UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State alumnus Herman Pontzer, associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University, will deliver a lecture titled “Healthy as a Hunter-Gatherer: Evolutionary Perspectives on Exercise, Diet, and Metabolism” as part of this year’s annual Darwin Day celebration.
Pontzer’s presentation, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 22, in the HUB-Robeson Center’s Freeman Auditorium at University Park. A book signing and reception will follow the lecture; those wishing to attend the reception must register in advance.
Pontzer is an internationally recognized scholar in human metabolism and evolution. For more than two decades, he has conducted pathbreaking studies across a range of settings, including fieldwork with Hadza hunter-gatherers in northern Tanzania, fieldwork on chimpanzee ecology in the rainforests of Uganda, and metabolic measurements of great apes in zoos and sanctuaries around the globe. His groundbreaking research on hunter-gatherer tribes such as the Hadza was the foundation of his book, “Burn” (2021, Penguin Random House), which provides new insights on how humans burn calories, stay healthy, and lose weight.
Pontzer received his baccalaureate degree in anthropology from Penn State in 1999 and holds master’s and doctoral degrees in biological anthropology from Harvard University. His work has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times, BBC, PBS, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, NPR, and Scientific American, to name a few.
Darwin Day is an international celebration held each year near Charles Darwin’s birthday (Feb. 12, 1809) to recognize his contributions to science and to promote science in general. This year’s Penn State celebration is co-sponsored by the Center for Human Evolution and Diversity in the College of the Liberal Arts and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.