Science (Audio)

Humans live in a world of ideas—born in the brain, shared through language, accumulated in culture across generations, and made reality. From the first flaked stone tools to the building of shelters, from figurative and symbolic art to abstract thought, our brains are engines of imagination—an “idea organ” that has transformed both our species and the planet itself.

The distinct biology of the human brain, scaffolded by language and culture, allows ideas to be formed, named, shared, and accumulated across generations. This process of cumulative culture, knowledge built upon knowledge, has propelled humans far beyond the cognitive landscapes of other large-brained animals, including our closest living and extinct relatives.

This symposium explores how the human brain develops, functions, and maintains its role as the seat of ideas. We trace its story from molecules, cells, neuronal migration and circuitry, to the maternal, parental, and social influences that shape its growth, including the countless ways that brain function can be compromised at any stage of life. We examine how the uniquely human interplay of biology and culture gave rise to a brain capable of perceiving and remaking the world around us. By examining the evolutionary roots of our “idea organ,” we aim to illuminate how this singular capacity emerged—and how it continues to drive human innovation. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 41358]

Humans live in a world of ideas—born in the brain, shared through language, accumulated in culture across generations, and made reality. Professor Alysson Muotri, UC San Diego Departments of Pediatrics and Cellular and Molecular Medicine, examines how human brain evolution reflects the interplay between genetic innovation and environmental pressures, focusing on Neuro-oncological ventral antigen 1 (NOVA1), an evolutionarily conserved splicing regulator essential for neural development with a protein-coding substitution unique to modern humans compared with Neanderthals and Denisovans. By reintroducing the archaic NOVA1 allele into human induced pluripotent stem cells and studying cortical organoids, the work finds accelerated maturation, increased surface complexity, altered synaptic marker expression, and changes in electrophysiological properties. Muotri also analyzes long-term lead exposure using fossilized teeth from multiple hominid species spanning over two million years, revealing pervasive exposure across extinct and extant hominids. Lead exposure selectively disrupted FOXP2 expression in cortical and thalamic organoids carrying the archaic NOVA1 variant, and findings were independently validated in NOVA1 humanized mouse models with altered vocalization. Together, these results suggest gene–environment interactions may have influenced neural circuit development, social behavior, and complex language capacity. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 41297]

If you love seafood, you’re not alone — but every bite comes from a complex and fragile marine ecosystem. To keep our ocean ecosystems thriving and our seafood resources abundant, we need a deeper scientific understanding of how they function. Colleen Petrik, a professor of oceanography at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, talks about her work studying the changing ecosystem of the ocean from fishing to coastal development. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 41301]

A common model of AI suggests that there is a single measure of intelligence, often called AGI, and that AI systems are agents who can possess more or less of this intelligence. Cognitive science, in contrast, suggests that there are multiple forms of intelligence and that these intelligences trade-off against each other and have a distinctive developmental profile and evolutionary history. Exploitation, the pursuit of goals, resources and utilities, is characteristic of adult cognition. Alison Gopnik, professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy at the UC Berkeley, and a member of the Berkeley AI Research Group, argues that two very different kinds of cognition characterize childhood and elderhood. Childhood is characterized by exploration. In particular, children seek out information about the world. However, forgoing reward for exploration requires support, care and teaching from others. Care and teaching are particularly characteristic of elders and the intelligence of care has a distinctive structure – it involves empowering others – giving them the resources they need to be effective. The combination of these different kinds of intelligence across the course of a life explains human success. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 41068]

The extractive linear economy and policies focused on endless growth have produced unparalleled socioeconomic inequality and the climate crisis. Communities around the world are calling for new economic models that are regenerative towards people, place, and ecosystems. Ancestral ʻŌiwi (indigenous Hawaiian) economic systems were built around people's relationships and understandings of wai (water). Kamanamaikalani Beamer, Director of the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi, explores the lessons that can be drawn from the Hawaiian Ancestral Circular Economy and the resurrection of peoples' ancestral relationships to love and protect water. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Science] [Show ID: 41295]

Dramatic advances in ancient DNA technologies have revolutionized our understanding of the human past. As part of the CARTA symposium on Ancient DNA, the panelists answer questions about the diverse applications of archaeogenomics in shaping not only a new vision of the human past, but also in creating a greater understanding of the present and our shared human future. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 41202]

Genetic data is transforming the understanding of our own species and refining historical chapters at different scales around the globe. However, despite the globalization of biotechnologies to analyze the human genome, indigenous populations from the Americas and Oceania remain underrepresented in large-scale genomic studies. Andrés Moreno-Estrada, Cinvestav, discusses recent efforts to characterize the genetic profile of Indigenous Americans throughout the analysis of ancient and modern DNA, as well as their relationship within and beyond the continent, including the possibility of prehistoric contacts with Pacific Islanders. This topic poses challenges and opportunities to adequately study human diversity not only for the benefit of genetic research and science, but also for the benefit of the local communities, which are bearers of a unique evolutionary history that has been recorded in their DNA. This rapidly evolving field also raises questions about the best practices when studying the DNA of underrepresented ancestries while conducting cutting-edge science in a more equitable way. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 41201]

Large-scale optimization and machine learning shape modern data science, and Courtney Paquette, Ph.D., McGill University, studies how to design and analyze algorithms for large-scale optimization problems motivated by applications and data science. Paquette draws on probability, complexity theory, and convex and non-smooth optimization, and examines scaling limits of stochastic algorithms. Speaking with Saura Naderi, UC San Diego, Paquette describes an unconventional path from finance to pure mathematics and explains how persistence and comfort with uncertainty support long-term research. She highlights the challenge of building missing foundations while advancing through graduate training, and she connects that experience to the realities of doing original work. Paquette also reflects on rapid progress in machine learning and frames AI systems as tools that can be used thoughtfully. Series: "Science Like Me" [Science] [Show ID: 41119]

The human genetic history of South Asia has been shaped by its pivotal location at the crossroads of East and West Eurasia, dramatic landscapes such as the Himalayas, and longstanding socio-cultural practices like endogamy. A consequence is the diversity of East and West Eurasian genetic ancestral lineages found in South Asians today. Maanasa Raghavan, professor at the University of Chicago, explains that the increasing genome-wide data from ancient and present-day humans are providing emerging insights into the demographic processes that underlie present-day genetic diversity of South Asians and how they interface with evidence from archaeology, anthropology, linguistics, and oral histories. Human history in South Asia is also closely intertwined with the animals that humans domesticated, traded, and moved with them, offering yet another window into the dynamics of human mobility and connectivity in the past. Raghavanon's talk focuses on ancient and modern DNA insights into the origins of present-day human genetic diversity in South Asia, evolutionary history of domesticates, and broader implications for our understanding of human movements and interactions across Eurasia. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 41200]

Stem cell science is reshaping treatment for complex disorders of the brain and spinal cord. Researchers develop cell based therapies to replace lost dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson’s disease, fill gaps across spinal cord injuries, and calm seizure networks in refractory epilepsy by restoring the balance of inhibition and excitation. Teams test immune cell therapies against Epstein Barr virus infected B cells in multiple sclerosis and collaborate to move treatments across the blood brain barrier to reach diseased cells. Clinicians combine imaging in the operating room, surgical tools, and research on biological age and the pace of aging to understand disease and guide treatment. Patient advocates describe challenges and hopes for better options, and contemporary art reflects on perception in digital and physical worlds. Series: "Stem Cell Channel" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 40992]