UConn Anthropology Graduate student, Christina Balentine, will be giving an exciting online public talk entitled “How humans thrive in extreme environments” for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History on January 21 at 10.30 am.

Description:

When you think of superheroes, Wonder Woman, Spiderman, and the X-Men might come to mind. But do you ever think of yourself? Thanks to cultural innovations and genetic adaptation by natural selection, we humans rise to our own super abilities to thrive in seemingly intolerable environments all over the world: at extremely high altitudes in the Himalayas; in freezing cold in the Arctic; and in toxic, arsenic-rich regions in the Andes Mountains, to name just a few. Christina Balentine, an anthropological geneticist and PhD Candidate at the University of Texas at Austin, will share her research on the topic and answer your questions as you learn about our own superhuman abilities

Please click this link for more information and instructions to register for FREE!

(description provided by Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History)

UConn Anthropology graduate student Megan Alexander, was recently awarded a grant from the Landes Memorial Research Fund to support her dissertation research on death doulas and American notions of a “good” death.

“The Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund was established in 1991 in honor of Ruth Schlossberg Landes, Ph.D. (1908–1991) for interdisciplinary research and publications on subjects that were of interest to Dr. Landes during her professional and academic career”. Competitive applications were evaluated according to the following criteria: “the merit and significance of the applicant’s proposal; the applicant’s qualifications; the relevance of the project to subjects that were of interest to Dr. Landes during her career; and the degree to which grant funds are likely to contribute to the success of the proposed project”. 

Congratulations Megan on your hard work!