It’s been 150 years since the publication of On the Origin of Species, but the wealth of information we’ve collected on when, where and how our species has evolved might have surprised even Charles Darwin. We’ve now traced several major episodes of natural selection that transformed our ape-like ancestors into modern humans. But, paradoxically, humans have created a world that is leading to a kind of “dysevolution”: many of the very same adaptations that enabled us to succeed as active hunter-gatherers in tropical habitats can now impair our well-being, and may even threaten our species’ survival.

Recorded Saturday, April 04, 2009 at The Field Museum.