The Academic Minute

In today’s Academic Minute, Dr. Kristen Hawkes of the University of Utah reveals how the grandmothering impulse has contributed to the length of the human lifespan. 

Kristen Hawkes is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of Utah where her research is focused on human life history evolution. Her current approach is guided by the hypothesis that grandmothering is a fundamental shift in our genus underlying a suite of key features that distinguish humans from other great apes. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Washington.

In today’s Academic Minute, Dr. Sarah Stoddard of the University of Michigan explains peer pressure’s long reach into the virtual world of social media.

Sarah Stoddard is a research assistant professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan.  Her research interests include understanding the interaction between individual factors and social and environmental factors. Her findings have been published in a number of peer-reviewed journals and she holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.

This week we're featuring five winners of the 2012 Academic Minute Senior Superlatives.

William Connell of Seton Hall University captured the Listener Choice award with the discovery of a long-lost letter that explains the shifting political fortunes of Niccolo Machiavelli.

This week we’re featuring five winners of the 2012 Academic Minute Senior Superlatives.

Chris Martine from SUNY Plattsburgh took home the Best Smile honor for letting us in on the secret world of plant sex.

This week we're featuring five winners of the 2012 Academic Minute Senior Superlatives.

Sylvia Alajaji of Franklin and Marshall College earned The President’s Award for her explanation of how female rap artists are promoting women’s rights in the Muslim world.

This week we’ll be featuring five winners of the 2012 Academic Minute Senior Superlatives.

Thomas Park of the University of Illinois at Chicago received the Most Likely to Take Over the World award for this explanation of why the naked mole rat can survive conditions that would be lethal to most of us.

This week we’ll be featuring five winners of the 2012 Academic Minute Senior Superlatives.
 
Daniel Abrams of Northwestern University won the Most Likely to Blow Your Mind award for his research into how competition and cooperation determine the number of lefties within a society.

In today’s Academic Minute, Dr. Connie Shemo of the State University of New York, Plattsburgh, explains the connection between the women’s foreign mission movement of the early twentieth century and two pioneering female doctors.

Connie Shemo is an associate professor of history at the State University of New York, Plattsburgh. Her teaching and research interests include U.S. women's history, Chinese history, and the history of medicine. She holds a Ph.D. from SUNY Binghamton.

In today’s Academic Minute, Dr. Timothy Lyons of the University of California Riverside explains the complex history of the Earth’s oxygen-rich oceans.

Timothy Lyons is a professor of biogeochemistry at the University of California, Riverside, where his current research explores the evolving ocean and atmosphere and their cause-and-effect relationships with the origin and evolution of life. His work has appeared in numerous academic journals and he holds a Ph.D. from Yale University.

In today’s Academic Minute, Dr. Ian Kaplan of Purdue University explores the complex ecological and biological relationship between predators and their prey.

Ian Kaplan is an assistant professor of entomology at Purdue University where his lab seeks to apply theoretical principles from population and community ecology toward the sustainable management of crop pests. He holds a Ph.D. in entomology from the University of Maryland.

About Dr. Kaplan