Key questions about how humans evolved including why we take so long to grow up and why we age and die are the focus of a free talk at the University on Thursday 13th September.<\/p>\n
The lecture, by world leading evolutionary biologist\u00a0Professor B. Holly Smith,<\/a>\u00a0will also discuss how\u00a0teeth are a linchpin\u00a0between the past and present that can be used to reconstruct the\u00a0evolution of life histories\u00a0of mammals, particularly humans.<\/p>\n Teeth are\u00a0readily preserved fossils\u00a0and retain information that researchers would be otherwise unable to access about the\u00a0life history of their owners, such as mortality and life span.<\/p>\n Professor Smith, of the Department of Anthropology at George Washington University in the USA, has been invited to give the lecture by the\u00a0Skeletal Biology Research Centre<\/a>. It is the\u00a0only place in the UK\u00a0that focuses on the analysis of bones and teeth and stores an extensive historic collection of both.<\/p>\n The Centre carries out\u00a0cutting-edge research\u00a0ranging from analyses of the most important human fossils, histological studies of teeth and bone, isotopic analyses and dietary reconstruction,\u00a0virtual 3D analyses of the skeleton, and forensic identification that together ultimately aim to\u00a0better understand humans and our evolutionary history.<\/p>\n The lecture, which is\u00a0free and open to all,<\/strong>\u00a0begins at 18.00 in Keynes Lecture Theatre 1<\/strong> at the University\u2019s Canterbury campus.<\/p>\n Professor Smith, who is also an Associate Research Scientist in the Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, University of Michigan, USA, will also conduct a\u00a0question and answer session\u00a0after the lecture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"