Date:
Monday, October 29, 2018, 5:00pm
Location:
WCC 1019 Classroom
Why DNA Has So Far Failed to Provide Clear Insights About Distinctively Human Traits
The Genomic Revolution has always held promise in two areas: to provide insights into biological change over time, and to provide insights about population migrations and mixtures. But while ancient DNA studies over the last 8 years have been a runaway success with regard to revealing human demographic history, they have so far revealed little in terms of clear insights about the nature of natural selection and the origin of distinctively modern human traits. In this talk I will discuss why we find ourselves in this situation, describe what we have already managed to learn, and make suggestions for how to move forward.