2010-11 Series
October 7 2010
Dr. Melvin Konner, Emory University
“Childhood Evolving: The Role of Development in the Evolution of Mind”
Watch this lecture on iTunesU
Melvin Konner, a biological anthropologist, is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Program in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology at Emory University. He earned his PhD (1973) and MD (1985) from Harvard. Dr. Konner is a globally recognized expert on how evolution, biology, and culture together shape child development and human nature, and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, among other major professional recognitions. Dr. Konner has published ten acclaimed books for academic and general audiences, including The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit (1982/2002; American Book Award Nominee), Childhood: A Multicultural View (1991), Why the Reckless Survive and Other Secrets of Human Nature (1990), and most recently The Evolution of Childhood: Relationships, Emotion, Mind (2010). He also was among the first to recognize the importance of evolution to contemporary health, and published The Paleolithic Prescription: A Guide to Diet and Exercise and a Design for Living (1988) with S. Boyd Eaton and Marjorie Shostak. Dr. Konner is an active public communicator and advocate, testifying twice before the US Senate on health care reform and end-of-life care, appearing in two public television series, and writing for (among others) Newsweek, The Sciences, The American Prospect, and The New York Times Magazine.
Dr. Melvin Konner, Emory University
“Childhood Evolving: The Role of Development in the Evolution of Mind”
Watch this lecture on iTunesU
Melvin Konner, a biological anthropologist, is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Program in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology at Emory University. He earned his PhD (1973) and MD (1985) from Harvard. Dr. Konner is a globally recognized expert on how evolution, biology, and culture together shape child development and human nature, and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, among other major professional recognitions. Dr. Konner has published ten acclaimed books for academic and general audiences, including The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit (1982/2002; American Book Award Nominee), Childhood: A Multicultural View (1991), Why the Reckless Survive and Other Secrets of Human Nature (1990), and most recently The Evolution of Childhood: Relationships, Emotion, Mind (2010). He also was among the first to recognize the importance of evolution to contemporary health, and published The Paleolithic Prescription: A Guide to Diet and Exercise and a Design for Living (1988) with S. Boyd Eaton and Marjorie Shostak. Dr. Konner is an active public communicator and advocate, testifying twice before the US Senate on health care reform and end-of-life care, appearing in two public television series, and writing for (among others) Newsweek, The Sciences, The American Prospect, and The New York Times Magazine.
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December 2 2010
Dr. Hopi Hoekstra, Harvard University ‘From Darwin to DNA: How Organisms Adapt to Their Environment’ Watch this lecture on iTunesU Dr. Hopi Hoekstra is John L. Loeb Associate Professor of Biology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and the Curator of Mammals at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. Concerning her research interests and this lecture, she states: “Our planet is teeming with a stunning display of biological diversity—from star-nose moles to the giant blue morpho butterflies to majestic redwoods and the toxic deathcap mushrooms. How did this diversity evolve? With the recent advent of new DNA sequencing technologies, we are now able to answer this question with unprecedented precision by studying the genetic code. In my lecture, I will present one of the most complete studies of adaptive change in nature—the evolution of camouflaging coloration in mice inhabiting the coastal dunes of Alabama and Florida. Examples such as this are of growing importance for education as we live in a country in which less than half our citizens accept evolution.” Hoekstra received a bachelor’s degree in integrative biology from the University of California, Berkeley, and her doctorate in zoology from the University of Washington. She was an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Arizona, where she studied the genetic basis of adaptive melanism in pocket mice. In 2003, she became an assistant professor at the University of California, San Diego. She joined Harvard’s faculty in 2007. She is broadly interested in the genetic basis of adaptation and speciation in vertebrates. |
January 20 2011
Dr. Mary H. Schweitzer, North Carolina State University
“T. Rex Under the Microscope: a New Look at an Old Dinosaur”
Dr. Mary H. Schweitzer, North Carolina State University
“T. Rex Under the Microscope: a New Look at an Old Dinosaur”
February 24 2011
Dr. Christopher diCarlo, Advisory Fellow CFI Canada
“We Are All African: Can Scientific Proof of Our Commonality Save Us?”
Watch this lecture on iTunesU
Dr. Christopher diCarlo, Advisory Fellow CFI Canada
“We Are All African: Can Scientific Proof of Our Commonality Save Us?”
Watch this lecture on iTunesU
March 24 2011
Dr. Douglas Futuyma, Stony Brook University
“Evolution: The Most Important Theory in Biology”
Dr. Douglas Futuyma, Stony Brook University
“Evolution: The Most Important Theory in Biology”