In celebration of Darwin Day, the Red Bank Humanists (RBH) will sponsor a talk by Robert Scott, Ph.D., entitled “Our Pleistocene Cousins: A Branch on Darwin’s Tree of Life.”The event will be held on Feb. 11 from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon at the Red Bank Charter School, 58 Oakland St., Red Bank. The program is open to the public and admission is free.Dr. Scott’s talk will include the following topics:Who were our hominin relatives living in East Africa between 2 and 1.5 million years ago?What were the likely dietary and behavioral adaptations of these species?What evidence do we have to reconstruct their lifeways?How has Dr. Scott’s research in dental microwear contributed to our understanding?What were Darwin’s contributions in helping us understand big macroevolutionary patterns or the “tree of life?”Dr. Scott is Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Director in Rutgers’ Department of Anthropology. Dr. Scott received his B.A. from Yale University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. He is interested in how our close relatives responded to changes in the environment and climate. His emphasis is on the influence of diet and dietary change in human evolution.As Dr. Scott explained, “My research is about things we talk about at dinner and also about what we eat for dinner.”The Red Bank Humanists is a nonprofit organization dedicated to Secular Humanism. The goal of Red Bank Humanists is to cultivate rational inquiry, ethical values and human development in Monmouth and Ocean Counties. More information about Humanism and RBH events is available at www.redbankhumanists.org.At the February forum, the Red Bank Humanists will be collecting men and women’s socks and toiletries, such as shampoo, deodorant, razors, etc., for the Joan Valentine House in Point Pleasant Beach. The Valentine House is a residential facility operated by the non-profit Ocean Housing Alliance that provides mentally ill persons with the safe, healthy, pleasant, and caring environment they deserve.
