Humans are the “planet-altering ape.” Our expansion across the globe, technological prowess, and booming populations are causing the sixth mass extinction and threaten to hasten our own. We humans have evolved distinct capabilities: we cooperate at massive scales, we communicate with language, we are imaginative, and self-aware.
Can we rely on our uniquely evolved features for solving these existential challenges?
See Pascal Gagneux's presentation at TEDx/UC San Diego from May 18, 2024:Pascal Gagneux is a Professor of Pathology and Anthropology at UC San Diego and serves as CARTA's Executive Co-Director. The Gagneux laboratory studies cell-surface molecules in closely related primates species and how glycan evolution is shaped by constraints from endogenous biochemistry and exogenous, pathogen-mediated natural selection, but can also have consequences for sexual selection. Dr. Gagneux has studied the behavioral ecology of wild chimpanzees in the Taï Forest, Ivory Coast, population genetics of West African chimpanzees, and differences in sialic acid biology between humans and great apes with special consideration of their differing pathogen regimes.
