Science gets social at the Milwaukee Public Museum’s Science on Tap – Carpenter Lecture Series, the engaging lecture series where science and culture intersect over cocktails.
For as long as there have been humans, we have been interested in how we came to be. Dr. Caroline VanSickle from the University of Wisconsin-Madison will share with us her findings on human evolution based on her studies of the human pelvis on Thursday, June 16.
It’s been a universally held belief that the female human pelvis needed adaptations to expand the birth canal to give birth to large-brained babies. New fossil discoveries challenge this simplistic view of events. Dr. VanSickle examined pelvic remains from ancient human relatives spanning from early Australopithecus to the more recent Neanderthals — she even examined the pelvic evidence from the newly discovered species Homo naledi. Based on her findings, there is now evidence that the shape of the human pelvis is more likely the complex result of multiple evolutionary factors and not dictated solely by infant brain size.
Science on Tap lectures are $10 or $5 for museum members. The social hour begins at 6 p.m. with light hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar. The lecture begins at 7 p.m. For more information, on our June 16 event, go to mpm.edu/
