Dean Falk speaks to general and specialist groups about human evolution. Lecture topics include the evolution of the human brain and intelligence, the discovery of Homo floresiensis (“Hobbit”), and the evolutionary origins of language and music.
Upcoming Events
Past Events
| Date: | November 14, 2023; 6:30-7:30 |
| Location: | The Houston Museum of Natural History; Houston Texas |
| Event: | Leakey Foundation lecture: “The Botanic Age: Plants and Human Evolution” |
| Details: | In-person and virtual tickets available at https://leakeyfoundation.org/event/the-botanic-age/ |
| Link to lecture: | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXET7OOUYsY&ab_channel=TheLeakeyFoundation |
| Date: | Wednesday, September 27, 2023; 9:45-10:45 |
| Location: | Roma Tre University; via Ostiense 234, Aula 2; Rome, Italy |
| Event/Plenary keynote talk: | “From Foot to Mouth: Keeping a Beat contributed to Musical and Linguistic Abilities in Hominins” |
| Details: | Protolang 8 conference, hosted by the Department of Philosophy, Communication and Performing Arts / Roma Tre University |
| Link: | https://sites.google.com/view/protolang8/home |
| Date: | Thursday, September 21, 2023; 3 pm (15.00) |
| Location: | Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, Martinstraße 12, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria; Lecture Hall, ground floor |
| Event/Plenary keynote talk: | Colloquium: “Will the Real Hans Asperger Please Stand Up? Letters from the Round Table.” |
| Details: | The talk is open to the public. |
| Link: | Abstract |
| Date: | August 28 – September 25, 2023 |
| Location: | Konrad Lorenz Institute, Klosterneuburg, Austria |
| Event: | Visiting Fellowship |
| Details: | While at KLI, Falk will collaborate with Austrian colleagues on producing a volume of letters (translated from German to English) that were written to Hans Asperger from 1933-1949 by his inner circle of colleagues at the University of Vienna’s Children’s Hospital. |
| Links: | https://www.kli.ac.at/en/people/current_fellows/view/333 https://www.kli.ac.at/content/research/all_projects/view/804 |
| Date: | December 18, 2020 |
| Location: | Department of Archaeological Sciences and Human Evolution, University of Tubingen, Germany |
| Event/Lecture: | discussion about human evolution |
| Details: | graduate student colloquium, via zoom |
| Date: | December 11, 2020 |
| Location: | Division of Child Neurology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York City |
| Event/Lecture: | talk about hominin brain evolution |
| Details: | rounds presentation, via zoom |
| Date: | Friday, July 5, 2019; 3:30-4:30 pm |
| Location: | The University of Melbourne, Anatomy and Neuroscience; Frederic Wood Jones Theatre, Level 3 East, Medical Building; Melbourne, Australia |
| Lecture: | “The fossil record of hominin brain evolution: From Australopithecus to Albert Einstein” |
| Details: | Open to the public. |
| Date: | Tuesday, July 2, 2019; 5-7 pm |
| Location: | Sir Roland Wilson Bldg., Australian National University; Canberra, Australia |
| Lecture: | “Babies, brains, tools & war: Trends in human evolution” |
| Details: | Free and open to the public. |
| Date: | Tuesday, June 25, 2019; 5:30-7:00 pm |
| Location: | Griffith University; QCA Lecture Theatre & Gallery Bldg S05 – 2.04, South Bank campus; Brisbane, Australia |
| Event: | Annual Raymond Dart Lecture: “Of paleopolitics and Homo floresiensis: How is “Hobbit” viewed today? |
| Details: | The talk is open to the public. |
| Link: | https://app.secure.griffith.edu.au/events/event/60091 |
| Date: | Saturday, May 18, 2019; 2:00-3:00 pm |
| Location: | Albuquerque Public Library; Cherry Hills Branch (meeting room) 6901 Barstow St NE, ABQ, New Mexico 87111; (505) 857-8321 |
| Event: | book event with the author |
| Title of book: | Geeks, Genes, and the Evolution of Asperger Syndrome |
| Details: | Dean Falk will discuss and do short readings from her latest book, which is coauthored with her granddaughter, Eve Penelope Schofield. |
| Date: | Wednesday, August 8th, 7 pm |
| Location: | Third Place Books, Ravena; 6504 20th Ave NE; Seattle WA 98115 |
| Event: | book event with the author |
| Title of book: | Geeks, Genes, and the Evolution of Asperger Syndrome |
| Details: | Dean Falk will discuss and do short readings from her latest book, which is coauthored with her granddaughter, Eve Penelope Schofield. |
| Link: | https://www.thirdplacebooks.com/event/dean-falk-geeks-genes-and-evolution-asperger-syndrome |
| Date: | May 6, 2018; 3-4 pm |
| Location: | Brier Books; 319 S. Ashland Ave.; Lexington, KY 40502 |
| Event: | book event with the authors |
| Title of book: | Geeks, Genes, and the Evolution of Asperger Syndrome |
| Details: | Dean Falk and Eve Schofield will do short readings, and there will be time for a Q&A session. |
| Date: | May 10, 2018; 6-7 pm |
| Location: | Midtown Reader; 1123 Thomasville Rd, Tallahassee, Fl 32303 |
| Event: | book event |
| Title of book: | Geeks, Genes, and the Evolution of Asperger Syndrome |
| Details: | Dean Falk will discuss and do short readings from her latest book, which she has written with her granddaughter, Eve Penelope Schofield. |
| Link: | https://www.midtownreader.com/ |
| Date: | Friday, November 17, 2017; 9:30-12:30 |
| Location: | Villa of the Werner-Reimers Stiftung; Bad Homburg, Germany |
| Event: | Colloquium honoring Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald (seminar for graduate students) |
| Title: | Trends in the evolution of the hominin brain |
| Details: | Registration for students is only possible via a registration form sent by the Werner Reimers Foundation to a specific address list. The number of participants will be max 30 persons usually coming from the Senckenberg Research Institute, Goethe University Frankfurt and universities in the vicinity. There is no online registration. |
| Date: | Wednesday; November 15, 2017; 7:30 pm |
| Location: | Senckenberg Institute; Frankfurt, Germany |
| Event: | 16th Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald Lecture |
| Title: | “Large brains, canned salmon, and the atomic bomb: The evolution of lethal violence in humans.” |
| Details: | Free and open to public https://www.senckenberg.de/root/index.php?page_id=572&cms_veranstaltung_id=912 |
| Poster: |  |
| Date: | September 24-27, 2017 |
| Location: | Moltkes Palace; Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Event: | The Brain Conferences, Cortex Evolution and Development Falk’s presentation: “Chimpanzee brains, australopithecine endocasts, and the evolution of material culture” |
| Date: | Thursday, March 24, 2016 |
| Location: | International Conference on Evolution of Language (Evolang XI) |
| Event: | Plenary Speaker: “Evo-devo & the evolution of language” |
| Abstract: | http://deanfalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016-Evolang-abstract.pdf |
| Poster: | http://deanfalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/A4_Evolang2016-1.pdf |
| Date: | Friday (Darwin Day), February 12, 2016; 7 pm |
| Location: | banquet; Hotel Capstone, University of Alabama campus, Tuscaloosa |
| Event: | Inaugural keynote address for SEEPS (Southeastern Evolutionary Perspectives Society): “The evolution of Asperger syndrome: a cross-disciplinary Perspective” Details: see conference website http://seeps2016.weebly.com/ |
| Abstract: | Link |
| Flyer: | Link |
| Date: | Saturday, October 24, 2015; 3:00-4:30 |
| Location: | UChicago Campus— Logan Center Performance Hall |
| Event: | BrainStorm, a seminar covering a diverse range of neuroscience disciplines, including talks from Drs. Dean Falk (neuropaleontology), Winifred Newman (neuroaesthetics and ecological psychology), Silman Bensmaia (neurorobotics), and Thor Stein (neurodegenerative disease) |
| Fee: | Free & open to public |
| Date: | Saturday, May 30, 2015, 5-7:00 PM |
| Location: | World Science Festival in New York, New York |
| Event: | Spotlight: Women in Science; Moderator, Tracy Day Participants: Dean Falk, Mandë Holford, Patricia Kovatch, Tara M. Ruttley. |
| Date: | Friday, May 29, 2015, 8-9:30 PM |
| Location: | World Science Festival in New York, New York |
| Event: | What makes humans unique? Archaeologist Lee Berger, psychologist Steven Pinker, anthropologist Dean Falk, and evolutionary biologist Paul Bingham explore this question. This program will examine, from a variety of perspectives, how humans evolved to be the species we are today and where we may be headed in the future. |
| Date: | October 14-19, 2014 |
| Location: | Erice, Sicily, Italy |
| Event: | 33rd workshop of the International School of Ethology: What made us human? Biological and cultural evolution of Homo sapiens. Falk’s presentation: Evolution of brain and culture: The neurological and cognitive journey from Australopithecus to Albert Einstein, October 18. |
| Date: | Thursday, September 18, 2014 |
| Location: | New Mexico History Museum Auditorium (use Washington Avenue entrance) |
| Event: | “Whence Language? The Role of Mothers and Infants” http://sarweb.org/index.php?membership_lecture_dean_falk_2014 |
| Fee: | Free for SAR members, $10 for nonmembers |
| Date: | May 28, 2014; 1-5 pm |
| Location: | California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco |
| Event: | Public symposium on aspects of being human and our evolutionary trajectory; Falk’s presentation: Brain evolution from Australopithecusto Albert Einstein: What matters, size or wiring?Abstract |
| Date: | December 2, 2013; 6 pm |
| Location: | Hotel Santa Fe; Santa Fe, New Mexico |
| Event: | Southwest Seminars Talk, by subscription or $12 at the door: “The Fossil Record of Human Brain Evolution“ |
| Date: | October 8, 2013; 7:30 – 9:00 pm |
| Location: | Barrick Museum Auditorium, University of Nevada Campus, Las Vegas |
| Event: | Talk, Free & Open to the Public: “The Amazing Saga of Albert Einstein’s Brain: Truth-IS-Stranger-Than-Fiction“ |
| Date: | October 1, 2013; 8:00 pm |
| Location: | Frick Fine Arts Bldg, Rm 125, Clemente Drive, U. Pittsburgh Oakland Campus, Pittsburgh, PA |
| Event: | Talk, Free & Open to the Public: “Fossil ‘hobbits,’ Homo sapiens, and the politics of paleoanthropology” |
| Date: | September 22 – 25, 2013 |
| Location: | West Sussex, UK |
| Event: | The Company of Biologists workshop: “Evolution of the Human Neocortex: How Unique Are We?” |
| Date: | May 8, 2012 |
| Location: | Location: School for Advanced Research, Santa Fe |
| Event: | Talk: “New Findings of Hominin Brain Evolution,” Santa Fe Science Writers Workshop |
| Date: | April 28, 2012 |
| Location: | California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco |
| Event: | Talk: “The Role of Prehistoric Mothers in the Evolution of Language”See the talk on fora.tv here.To view the entire Leakey Foundation “The Female in Evolution” symposium (alas, for a fee). |
| Date: | April 27, 2012 |
| Location: | Lick-Wilmerding High School, San Francisco |
| Event: | Talk about Paleoanthropology |
| Date: | April 26, 2012, 7–9 pm |
| Location: | The Bone Room, Berkeley, California |
| Event: | Talk and Book Signing: The Fossil Chronicles |
| Date: | February 9, 2012 |
| Location: | New Mexico History Museum Auditorium; Santa Fe, New Mexico |
| Event: | Talk: The Fossil Chronicles: Revolutions in Paleoanthropology |
| Date: | October 28, 2011 |
| Location: | Palazzo Ducale; Genoa, Italy |
| Event: | Talk: Finding Our Tongues: Mothers, Infants & the Origins of Language |
| Date: | October 3-7, 2011 |
| Location: | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
| Event: | Workshop on DIK-1-1 (Selam) skeleton (Australopithecus afarensis) |
Dean Falk presenting to the School for Advanced Research, Santa Fe, NM. Photograph by Jason S. Ordaz.
Latest Book from Dean Falk…
