Secret Science Club Presents Computational Geneticist Joe Pickrell

Bones, artifacts, cave paintings and prehistoric tools are the clues traditionally used to learn about our earliest human ancestors. But scientists are discovering that human history is also written in subtle variations of our genetic code. Geneticist Joe Pickrell compares and contrasts the DNA of living humans and those who are loooong dead to learn about history, evolution and human health. He asks:

–How are new studies of ancient DNA rewriting assumptions about human history?

 –What effects did the shift from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a life of farming and settlement have on the human genome?

 –How have recent technological advances allowed geneticists to accomplish feats that were once considered science fiction?

A computational geneticist at the New York Genome Center and contributor to “Genomes Unzipped,” Joe Pickrell and his research have been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New Scientist and Nature.