A Brief Overview of Anthropogeny

27-30 Jan, 2015, NCBS 

Profs. Ajit Varki and Uma Ramakrishnan 

Where did we humans come from? How did we get here?  Anthropogeny refers to the trans-disciplinary study of these key questions regarding human origins.  The term is not just a synonym for human evolution via natural selection.  Many other factors beyond biological evolution were involved, ranging from climatic, geographic, ecological, social, and cultural ones.  A systematic approach to anthropogeny requires one to draw on information and approaches from a number of traditional disciplines spanning the humanities, social, biomedical, biological, computational and physical sciences.  This brief course will provide an overview of some key questions in anthropogeny and the current state of the field, as well as some implications for the human condition.  As a part of the course, we will investigate differences between human ancestors using fossils, discuss concepts of evolution, reconstruct genetic relations between us and do some simple behavioral experiments.

Jan 27, 10-11am: General Introduction: an Agenda for Anthropogeny
Jan 27, 11-12pm: Humans as Unusual Primates
Jan 27,    2-4 pm:  Evolution lab
Jan 28, 10-11am: The Fossil Record of Human Origins
Jan 28, 11-12pm: Emergence and Diaspora of Behaviorally Modern Humans
Jan 28,     2-4 pm: Fossil human lab
Jan 29, 10-11am: Genetic and Biological Features Unique to the Human Lineage 
Jan 29, 11-12pm: Neural, Psychological, Linguistic and Behavioral Aspects
Jan 29,     2-4 pm: Human behavior lab
Jan 30, 10-12pm:  Human ancestry and genetic variation: lab
Jan 30,    2-3 pm:  Implications of Anthropogeny for Human Health
Jan 30,    3-4 pm:  Open Discussion/Synthesis