Human Evolutionary History in a Global Context: Progress and Challenges

Venue: B117 (Basement Lecture Theatre), Melbourne School of Design

Presenters: Professor Bernard Wood

For nearly two centuries we have been accumulating fossil and other evidence that bears on our evolutionary history. As we review the history of that accumulation and all that we have learned from it, we must recognise that there is yet much to be learned. We need to be realistic about what we can know, and what we may never be able to know, about our evolutionary history.

This lecture will consider how well we have been able to answer some fundamental questions about our origins. How good, for example, are we at telling our recent ancestors and close relatives from those of the apes? How can we know how many species preceded our own? Can we tell which of those species are our ancestors, and which are non-ancestral close relatives? After considering the current state of our knowledge, the lecture will reflect on ways we might improve our ability to answer such questions. Following from this, the lecture will explore how knowledge about our past can help us negotiate current challenges, such as climate change and dwindling biodiversity.

Professor Bernard Wood is a world renowned paleoanthropologist and foremost scientific commentator on research relating to human evolution. With more than 40 years of innovative research, published through 17 books and more than 200 scholarly papers, he has pushed disciplinary boundaries in relation to hominin systematics, paleobiology, and evolutionary ecology.

from
https://events.unimelb.edu.au/events/6622-human-evolutionary-history-in-a-global-context-progress-and-challenges