closing remarks. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30646]

This symposium explores evidence bearing on the emergence of our genus, focusing on possible antecedents to Homo, changes in diet and body form as Australopithecus evolved toward Homo, ancient species within the genus, and evolutionary processes likely operating 2.5 - 1.5 million years ago. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30633]

This symposium explores evidence bearing on the emergence of our genus, focusing on possible antecedents to Homo, changes in diet and body form as Australopithecus evolved toward Homo, ancient species within the genus, and evolutionary processes likely operating 2.5 - 1.5 million years ago. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30632]

In this presentation UC San Diego’s Rob Knight describes some of the functions of the human skin microbiome, how it and its complex chemical repertoire differ from that of other animals that have been studied, including chimpanzees, dogs, amphibians and reptiles, and what we are starting to learn about how microbiomes evolve into specialized evolutionary niches. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 30216]

Steven Leigh (Univ of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) explores the nature of the primate microbiome with the goal of understanding the impacts of microbiomes on human evolution. His results point to important contributions of microbial ecosystems to the evolution of human diet. He also sees implications for human brain evolution through energy and micronutrients that are produced by microbial taxa. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 24836]

This symposium brings together scientists representing evolutionary biology, genetics, dermatology, anthropology, and physiology to share their knowledge and questions about human skin in an explicitly evolutionary framework. UC San Diego’s Rob Knight begins with a discussion about Ecology and Evolution of the Skin Microbiome, followed by Mark Stoneking on Of Lice and Men: The Molecular Evolution of Human Lice, and Chris Kuzawa on Subcutaneous Fat in Humans. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 30207]

This symposium brings together scientists representing evolutionary biology, genetics, dermatology, anthropology, and physiology to share their knowledge and questions about human skin in an explicitly evolutionary framework. Mark Shriver begins with a discussion about The Genetics of Skin Pigmentation, followed by Nina Jablonski on Naked, Colorful Skin and Its Role in Human Social Interactions, and James Cleaver on The Skin and Ultraviolet Radiation: Effects on DNA and Carcinogenesis Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30205]

Elizabeth Hadly of Stanford University delivers a sobering accounting of evidence that forecasts a climatic tipping point and what it may mean to our future. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 29694]

In this presentation, James Cleaver of UC San Francisco shares some surprising results from studies of mutagenesis from UV light in two hereditary syndromes -- xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) and Cockayne syndrome (CS) -- which have mutations in the nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30212]

This symposium brings together scientists representing evolutionary biology, genetics, dermatology, anthropology, and physiology to share their knowledge and questions about human skin in an explicitly evolutionary framework. UC San Diego’s Richard Gallo begins with a discussion about Skin, a Window into the Evolution of the Human Super-Organism, followed by Michael Sawka on Human Skin: Sweating, Thermoregulation, and Water Balance, and Sarah Millar on Evolution of Hair Follicles, Mammary Glands, and Sweat Glands in Humans and Other Mammals. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30206]