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Every human carries a unique individual genome. The ways in which human genomes are similar or different to one another is just now being detailed at high resolution thanks to technological advances in DNA sequencing. These new observations reveal much about our origins as humans and the evolutionary processes that shape both human adaptation and disease. Continue reading “Genes and Geography: Understanding Human Genetic Diversity”

The recent discovery of a 13 million-year-old fossil infant ape skull has offered a rare glimpse of what the common ancestor of all living apes and humans may have looked like. The fossil, nicknamed “Alesi,” belongs to a newly named species called Nyanzapithecus alesi. Alesi was discovered in a desolate region of Kenya by John Ekusi, a member of Dr. Isaiah Nengo’s research team. In this talk, Dr. Nengo will share the story of finding this rare fossil and discuss the secrets that cutting-edge technology has uncovered about the life of this ancient infant.

Continue reading “Alesi: The Life, Death, and Discovery of an Ancestor”

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The discovery that a microorganism produced penicillin in 1928 ushered in an unprecedented global effort to mine for new antibiotics from the environment, in particular from microorganisms that live in soil. It remains one of the most impactful scientific discoveries in our species’ history, as it resulted in nearly doubling our life span. Continue reading “Antibiotic Hunters: Discovering Drugs in the Ocean”

Sixth Edition: Plant Biotechnology and Astrophysics in the Spotlight

As part of the French Innovation Week organized by the Consulate General of France, the French-American Chamber of Commerce in Chicago, Business France and the Alliance Française de Chicago, have organized the Sixth Edition of the French American Science Festival, to be held the first week of May 2017.   Continue reading “French-American Science Festival 2017”

How do fish and other marine species find forever homes? How long do they remain drifters?

Adults spawn and release eggs that hatch into larvae that temporarily join the drifting communities of the open ocean, plankton. What happens from there is not easy to study–larvae are tiny; almost invisible, and the ocean is huge. Continue reading “Tales From the Sea: How do Baby Fish and Other Marine Species Find Forever Homes?”