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Anthropology Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Faculty News

Stoking the fires of change

SMU News Originally Posted: July 12, 2021 An unusually hot, dry spell bakes the landscape. Ready to say goodbye to summer, friends gather for Labor Day barbecues in neighborhoods surrounded by forest. Winds whip up and embers fly. In the blink of an eye, 1,500 structures are set aflame. That hypothetical scenario cooked up by […]

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Anthropology Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Faculty News

Ten years of ancient genome analysis has taught scientists ‘what it means to be human’

SMU News Originally Posted: June 17, 2021 A ball of 4,000-year-old hair frozen in time tangled around a whalebone comb led to the first ever reconstruction of an ancient human genome just over a decade ago. The hair, which was preserved in arctic permafrost in Greenland, was collected in the 1980s and stored at a […]

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Fashion Group International of Dallas and SMU Professor Maryann Cairns are spearheading the city’s initiatives in eco-friendly fashion

D Magazine Posted: April 27, 2021 The fashion industry in Dallas is pioneering initiatives and programs to support the next generation of environmentally conscious fashion professionals locally. In recent years, the industry at large has laid the groundwork to encourage sustainability by reducing the carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions exacerbated by the materials the […]

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Anthropology Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Faculty News History

A year without: How Texas survived the challenges brought by the coronavirus pandemic

Dallas Morning News Originally Posted: March 10, 2021 Several Dedman College professors were quoted in this March 10, 2021 Dallas Morning News article. Stacey Monroe barely flinched as the nurse jabbed a needle into her right arm. Wearing a N95 mask and a clear face shield, she looked straight ahead as the nurse pressed her […]

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Five Dedman College faculty members receive 2021 Sam Taylor Fellowship awards

Dedman College News Originally Posted: Feb. 12, 2021 Each year, the United Methodist Church’s Division of Higher Education and Ministry grants Sam Taylor Fellowship Awards to support faculty research that advances the intellectual and social life of our global society. Following a highly competitive selection process, the Sam Taylor Fellowship review committee is pleased to […]

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Anthropology Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Faculty News

Ancient indigenous New Mexican community knew how to sustainably coexist with wildfire

SMU News Originally Posted: January 20, 2021 Wildfires are the enemy when they threaten homes in California and elsewhere. But a new study led by SMU suggests that people living in fire-prone places can learn to manage fire as an ally to prevent dangerous blazes, just like people who lived nearly 1,000 years ago. “We […]

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Anthropology Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Dedman College Research Faculty News

Wildfire Archaeology and the Burning American West

Sapiens Originally Posted: September 9, 2020 As I type, the American West is ablaze with more than 100 devastating wildfires. Many of these are record-setting in both size and intensity. Several, including one in my home state of Colorado, have been so intense they’ve created their own thunderstorms. Science shows that wildfires have been getting more destructive […]

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Anthropology Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences

When SMU anthropologist Maryann Cairns joined an environmental research team dedicated to keeping Costa Rican beaches safe from wastewater, no one anticipated the research would help monitor COVID-19

Mirage News Originally Posted: July 30, 2020 At the end of last year, scientists from USF and Southern Methodist University (SMU) wrapped up an intense two-year field season on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica with colleagues at the Costa Rican Water and Sewage Authority’s Water Laboratory. With more than 5,000 beach surveys, 500 behavioral […]

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Anthropology Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences

Were humans living in a Mexican cave during the last ice age?

Science Magazine Originally Posted: July 22, 2020 In Science magazine, SMU archeologist David Meltzer questions if stone tools found in a Mexico cave indicate that humans were there 26,000 years ago, more than 10,000 years before any other known human occupation in the region. At first glance, Chiquihuite Cave in Mexico’s Zacatecas state is an […]

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Anthropology Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences

The professor and the dancer: How an unlikely duo is guiding the reopening of two local cultural institutions

The Dallas Morning News Originally Posted: July 31, 2020 Dr. Eric Bing, a global health expert, and Khris Beeson, an SMU graduate in dance, may make an unlikely duo. But together they are helping Dallas Theater and SMU Meadows create plans for safe performances in the face of the coronavirus. READ MORE