50 000 years of human history in our DNA: what consequences for the future? / 1,5 days
Grand conference of the Académie des Sciences, on February 2 and 3, 2021, organized with the support of Fondation Minerve - Institut de France
This conference, 100% digital, partly in French and partly in English, will be broadcasted live on the YouTube channel of the Academy des sciences and will always be accessible afterwards.
OrganizersBernard Dujon, Professor, Sorbonne Université, Institut Pasteur, member of Académie des sciences
Philippe Janvier, Research director, CNRS, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Université, member of Académie de sciences
Jean Weissenbach, Research director, Génoscope, member of Académie de sciences
Pascale Cossart, Professor, Institut Pasteur, Secrétaire perpétuel of Académie des sciences
Summary
The remarkable discoveries of paleo-anthropology, based on the study of human remains and their environments, have opened the fascinating book of our origins, illustrated with fragments of the life and history of our ancestors. In recent years, spectacular advances in genomics have given us access to the most intimate knowledge of the individuals who preceded us in different parts of the world in remote times. By analyzing their genomes and comparing them with those of modern humans, the epic journey of the human species over the last 50 millennia is now gradually being reconstructed before our eyes, showing us the diversity of populations that have existed over time. Their genes show us their migrations, their adaptations to the conditions encountered (food, pathogens, domestication) and the importance of admixtures between populations. Ancestral family structures can even be reconstructed. By illustrating the most recent discoveries made from ancient DNA, the colloquium will seek to show how history has left its traces in the genes of modern humans, how the human species has shaped its immediate environment and what are the consequences for our future.
See the program