CARTA - Anthropogeny (Audio)

New insights into the significance of the emergence of a human-specific gene on brain evolution. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32975]

Huxley and Darwin were among the first to appreciate the close evolutionary relationship of humans and other African great apes but also to ponder what genetic changes might make us human. Initial comparisons of human and chimpanzee genes, showed little difference (>99% identical) despite the numerous adaptations that must have occurred on the human lineage. Recent studies of more complex regions...

Simon Fisher gives a fascinating account of how an irregularity in one single base of DNA leads to a rare and severe inherited language deficit, and how this finding helps reveal aspects of the evolutionary history of the human capacity for language. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32441]

A fascinating account of people who in most every sense are very ordinary, but who have extraordinary memory. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32442]

UC San Francisco's Arnold Kriegstein addresses whether the Zika virus could someday be used to kill cancerous brain cells. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 32986]

John Marzluff explores the reactions of American Crows to death among their flock, and the different motivations which may exist for the behaviors. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32050]

In this talk, Sriram Sankararaman (UCLA) describes methods that enable us to map the locations of archaic ancestry in present-day humans. He then shows how the applications of these methods helps to understand the impact of Neandertal and Denisovan ancestry in present-day humans. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30975]

Dora Biro explores reactions to death among our closest evolutionary relatives, the Chimpanzee, as well shares insights about reactions among other mammals, and how these observations may provide a lens with which to understand the evolution of death related psychology and behavior among humans. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32049]

The way cells differentiate to eventually form the human brain and all the unique connections that make us human is ultimately the result of processes forged in evolution. Three experts share their investigations into characteristics of the human genome and its changes throughout evolution that make us human. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Sh...

Concluding remarks and question and answer session for the symposium: Cellular and Molecular Explorations of Anthropogeny. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32978]

Welcome and introductory remarks to the symposium: Cellular and Molecular Explorations of Anthropogeny Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32977]

The human brain is one of, if not the most important factor that distinguishes our species from all others. Three experts explore the use of stem cells in understanding the primate brain, genes that guided the evolution of the human brain, and the features that enabled the expansion of human neural characteristics. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Scienc...

The Salk Institute's Rusty Gage and University of Washington's Evan Eichler explore the mechanisms and evolutionary pathways that have differentiated human neural development and allowed for the emergence of genes found only in humans. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32926]

Exploring the life of musical savant Derek Paravicini, severely developmentally disabled from complications at birth, and how understanding his condition provides evidence for the existence of musical intelligence and the roots of creativity in the human mind. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32446]

Katie Hinde (Arizona State Univ) reveals in this talk that milk varies across species, populations, individuals, and across time.  She contends, therefore, that decoding mother's milk is necessary to enhance precision medicine for the most fragile infants and children in neonatal and pediatric intensive care units. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health...

Karen Berman of the National Institutes of Health explores how studying Williams Syndrome is revealing biological mechanisms that confer human variability. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32440]

Imagine hearing colors and seeing sounds. Jamie Ward explores the world of synaesthesia where people possess extraordinary perceptions. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32810]

The human mind is one of the features that makes our species unusual, and any narrative of our origins must include explanations for how our mental facilities were generated by genetic and cultural evolutionary processes. Comparative studies with the minds of other species and direct studies of how the typical human brain creates the mind are valuable approaches. However, many useful clues can als...

The human mind is one of the features that makes our species unusual, and any narrative of our origins must include explanations for how our mental facilities were generated by genetic and cultural evolutionary processes. Comparative studies with the minds of other species and direct studies of how the typical human brain creates the mind are valuable approaches. However, many useful clues can als...

Questions and answer session for the Extraordinary Variations of the Human Mind symposium. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32448]

The human mind is one of the features that makes our species unusual, and any narrative of our origins must include explanations for how our mental facilities were generated by genetic and cultural evolutionary processes. Comparative studies with the minds of other species and direct studies of how the typical human brain creates the mind are valuable approaches. However, many useful clues can als...

Introduction to the Extraordinary Variations of the Human Mind symposium. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32449]

UCLA's Daniel Geschwind explores how cognitive abilities - both extraordinary and those considered disabilities are related as part of the continuum of human behavior enabled by the evolutionary history of the human brain. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32439]

In this talk, Ajit Varki (UC San Diego) offers some surprising examples of common human diseases that appear to be either absent in our closest living evolutionary cousins (the so-called "great apes"), or manifest in a rather modified form. Given the close genetic similarity of all of these species, he contends that it is worth investigating these differences, with the goal of better understanding...

Colin Renfrew provides insight into the emergence of notions of immortality by looking at the archaeology of burials from long before the advent of agriculture through the creation of state societies and deities. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 32054]