The 2014-2015 Series
The 2014-15 ALLELE series is sponsored by generous support from the departments of Religious Studies, Speech Pathology, Geological Sciences, Biological Sciences, Anthropology, and Philosophy; and the College of Arts & Sciences. Thank you for your continued support of quality evolutionary programming!
Anthony Martin: "What Dinosaur Trace Fossils Tell Us About Evolution"
Watch this lecture on Vimeo
Thursday, October 2, 2014, 7:30 PM
Tony Martin is a paleontologist and geologist who specializes in ichnology, the study of modern and ancient traces caused by animal behavior, such as tracks, trails, burrows, and nests. He is a Professor of Practice in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Emory University, where he has been for nearly 25 years. At Emory, he teaches a variety of courses in paleontology, geology, and the environmental sciences on campus and in field courses, including study-abroad programs.
Along with his interest in the ichnology of the Georgia barrier islands—summarized in his book Life Traces of the Georgia Coast (2013, Indiana University Press)—Dr. Martin has studied modern traces and trace fossils from elsewhere in the U.S. and other countries. He has published more than a hundred peer-reviewed articles and abstracts on traces and trace fossils made by plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates representing the past 550 million years of the geologic record. His research results and discoveries have been reported by The New York Times, the BBC, National Geographic News, Smithsonian Magazine, Wired, and Australian Geographic; he is also often quoted in news articles about other researchers’ trace fossil discoveries. He frequently presents his research results at professional meetings, but also loves public speaking.
Martin’s most recent book is Dinosaurs Without Bones: Dinosaur Lives Revealed by Their Trace Fossils (2014, Pegasus Press), a lively and fun discussion of dinosaur tracks, nests, burrows, feces, and other trace fossils. He has written two editions of a college textbook on dinosaurs (Introduction to the Study of Dinosaurs), a field guidebook to trace fossils of the Bahamas (Trace Fossils of San Salvador), and a book for teenagers (The Dinosaur that Dug Its Burrow) about the first known burrowing dinosaur, which he co-discovered. He scripted and performed lectures for The Great Courses, with a DVD course on evolution and the fossil record, titled Major Transitions in Evolution. As an artistically inclined scientist, he drew his own illustrations for Dinosaurs Without Bones and Life Traces of the Georgia Coast.
SOURCE: http://www.georgialifetraces.com/
Thursday, October 2, 2014, 7:30 PM
Tony Martin is a paleontologist and geologist who specializes in ichnology, the study of modern and ancient traces caused by animal behavior, such as tracks, trails, burrows, and nests. He is a Professor of Practice in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Emory University, where he has been for nearly 25 years. At Emory, he teaches a variety of courses in paleontology, geology, and the environmental sciences on campus and in field courses, including study-abroad programs.
Along with his interest in the ichnology of the Georgia barrier islands—summarized in his book Life Traces of the Georgia Coast (2013, Indiana University Press)—Dr. Martin has studied modern traces and trace fossils from elsewhere in the U.S. and other countries. He has published more than a hundred peer-reviewed articles and abstracts on traces and trace fossils made by plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates representing the past 550 million years of the geologic record. His research results and discoveries have been reported by The New York Times, the BBC, National Geographic News, Smithsonian Magazine, Wired, and Australian Geographic; he is also often quoted in news articles about other researchers’ trace fossil discoveries. He frequently presents his research results at professional meetings, but also loves public speaking.
Martin’s most recent book is Dinosaurs Without Bones: Dinosaur Lives Revealed by Their Trace Fossils (2014, Pegasus Press), a lively and fun discussion of dinosaur tracks, nests, burrows, feces, and other trace fossils. He has written two editions of a college textbook on dinosaurs (Introduction to the Study of Dinosaurs), a field guidebook to trace fossils of the Bahamas (Trace Fossils of San Salvador), and a book for teenagers (The Dinosaur that Dug Its Burrow) about the first known burrowing dinosaur, which he co-discovered. He scripted and performed lectures for The Great Courses, with a DVD course on evolution and the fossil record, titled Major Transitions in Evolution. As an artistically inclined scientist, he drew his own illustrations for Dinosaurs Without Bones and Life Traces of the Georgia Coast.
SOURCE: http://www.georgialifetraces.com/
Christopher Mooney: "The Science of Why We Deny Science"
Watch this lecture on Vimeo
Thursday, November 6, 2014, 7:30 PM
Chris Mooney is senior correspondent for The American Prospect magazine and author of two books, including the New York Timesbestselling The Republican War on Science--dubbed “a landmark in contemporary political reporting” bySalon.com and a “well-researched, closely argued and amply referenced indictment of the right wing’s assault on science and scientists” by Scientific American--and Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming--dubbed “riveting” by the Boston Globe and selected as a 2007 best book of the year in the science category by Publisher’s Weekly. He also writes “The Intersection” blog with Sheril Kirshenbaum.In addition, The Republican War on Sciencewas named a finalist for the 2005 Los Angeles Times book prize in the category of “Science and Technology,” and Mooney’s 2005 Mother Jones feature story about ExxonMobil, conservative think tanks, and climate change was nominated for a National Magazine Award in the “public interest” category (as part of a cover package on global warming).
Mr. Mooney’s 2005 article for Seed magazine on the Dover evolution trial was included in the volume Best American Science and Nature Writing 2006. In 2006, Mooney also won the “Preserving Core Values in Science” award from the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals.
Mooney has contributed to a wide variety of other publications in recent years, includingWired, Science, Harper’s, Seed, New Scientist, Slate, Salon, Mother Jones, Legal Affairs, Reason, The American Scholar, The New Republic, The Washington Monthly, Columbia Journalism Review, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe. In addition, Chris’s blog, “The Intersection,” was a recipient of Scientific American’s2005 Science and Technology web award, which noted that “science is lucky to have such a staunch ally in acclaimed journalist Chris Mooney.”
Mooney has also been featured regularly by the national media. He has appeared on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, CSPAN’s Book TV, Fresh Air With Terry Gross, NPR’sScience Friday (here and here), and The Al Franken Show, among many other television and radio programs. He has been profiled by The Toronto Star andThe Seattle Times, and interviewed by many outlets including Grist and Mother Jones.
SOURCE: http://www.waronscience.com/author.php
Thursday, November 6, 2014, 7:30 PM
Chris Mooney is senior correspondent for The American Prospect magazine and author of two books, including the New York Timesbestselling The Republican War on Science--dubbed “a landmark in contemporary political reporting” bySalon.com and a “well-researched, closely argued and amply referenced indictment of the right wing’s assault on science and scientists” by Scientific American--and Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming--dubbed “riveting” by the Boston Globe and selected as a 2007 best book of the year in the science category by Publisher’s Weekly. He also writes “The Intersection” blog with Sheril Kirshenbaum.In addition, The Republican War on Sciencewas named a finalist for the 2005 Los Angeles Times book prize in the category of “Science and Technology,” and Mooney’s 2005 Mother Jones feature story about ExxonMobil, conservative think tanks, and climate change was nominated for a National Magazine Award in the “public interest” category (as part of a cover package on global warming).
Mr. Mooney’s 2005 article for Seed magazine on the Dover evolution trial was included in the volume Best American Science and Nature Writing 2006. In 2006, Mooney also won the “Preserving Core Values in Science” award from the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals.
Mooney has contributed to a wide variety of other publications in recent years, includingWired, Science, Harper’s, Seed, New Scientist, Slate, Salon, Mother Jones, Legal Affairs, Reason, The American Scholar, The New Republic, The Washington Monthly, Columbia Journalism Review, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe. In addition, Chris’s blog, “The Intersection,” was a recipient of Scientific American’s2005 Science and Technology web award, which noted that “science is lucky to have such a staunch ally in acclaimed journalist Chris Mooney.”
Mooney has also been featured regularly by the national media. He has appeared on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, CSPAN’s Book TV, Fresh Air With Terry Gross, NPR’sScience Friday (here and here), and The Al Franken Show, among many other television and radio programs. He has been profiled by The Toronto Star andThe Seattle Times, and interviewed by many outlets including Grist and Mother Jones.
SOURCE: http://www.waronscience.com/author.php
Patrick McGovern: "Uncorking the Past: Fermentation as Earth's Earliest Energy System and Humankind's First Biotechnology"
Thursday, January 29, 2015, 7:30 PM
Pat McGovern is the Scientific Director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Project for Cuisine, Fermented Beverages, and Health at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Anthropology. His academic background combined the physical sciences, archaeology, and history—an A.B. in Chemistry from Cornell University, graduate work in neurochemistry at the University of Rochester, and a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Archaeology and Literature from the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Department of the University of Pennsylvania.Over the past two decades, he has pioneered the emerging field of Molecular Archaeology. In addition to being engaged in a wide range of other archaeological chemical studies, including radiocarbon dating, cesium magnetometer surveying, colorant analysis of ancient glasses and pottery technology, his endeavors of late have focused on the organic analysis of vessel contents and dyes, particularly Royal Purple, wine, and beer. The chemical confirmation of the earliest instances of these organics—Royal Purple dating to ca. 1300-1200 B.C. and wine and beer dating to ca. 3500-3100 B.C.–received wide media coverage. A 1996 article published in Nature, the international scientific journal, pushed the earliest date for wine back another 2000 years—to the Neolithic period (ca. 5400-5000 B.C.).
Dr. McGovern’s research—showing what Molecular Archaeology is capable of achieving—has involved reconstructing the “King Midas funerary feast” (Nature 402, Dec. 23, 1999: 863-64) and chemically confirming the earliest fermented beverage from anywhere in the world—Neolithic China, some 9000 years ago, where pottery jars were shown to contain a mixed drink of rice, honey, and grape/hawthorn tree fruit (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 101.51: 17593-98). Most recently, he and colleagues identified the earliest beverage made from cacao (chocolate) from a site in Honduras, dated to ca. 1150 B.C., and an herbal wine from Dynasty 0 in Egypt.
McGovern is the author of Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture(Princeton University Press, 2003), and most recently, Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages (Berkeley: University of California, 2009). In addition to over 100 periodical articles, McGovern has also written or edited 10 books, including The Origins and Ancient History of Wine (Gordon and Breach, 1996), Organic Contents of Ancient Vessels (MASCA, 1990), Cross-Craft and Cross-Cultural Interactions in Ceramics (American Ceramic Society, 1989), and Late Bronze Palestinian Pendants: Innovation in a Cosmopolitan Age (Sheffield, 1985). In 2000, his book on the Foreign Relations of the “Hyksos,” a scientific study of Middle Bronze pottery in the Eastern Mediterranean, was published by Archaeopress.
SOURCE: http://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=10
Pat McGovern is the Scientific Director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Project for Cuisine, Fermented Beverages, and Health at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Anthropology. His academic background combined the physical sciences, archaeology, and history—an A.B. in Chemistry from Cornell University, graduate work in neurochemistry at the University of Rochester, and a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Archaeology and Literature from the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Department of the University of Pennsylvania.Over the past two decades, he has pioneered the emerging field of Molecular Archaeology. In addition to being engaged in a wide range of other archaeological chemical studies, including radiocarbon dating, cesium magnetometer surveying, colorant analysis of ancient glasses and pottery technology, his endeavors of late have focused on the organic analysis of vessel contents and dyes, particularly Royal Purple, wine, and beer. The chemical confirmation of the earliest instances of these organics—Royal Purple dating to ca. 1300-1200 B.C. and wine and beer dating to ca. 3500-3100 B.C.–received wide media coverage. A 1996 article published in Nature, the international scientific journal, pushed the earliest date for wine back another 2000 years—to the Neolithic period (ca. 5400-5000 B.C.).
Dr. McGovern’s research—showing what Molecular Archaeology is capable of achieving—has involved reconstructing the “King Midas funerary feast” (Nature 402, Dec. 23, 1999: 863-64) and chemically confirming the earliest fermented beverage from anywhere in the world—Neolithic China, some 9000 years ago, where pottery jars were shown to contain a mixed drink of rice, honey, and grape/hawthorn tree fruit (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 101.51: 17593-98). Most recently, he and colleagues identified the earliest beverage made from cacao (chocolate) from a site in Honduras, dated to ca. 1150 B.C., and an herbal wine from Dynasty 0 in Egypt.
McGovern is the author of Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture(Princeton University Press, 2003), and most recently, Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages (Berkeley: University of California, 2009). In addition to over 100 periodical articles, McGovern has also written or edited 10 books, including The Origins and Ancient History of Wine (Gordon and Breach, 1996), Organic Contents of Ancient Vessels (MASCA, 1990), Cross-Craft and Cross-Cultural Interactions in Ceramics (American Ceramic Society, 1989), and Late Bronze Palestinian Pendants: Innovation in a Cosmopolitan Age (Sheffield, 1985). In 2000, his book on the Foreign Relations of the “Hyksos,” a scientific study of Middle Bronze pottery in the Eastern Mediterranean, was published by Archaeopress.
SOURCE: http://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=10
Michael Antolin: "What Doctors Need to Know About Evolution"
Watch this lecture on Vimeo
Thursday, February 26, 2015, 7:30 PM
Mike Antolin focuses on the effects of patchy or fragmented habitats on the population genetics of animals and plants. Most of his work has been on the genetics of sex ratio, life-history variation, and mating systems of parasitic wasps. For the last 15 years he has worked on the Short Grass Steppe Long Term Ecological Research Site, located 40 miles northeast of Fort Collins on the Pawnee National Grassland. Dr. Antolin has conducted studies of the population genetics of the Black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus), whose populations are severely affected by local outbreaks of plague (Yersinia pestis).
Besides studying metapopulation dynamics of prairie dogs, he studies the epidemiology of plague in the context of climate variability and the rodent communities surrounding prairie dog colonies, transmission of the plague bacterium by fleas, and genetic analyses of the plague bacterium.
Recently he has been working with a large interdisciplinary group of researchers on the NSF-funded Laramie Foothills Chronic Wasting Disease Project, where they study the genetics of CWD in mule deer in relation to spatial epidemiology and genetics: http://www.nrel.colostate.edu/projects/modelingCWD/.
Thursday, February 26, 2015, 7:30 PM
Mike Antolin focuses on the effects of patchy or fragmented habitats on the population genetics of animals and plants. Most of his work has been on the genetics of sex ratio, life-history variation, and mating systems of parasitic wasps. For the last 15 years he has worked on the Short Grass Steppe Long Term Ecological Research Site, located 40 miles northeast of Fort Collins on the Pawnee National Grassland. Dr. Antolin has conducted studies of the population genetics of the Black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus), whose populations are severely affected by local outbreaks of plague (Yersinia pestis).
Besides studying metapopulation dynamics of prairie dogs, he studies the epidemiology of plague in the context of climate variability and the rodent communities surrounding prairie dog colonies, transmission of the plague bacterium by fleas, and genetic analyses of the plague bacterium.
Recently he has been working with a large interdisciplinary group of researchers on the NSF-funded Laramie Foothills Chronic Wasting Disease Project, where they study the genetics of CWD in mule deer in relation to spatial epidemiology and genetics: http://www.nrel.colostate.edu/projects/modelingCWD/.
Rebecca Burch: "Semen Chemistry: Implications, Innovations, and Controversy"
RESCHEDULED FOR 2015-16 SERIES DUE TO WEATHER EVENT
Becky Burch‘s main research interests are the evolution of sexual behavior, sexual signaling, and domestic violence. However, recent academic pursuits have ventured into cultural differences and similarities in a variety of human behaviors, including sex, parenting, play, gender, and development.
Dr. Burch has publications on the topics of seminal composition and human physiology, psychology, and behavior, genital morphology (specifically penile morphology and its function), intimate partner violence (focusing on the role of sexual jealousy and prevention strategies), sexual signaling (verbal and nonverbal), and other research in sexual behavior.
These publications have garnered a considerable amount of interest from the media, including nonfiction books (Why is the Penis Shaped like That?, Bonk, The Dangerous Passion, and others), fictional novels (The Hitchhiker’s Child), and innumerable websites, blogs, new outlets, and magazines (salon.com, cracked.com, Psychology Today, Playboy,Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Men’s Health, to name a few).
She is an Associate Professor in the department of Human Development and the Conference and Programming Coordinator for the Hart Global Living and Learning Center at SUNY Oswego. She received her Ph.D. at SUNY Albany in Evolution and Human Behavior.
In addition to this research, Dr. Burch also serves as the conference and programming coordinator for an international living and learning center at SUNY Oswego, and has organized eight Global Issues Conferences and presented over six hundred programs on international issues as well as creating an international charitable agency within the center.
Becky Burch‘s main research interests are the evolution of sexual behavior, sexual signaling, and domestic violence. However, recent academic pursuits have ventured into cultural differences and similarities in a variety of human behaviors, including sex, parenting, play, gender, and development.
Dr. Burch has publications on the topics of seminal composition and human physiology, psychology, and behavior, genital morphology (specifically penile morphology and its function), intimate partner violence (focusing on the role of sexual jealousy and prevention strategies), sexual signaling (verbal and nonverbal), and other research in sexual behavior.
These publications have garnered a considerable amount of interest from the media, including nonfiction books (Why is the Penis Shaped like That?, Bonk, The Dangerous Passion, and others), fictional novels (The Hitchhiker’s Child), and innumerable websites, blogs, new outlets, and magazines (salon.com, cracked.com, Psychology Today, Playboy,Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Men’s Health, to name a few).
She is an Associate Professor in the department of Human Development and the Conference and Programming Coordinator for the Hart Global Living and Learning Center at SUNY Oswego. She received her Ph.D. at SUNY Albany in Evolution and Human Behavior.
In addition to this research, Dr. Burch also serves as the conference and programming coordinator for an international living and learning center at SUNY Oswego, and has organized eight Global Issues Conferences and presented over six hundred programs on international issues as well as creating an international charitable agency within the center.
Sean Carroll: "Brave Genius: A Scientist's Journey from the French Resistance to the Nobel Prize"
Watch this lecture on Vimeo
Thursday, April 23, 2015, 7:30 PM
Sean Carroll is a professor of molecular biology, genetics, and medical genetics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He studies the evolution of cis-regulation in the context of biological development, using Drosophila as a model system. He is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Since 2010, he has been vice-president for science education of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.Carroll is at the forefront of a field known as evolutionary developmental biology (“evo-devo”). Dr. Carroll is also the author of Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo and the Making of the Animal Kingdom, one of the first popular summary narratives of the field.
Carroll is a professor of genetics, medical genetics, and molecular biology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additionally, he writes a monthly column for the New York Times called “Remarkable Creatures.” He is a strong advocate of the primacy of cis-regulatory evolution in the context of morphological evolution.
He is also the author of The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution, in which he argues for the irrefutable existence of natural selection by detailing numerous examples of DNA which has recently been traced from current species to long extinct ones.
In 2010, he was named vice-president for science education of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In 2012, he was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science from the Franklin Institute.
SOURCE: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_B._Carroll)
Thursday, April 23, 2015, 7:30 PM
Sean Carroll is a professor of molecular biology, genetics, and medical genetics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He studies the evolution of cis-regulation in the context of biological development, using Drosophila as a model system. He is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Since 2010, he has been vice-president for science education of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.Carroll is at the forefront of a field known as evolutionary developmental biology (“evo-devo”). Dr. Carroll is also the author of Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo and the Making of the Animal Kingdom, one of the first popular summary narratives of the field.
Carroll is a professor of genetics, medical genetics, and molecular biology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additionally, he writes a monthly column for the New York Times called “Remarkable Creatures.” He is a strong advocate of the primacy of cis-regulatory evolution in the context of morphological evolution.
He is also the author of The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution, in which he argues for the irrefutable existence of natural selection by detailing numerous examples of DNA which has recently been traced from current species to long extinct ones.
In 2010, he was named vice-president for science education of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In 2012, he was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science from the Franklin Institute.
SOURCE: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_B._Carroll)