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When Evolution Hurts

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Being able to walk upright on two feet is a physical trait that distinguishes modern humans from our early ancestors. While the evolution of bipedalism has contributed to our success as a species, it has also limited the evolution of other features and...

Video: When Evolution Hurts

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Being able to walk upright on two feet is a physical trait that distinguishes modern humans from our early ancestors. While the evolution of bipedalism has contributed to our success as a species, it has also limited the evolution of other features and...

Video: Teeth and Human Evolution

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Modern humans and our closest-living ape relatives differ in developmental and reproductive biology, as well as in lifespans, but evolutionary anthropologists do not know when these distinctive characteristics evolved. It might seem that our development...

Evolution

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Most recent public lectures are video-recorded. Click the title for the speaker name, a full description of the talk, and a transcript.

Video: The Secret of Our Success: How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter

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The ability of human groups to socially interconnect and learn from one another has allowed us to create ingenious technologies, sophisticated languages, and complex institutions that have enabled successful expansion into myriad environments. Drawing...

Homo sapiens Meets Neanderthals: The End of a World

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Free Hybrid Lecture Speaker: Jean-Jacques Hublin, Professor at the Collège de France (Paris), Emeritus Professor at the Max Planck Society Advance registration recommended for in-person and online attendance Hallam L. Movius, Jr. Lecture Series The...

The Evolution of the Human Pelvis in Relation to the Mechanics of the Erect Posture

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Peabody Museum Papers Volume 11, no. 5

Audio: The Evolution of Big-Game Hunting: Protein, Fat, or Politics

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Our ancestors hunted big game for the same reasons some of us drive fancy cars or carry a designer handbag: status. The hunters were hungry for prestige, and the meat was a bonus. The Evolution of Big-Game Hunting: Protein, Fat, or Politics Hallam L...

Video: Volcanic Winter, Population Bottlenecks, and Human Evolution

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The eruption of the Mount Toba supervolcano in the Indonesian island of Sumatra74,000 years ago brought about an era of severe environmental degradation that decimated populations of Neanderthals and modern humans. Archaeological evidence suggests that...

Human Evolution and Migrations

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Video: Understanding Warfare: An Evolutionary Approach

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Warfare is a nearly universal trait of human societies. It has influenced the evolution of human societies at least since the dawn of history, and may have influenced the evolution of human psychology. By some definitions, warfare is uniquely human; no...

Video: Self-Domestication in Bonobos and Other Wild Animals

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Domesticated animals such as dogs, pigs, and horses often sport floppy ears, patches of white hair, and other features that are unknown in their wild ancestors. These traits—collectively referred to by scientists as a “domestication syndrome”—are the...