The Discovery of the Homo naledi Fossil

press release: Join us as we welcome John Hawks, paleoanthropologist and UW-Madison professor, for the final lecture of 2018 in the Library's Scholar'd for Life series. Dr. Hawks will discuss his work in recent years excavating the Rising Star cave in South Africa where he and other scientists identified the remains of Homo naledi, a species of human ancestor never before discovered. John Hawks is the Vilas-Borghesi professor of anthropology at UW- Madison and an expert on the subjects of paleoanthropology and human evolution. In 2014, he launched a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) entitled "Human Evolution: Past and Future," one of the first such free online courses offered by UW-Madison. He teaches a range of courses from the introductory level to graduate level in biological anthropology, human evolution and genetics, and the evolution of human behavior. Along with Lee Berger, he co- authored the 2017 book Almost Human: The Astonishing Tale of Homo naledi and the Discovery That Changed Our Human Story for National Geographic Books. He blogs about human evolution and related topics at johnhawks.net. This lecture is part of the 2018 Wisconsin Science Festival. More information about other events available at wisconsinsciencefest.org This lecture will take place at the Middleton Performing Arts Center, 2100 Bristol St.