Tanya M. Smith, Associate Professor, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University

6:00 PM Tuesday, May 5, 2015 at NEW LOCATION: Science Center Hall D (1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138)

Modern humans and our closest-living ape relatives differ in developmental and reproductive biology, as well as in lifespans, but evolutionary anthropologists do not know when these distinctive characteristics evolved. It might seem that our development is invisible in the fossil record, but much can be learned from the faithful records of birth and growth embedded in teeth. Tanya Smith will discuss how she studies fossil teeth with state-of-the-art technologies to gain virtual access to these records and share what this research reveals about differences between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, and about our evolution over the past seven million years.

Directions and parking Free event parking is available at the 52 Oxford Street Garage starting at 5:00 pm. Public information: 617-496-1027. Free and open to the public.

Presented by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology and the Harvard Museum of Natural History