Biennial Master Class I: “An Anthology of Anthropogeny”
Event Date (Pacific Time):
Wednesday, Sep 30, 2026 - 10:00am to Wednesday, Oct 21, 2026 - 12:00pm
Event Speakers:
Abstracts:
In this series of talks, four UC San Diego scholars who are CARTA members or associated with CARTA’s Graduate Specialization in Anthropogeny, will address different topics related to human origins research.
Event Sessions:
| Time (Pacific) | Speakers | Session |
|---|---|---|
| 10:00 am – 12:00 pm (Pacific) |
 Pascal Gagneux |
The Quest for Human Origins The human species presents a striking paradox as we combine an obvious mammalian and primate nature with distinct combinations of biological and behavioral traits, making us humans spectacular outliers among the living world. New fossils, archeological finds, ancient DNA and other ancient molecular data, combined with comparative behavioral studies and neuroscience are providing crucial new information. Our understanding of human origins faces many humbling unknowns about the age of key human... read more |
| 10:00 am – 12:00 pm (Pacific) |
 Stephan Kaufhold |
Animal Cognition and the Origins of Human Thinking Cognitive science and psychology are mostly concerned with human thinking. But humans are primates, and human cognition is a particular form of primate cognition. By comparing ourselves to other animals, we can reconstruct the evolutionary origins of our own minds. To this end, studying our closest living animal relatives, the nonhuman primates (e.g., macaques, orangutans, bonobos, chimpanzees), is particularly informative. In this talk, I introduce the field of comparative cognition and walk... read more |
| 10:00 am – 12:00 pm (Pacific) |
 Raihan Alam |
Why Fairness Matters: From Monkeys to Modern Society This lecture will explore one of the most powerful forces shaping human society: fairness. Why do humans care so deeply about being treated—and treating others—fairly? Why are we sometimes willing to sacrifice our own self-interest in the name of fairness? Drawing from behavioral economics, comparative research, developmental psychology, and cultural evolutionary theory, we will examine how our concern for fairness may have evolved to help sustain cooperation. The lecture will trace the roots... read more |
| 10:00 am – 12:00 pm (Pacific) |
 Carol Marchetto |
Stem Cells and Human Evolution Comparative analyses of brain cells in closely related species can shed light on changes occurring during evolution. The study of post-mortem brains of nonhuman primates (NHPs) has been limited and often does not recapitulate important species-specific developmental hallmarks. This talk will discuss new technology to investigate the development of live neurons from human and nonhuman primates and compare specific cell behaviors such as migration and maturation. We show differential migration... read more |
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