Events & Upcoming Talks

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.