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Dr. Rachel Carmody featured in the Harvard Magazine

October 25, 2023
Dr. Rachel Carmody, Assosciate Professor in the Human Evolutionary Biology Department, gains recognition in the latest Harvard Magazine feature. Delve into her intriguing journey of groundbreaking research on the impact of cooking on calorie extraction. Discover how her exploration of the microbiome is reshaping our understanding of human evolution and health here. Read more about Dr. Rachel Carmody featured in the Harvard Magazine

New Employment Opportunity: Tenure-Track Professorship in Human Evolutionary Biology

September 21, 2023

The Department of Human Evolutionary Biology is conducting a search for a tenure-track professor in the area of human evolutionary genetics and genomics. We seek candidates who will complement the current strengths of the Human Evolutionary Biology program. For more information on the opportunity and to apply, please find the posting here: https://academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/12790

Explore the Top Book Recommendations about Science featuring HEB Faculty

August 2, 2023

From the Harvard Gazette:

"Black holes, warming seas, new treatments for disease: No matter how you approach it, the news is full of science-based stories. For those of us who aren’t scientists, however, understanding the context — not to mention the technical jargon — can be a challenge. With that in mind, we asked Harvard science faculty in various fields to recommend their favorite science book for nonscientists. Ideally these accessible reads will give the rest of us a leg up on understanding our changing world."

Whether you are a fellow academic seeking to...

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Ancient DNA Provides New Insights into Ashkenazi Jewish History: Analysis reveals medieval genetic diversity, illuminates founder event

December 1, 2022

The largest study to date of ancient DNA from Jewish individuals reveals unexpected genetic subgroups in medieval German Ashkenazi Jews and sheds light on the “founder event” in which a small population gave rise to most present-day Ashkenazi Jews.

 

The findings, spearheaded by geneticists from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Harvard Medical School, were published Nov. 30 in Cell.

About half of Jewish people around the world today identify as Ashkenazi, meaning that...

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Legendary Battle of Himera was triumph of Greek heroism, kind of: Genetics Professor David Reich traces the movements of people who traveled extraordinarily long distances to fight in the Battle of Himera

October 18, 2022

From the Harvard Crimson: 

"The new paper, “The diverse genetic origins of a Classical period Greek army,” published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, takes a genomic look at those foreign fighters. A previous study used isotopes to identify three-quarters of those in the mass graves as “non-local.” Now, the archaeologists from that study — including Professor of Genetics and Human Evolutionary Biology David Reich, co-first authors ...

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Characterization of Pan social systems reveals in-group/out-group distinction and out-group tolerance in bonobos

September 7, 2022

Abstract: "Human between-group interactions are highly variable, ranging from violent to tolerant and affiliative. Tolerance between groups is linked to our unique capacity for large-scale cooperation and cumulative culture, but its evolutionary origins are understudied. In chimpanzees, one of our closest living relatives, predominantly hostile between-group interactions impede cooperation and information flow across groups. In contrast, in our other closest living relative, the bonobo, tolerant between-group associations are observed. However, as these associations can...

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