Humanities (Video)

This symposium addresses several important distinctly human characteristics that range from molecules, to metabolism, anatomy, disease, and behavior. Goals include transdisciplinary interactions, improved self-understanding, promotion of ethically sound studies to explain known differences, and the generation of new, potentially unexplored, insights on uniquely-human specializations. Given the interest in understanding our evolution, this symposium will also help to organize how and in what sequence distinctly human physical, mental, social, and cultural features evolved. Such understanding may help explain the origin of our species and how it came to now directly shape the planet, giving rise to the Anthropocene (a proposed geological epoch distinguished by human influence on climate and the environment). Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 37447]

Helen Epstein, a prolific journalist and author, discusses her mother's memoir about her life in Nazi-occupied Europe. "Franci's War" starts in 1942 when 22-year-old Franci Rabinek began a three-year journey that would take her from Terezin, the Nazis’ “model ghetto,” to the Czech family camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau, slave labor camps in Hamburg, and finally Bergen Belsen. Trained as a dress designer, Franci survived the war and would go on to establish a fashion salon in New York. Series: "Library Channel" [Humanities] [Show ID: 37412]

Humans and many other species have biologically endowed abilities for discriminating “quantities” to some degree (e.g., subitizing), but only humans, via the distinct capacity of “symbolic reference” exhibit “number” — i.e., exact symbolic quantification. Language, with its symbolic properties although present in all human cultures, is a necessary condition for “number” but it is not a sufficient condition for it. UC San Diego professor Rafael Nuñez discusses the comparative analysis of “quantity” and “number”, and the implications it has for debates about the origins of other human special capacities such as geometry, music, and art. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 37386]

Joel Dimsdale discusses his latest book “Dark Persuasion: A History of Brainwashing from Pavlov to Social Media,” which traces the evolution of brainwashing from its beginnings in torture and religious conversion into the age of neuroscience and social media. Dimsdale is distinguished professor emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego. Series: "Writers" [Health and Medicine] [Humanities] [Show ID: 37324]

Beginning in the 1950s, the United States embarked on an elaborate program to study how LSD might be used to alter the behavior of an enemy. This collaboration between academia and government conducted astonishing studies with little regard for the ethics of experimentation. Joel E. Dimsdale, MD, describes how this research program evolved and shares stark examples of its impact on science and society. Series: "Osher UC San Diego Distinguished Lecture Series" [Health and Medicine] [Humanities] [Show ID: 37465]

Sialic acid-recognizing immunoglobulin-type lectins (Siglecs) are a family of cell surface proteins prominently expressed on immune cells in mammals. Siglec-11 is an example of an inhibitory Siglec. It was the first protein in the brain found to be “human-specific”: non-human primates express Siglec-11 in other tissues but not in the central nervous system. UC San Diego School of Medicine professor Ajit Varki discusses the importance of Siglec-11 and the paired receptor Siglec-16, and how they play significant roles in regulating inflammation, and have several uniquely human features including expression in brain. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 37380]

Brian Spitzberg, PhD examines the nature of disinformation, misinformation, and fake news in social media through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic. Series: "Exploring Ethics" [Health and Medicine] [Humanities] [Show ID: 37400]

Language is a human cognitive specialization, and as such, is expected to be supported by human neurological specializations. The arcuate fasciculus is a white matter fiber tract that connects Wernicke’s and Broca’s language areas in the human brain, and also connects the homologues of Wernicke’s and Broca’s areas in non-human primate brains. Emory University professor James Rilling discusses the difference of arcuate fasciculus between human and non-human primate brains and how the specialization of speech has helped humans evolve. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 37381]

During embryogenesis, the three germ layers (endoderm, ectoderm, mesoderm) differentiate into epithelial and non-epithelial cells, which eventually form differentiated tissues and organs. Abundant data now indicates that we humans are very closely related to other hominids including chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans, the so-called "great apes". UC San Diego School of Medicine professor Nissi Varki discusses the incidence of carcinomas, including the rarity of occurrence of common human carcinomas in captive chimpanzees. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 37382]

Diet has played a major role in the evolution of human and non-human primate digestive systems. Phytanic acid is a potentially toxic branched chain fatty acid that can be acquired in humans by ingesting plant and/or animal products. Although it was established that humans cannot derive phytanic acid from chlorophyll and instead normally obtain it only from meat, dairy, and fish products, less was known about the capacity of non-human primates with proportionally larger hindguts to obtain phytanic acid from plant materials. University of Southern California professor Joseph Hacia discusses studies profiling phytanic acid levels in red blood cells obtained from humans and captive non-human primates all on low phytanic acid diets. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 37379]