Speaker Series

05.05.15

Video: Laurie Santos – The Evolution of Irrationality

Speaker Series
If you missed Laurie Santos’ SciCafe presentation at the American Museum of Natural History, we have a video of her presentation. [youtube id=”v_3fkePAg6U”] The ancestral history of humans and primates is extensive, but can it explain even our financial choices? New experiments in “monkeynomics” demonstrate that monkeys make some of the same silly financial choices… more »
03.06.15

Guest Post: Why walk on two legs?

Speaker Series, Guest Post
By Jeremy DeSilva of Boston University. Jeremy will discuss the question “Why walk on two legs?” at a SciCafe at the American Museum of Natural History on April 1, 2015. This article is an excellent introduction to the pros and cons of bipedalism.
Humans are weird. We are mammals, yet we have very little body hair. We are primates, yet unlike most primates, we are generally uncomfortable in… more »
02.11.15

Survival of the fleetest, smartest, or fattest?

Speaker Series, Video
Our understanding of human evolution has grown exponentially since Darwin’s time. This week marks the 206th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, so we’re sharing a Darwin-related Leakey Foundation lecture from our archives. In this lecture, recorded in 2009 at the Field Museum in Chicago, Daniel Lieberman of Harvard University discusses the evolution and dysevolution… more »