Join us for this enlightening online discu ssion with Smithsonian curator Sabrina Sholts as she talks about how the v ery fact of being human increases our pandemic risks &mdash\; and gives us the power to save ourselves.
\nThe COVID-19 pandemic won't be our l ast &mdash\; because what makes us vulnerable to pandemics also makes us h uman. That is the uncomfortable but all-too-timely message of Sabrina Shol ts' book "The Human Disease: How We Create Pandemics\, From Our Bodies to Our Beliefs\," which travels through history and around the globe to exami ne how and why pandemics are an inescapable threat of our own making. Draw ing on dozens of disciplines &mdash\; from medicine\, epidemiology and mic robiology to anthropology\, sociology\, ecology and neuroscience &mdash\; as well as a unique expertise in public education about emerging infectiou s diseases\, biological anthropologist Sholts identifies the human traits and tendencies that double as pandemic liabilities\, from the anatomy that defines us to the misperceptions that divide us.
\nWeaving together a wealth of personal experiences\, scientific findings and historical sto ries\, Sholts brings dramatic and much-needed clarity to one of the most p rofound challenges we face as a species. Though the COVID-19 pandemic loom s large in Sholts's account\, it is\, in fact\, just one of the many infec tious disease events explored.
\nWith an expansive\, evolutionary pe rspective\, the book explains how humanity will continue to face new pande mics because \;humans cause them\, by the ways that we are and the thi ngs that we do. By recognizing our risks\, Sholts suggests\, we can take a ctions to reduce them. When the next pandemic happens\, and how bad it bec omes\, are largely within our highly capable human hands and will be deter mined by what we do with our extraordinary human brains.
\nAdults.&n bsp\;Register to receiv e a link \;for viewing this online event.
\nAbout th e Author: Sabrina Sholts is a biological anthropologist and curat or of biological anthropology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natu ral History (NMNH). Her research explores intersections of human\, animal and environmental health in the past and present. She received her Ph.D. i n Anthropology at UC Santa Barbara and was a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley in integrative biology and at Stockholm University in biophysics and biochemistry.
\nThis event is part of \;DBRL's \;Online Author Series\, supported by David Lile honorarium funds. A recording will also be available for la ter viewing on the \;autho r series site.
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