Event

Café Scientifique 2-17

February topic: The Power of Poisons, feat. the Honey Badger, presented by Sharon Jansa and Danielle Drabeck

Bell Museum curator of mammals Sharon Jansa and her intrepid grad student Danielle have spent the last couple of years examining the evolution of resistance to snake venom in mammals, and are about to publish an exciting new paper on the evolution of resistance to snake venom in honey badgers, (yes, honey badgers!). Tonight Sharon and Danielle will introduce us to anthropological/cultural interpretations of toxins through a scientific lens, and explain how the honey badger's amazing adaptations help researchers use biochemistry and evolutionary biology to better understand interspecific interactions and evolution itself.

Sharon Jansa is an associate professor in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, curator of Mammals at the Bell Museum of Natural History, and head of the Jansa Lab at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on reconstructing the evolutionary histories of locally isolated mammals as the first step towards understanding how biological and geographical forces might have prompted their diversification.