Robert R. Dunn (Senior Vice Provost for University Interdisciplinary Programs, North Carolina State University)
October 12, 2023
Advisor: Julianne Melissa Farkas, NHC Teacher Advisory Council
Deliciousness often seems elitist or precious. In this webinar, Rob Dunn will demonstrate something of the reverse, namely that the capacity to distinguish delicious foods from less delicious ones evolved in animals hundreds of millions of years ago and has been central to animal evolution. More specifically, building on his work with Monica Sanchez, Dunn argues that deliciousness influenced most and perhaps all of the major evolutionary transitions in humans. Deliciousness is implicated in the origin of big human brains, tool use, language, the origin of fermentation (yes, this webinar will feature beer and bread) and much more.
Webinar Resources
Before the live webinar please be sure to review the required resources. Additional supporting materials that may be of interest are also listed below.
Required Resources
Read the two online articles below for background reading on evolutionary transitions in humans and future considerations on ecologies of the future.
- Dunn, Robert R., et al. “A Theory of City Biogeography and the Origin of Urban Species.” Frontiers in Conservation Science 3 (2022): 1–18.
- Dunn, Robert R.“The Earth After Humans.” Noema Magazine, November 9, 2021.
Additional Resources
- Terando, Adam J., Jennifer Costanza, Curtis Belyea, Robert R. Dunn, Alexa McKerrow, and Jaime A. Collazo. “The Southern Megalopolis: Using the Past to Predict the Future of Urban Sprawl in the Southeast U.S.“ PLoS ONE 9, no. 7 (July 2014): 1–8.
Subjects
Science / Medicine / Food / Human Ecology / Evolution /
Rights
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.