Anthropogeny, has provided many new discoveries over the past decade, ranging from new fossil finds to ancient DNA data, including from extinct hominins. New methods and multi-disciplinary collaborations are providing exciting new insights into the complicated evolutionary journey that gave rise to our species. However, we remain far from understanding some of the most striking human-specific characteristics: the reasons for our bipedality, the factors selecting for our dexterity at creating and using tools, and the true age of fire use in our distant ancestors. This CARTA symposium features advisory committee members who highlight where they hope future efforts should be focused and what type of novel collaborations are most promising for improving our understanding of the human phenomenon. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 38305]

Anthropogeny, has provided many new discoveries over the past decade, ranging from new fossil finds to ancient DNA data, including from extinct hominins. This CARTA symposium highlights where future efforts should be focused and what type of novel collaborations are most promising to improve our understanding of the human phenomenon. Evan Eichler talks about the discovery and resolution of genetic variation which is critical to understanding disease and evolution. The data suggests that large-scale genome structural variation continues to play a crucial role in the evolution of the human species.Daniel Geschwind discusses human cognition and how human brain evolution is particularly susceptible to disruption of neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Education] [Show ID: 38630]

Anthropogeny, has provided many new discoveries over the past decade, ranging from new fossil finds to ancient DNA data, including from extinct hominins. This CARTA symposium highlights where the future efforts should be focused and what type of novel collaborations are most promising for improving our understanding of the human phenomenon. Pascal Gagneux offers a zoological view of the human cultural animal. Robert Kluender talks about the evolution of language structure and the future of linguistics. Anne Stone discusses ancient DNA research and the surprising insights into human evolutionary history. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Education] [Show ID: 38633]

Anthropogeny, has provided many new discoveries over the past decade, ranging from new fossil finds to ancient DNA data, including from extinct hominins. This CARTA symposium highlights where the future efforts should be focused and what type of novel collaborations are most promising for improving our understanding of the human phenomenon. Yohannes Haile-Selassie discusses the importance of fossil based human origin research. Carol Marchetto talks about the use of stem cells to study human origins. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Education] [Show ID: 38632]

Anthropogeny, has provided many new discoveries over the past decade, ranging from new fossil finds to ancient DNA data, including from extinct hominins. This CARTA symposium highlights where the future efforts should be focused and what type of novel collaborations are most promising for improving our understanding of the human phenomenon. Terry Sejnowski discusses how large-scale neural network models have inspired major advances in artificial intelligence. Sarah Tishkoff talks on how Africa is thought to be the ancestral homeland of all modern human populations. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Education] [Show ID: 38631]

Current knowledge of our deep past is primarily derived from ancient fossils of our ancestors that paleoanthropologists search for and discover in some of the most remote areas of the world. In the last two decades, significant fossil discoveries have been made and these discoveries have re-written some parts of our deep past. However, the fossil record is still far from complete, primarily due to the absence of fossils from some critical geological times and the lack of robust samples for the species already identified. The best way to fill temporal gaps in the fossil record and meaningfully increase the sample size is by conducting surveys and exploration to locate new areas of paleoanthropological significance. If we want to fully understand our evolutionary history, especially how we became who we are today and where we are going, continued paleoanthropological fieldwork is of paramount importance. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 38499]

Anthropogeny, has provided many new discoveries over the past decade, ranging from new fossil finds to ancient DNA data, including from extinct hominins. New methods and multi-disciplinary collaborations are providing exciting new insights into the complicated evolutionary journey that gave rise to our species. However, we remain far from understanding some of the most striking human-specific characteristics: the reasons for our bipedality, the factors selecting for our dexterity at creating and using tools, and the true age of fire use in our distant ancestors. This CARTA symposium features advisory committee members who highlight where they hope future efforts should be focused and what type of novel collaborations are most promising for improving our understanding of the human phenomenon. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 38296]

For the past 30 years, the frontiers of language science have been in the areas of neurolinguistics and genetics, both of which arose in conjunction with new technologies emerging in the 1990s. It is probably safe to say that these trends will continue apace as technology in these areas continues to advance, allowing for increasingly sophisticated and fine-grained analysis. From its inception, the study of language has been inextricably linked with cultural anthropology and the arts. It was only in the 20th century that linguistics was able to break free of its sister disciplines and establish itself as an autonomous field all its own. In this talk, I first look backwards in time, in a review of the provenance and history of linguistics as a field. The idea is to take stock of where we have come from in order to get a sense for where we might be headed. Much of what we do today in linguistics has its roots in what the Sanskrit grammarians did several millennia ago. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 38300]

Human cognition and behavior are highly heritable and so is liability to disorders that affect them. This includes neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We have started to integrate genetic risk data with the emerging maps of gene regulation to study human specific aspects of gene expression and gene regulation. These analyses indicate that human specific aspects of gene regulation, such as genes regulated by human specific enhancers, are indeed enriched in mutations or common genetic variants that increase risk for ASD and allied neurodevelopmental disorders. This provides evidence that genetic elements underlying human brain evolution are particularly susceptible to disruption in disease. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Education] [Show ID: 38299]

Africa is thought to be the ancestral homeland of all modern human populations within the past 300,000 years. It is also a region of tremendous cultural, linguistic, climatic, and genetic diversity. Despite the important role that African populations have played in human history, they remain one of the most underrepresented groups in human genomics studies. A comprehensive knowledge of patterns of variation in African genomes is critical for a deeper understanding of human genomic diversity, the identification of functionally important genetic variation, the genetic basis of adaptation to diverse environments and diets, and the origins of modern humans. We have characterized genomic variation in thousands of ethnically and geographically diverse Africans in order to reconstruct human population history and local adaptation to variable environments and have identified candidate loci that play a role in alcohol metabolism and skin color. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Education] [Show ID: 38304]