Extended postmenopausal longevity, pair bonding, and helpless (adorable) babies are aspects of life history that distinguish us from other great apes. How did they evolve? Kristen Hawkes, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of Utah, will show how the grandmother hypothesis can explain the evolution of these human features, using lessons from her ethnographic fieldwork with hunter-gatherers in Paraguay and Tanzania.

Moderator: Briana Pobiner, paleoanthropologist and educator at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

This Zoom webinar with Kristen Hawkes aired live on February 19th 2025 as part of the ongoing "HOT (Human Origins Today) Topic" series.