Science (Video)

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  1. 2天前 · 视频

    CARTA: Hominin Paleoneurology During the Stone Age - and Before! with Dean Falk

    The distinct biology of the human brain, scaffolded by language and culture, allows ideas to be formed, named, shared, and accumulated across generations. Dean Falk, Professor of Anthropology, Florida State University, explains how paleoneurologists study the brains of human ancestors by producing endocasts from fossilized skulls and measuring cranial capacities. Dated skulls indicate brain size more than tripled in hominins during the Stone Age that began around 3.5 million years ago, while endocasts can also preserve traces of blood vessels and convolutions, even though sulci are often fragmentary and difficult to interpret. Falk describes how sulcal patterns differ most noticeably between great apes and humans in the lateral prefrontal cortex and in the parieto-occipital association cortices, and she addresses long-running debate about whether the lunate sulcus in evolving hominins marked the anterior border of primary visual cortex as it does in living monkeys and apes. Because few fossils exist from the earlier “Botanic Age,” she outlines how comparative primatology and evolutionary developmental biology can extend the study of brain evolution by considering brain development and locomotion, including bipedalism. She applies this extended paleoneurological synthesis with special attention to auditory entrainment and complex grammatical language. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 41328]

    22 分钟
  2. 3月12日 · 视频

    CARTA: The Idea Organ - Welcome and Opening Remarks

    Humans live in a world of ideas—born in the brain, shared through language, accumulated in culture across generations, and made reality. From the first flaked stone tools to the building of shelters, from figurative and symbolic art to abstract thought, our brains are engines of imagination—an “idea organ” that has transformed both our species and the planet itself. The distinct biology of the human brain, scaffolded by language and culture, allows ideas to be formed, named, shared, and accumulated across generations. This process of cumulative culture, knowledge built upon knowledge, has propelled humans far beyond the cognitive landscapes of other large-brained animals, including our closest living and extinct relatives. This symposium explores how the human brain develops, functions, and maintains its role as the seat of ideas. We trace its story from molecules, cells, neuronal migration and circuitry, to the maternal, parental, and social influences that shape its growth, including the countless ways that brain function can be compromised at any stage of life. We examine how the uniquely human interplay of biology and culture gave rise to a brain capable of perceiving and remaking the world around us. By examining the evolutionary roots of our “idea organ,” we aim to illuminate how this singular capacity emerged—and how it continues to drive human innovation. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 41358]

    7 分钟
  3. 3月2日 · 视频

    CARTA: Neanderthalizing Brain Organoids with Alysson Muotri

    Humans live in a world of ideas—born in the brain, shared through language, accumulated in culture across generations, and made reality. Professor Alysson Muotri, UC San Diego Departments of Pediatrics and Cellular and Molecular Medicine, examines how human brain evolution reflects the interplay between genetic innovation and environmental pressures, focusing on Neuro-oncological ventral antigen 1 (NOVA1), an evolutionarily conserved splicing regulator essential for neural development with a protein-coding substitution unique to modern humans compared with Neanderthals and Denisovans. By reintroducing the archaic NOVA1 allele into human induced pluripotent stem cells and studying cortical organoids, the work finds accelerated maturation, increased surface complexity, altered synaptic marker expression, and changes in electrophysiological properties. Muotri also analyzes long-term lead exposure using fossilized teeth from multiple hominid species spanning over two million years, revealing pervasive exposure across extinct and extant hominids. Lead exposure selectively disrupted FOXP2 expression in cortical and thalamic organoids carrying the archaic NOVA1 variant, and findings were independently validated in NOVA1 humanized mouse models with altered vocalization. Together, these results suggest gene–environment interactions may have influenced neural circuit development, social behavior, and complex language capacity. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 41297]

    22 分钟

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Science affects us all. Explore a wide variety of topics from technology in our everyday lives to complex global issues. Visit uctv.tv/science

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