2024 Events

The evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is of vital importance given the coastal and societal implications of ice loss, with a potential to raise sea level by up to 58 m if melted entirely. However, future ice-sheet trajectories remain highly uncertain. In fact, current estimates range from a slight mass gain to a mass loss of the Antarctic Ice Sheet by the end of this century. What is more, due to ice-sheet inertia and potentially self-sustained mass loss when exceeding critical thresholds or tipping points, the bulk of sea-level rise is expected to arise beyond the end of this century as sea-level commitment. Here, we systematically assess this long-term committed sea-level contribution from the Antarctic Ice Sheet in response to warming projected over the next centuries under lower- and higher-emission pathways, as well as the reversibility of the committed large-scale ice-sheet changes when reducing warming to relatively colder climate conditions. [more]

Modern ecological crises can be seen as resulting from human social and technological evolution. However, research on human evolution is not sufficiently developed to address global environmental issues or our species’ future on Earth. Theories of human evolution are numerous, poorly integrated, and are fractioned within subdisciplines. Human evolution can be better understood with a set of simple principles from current research in human sociality, cultural evolution, and group interactions. From these I sketch an integrated theory of long-term human evolution that provides a logical and testable pattern of change across the span of our species existence and integrates contrasting theories in anthropology and biology. This theory, and the principles on which it builds, can be used to address our current ecological crises more effectively. I propose a global research agenda of applied cultural evolution for beneficial social change and analyze the example of cultural adaptation to climate change. I review open questions and ethical issues in this line of inquiry. Finally, I issue an urgent call for help in developing applied evolutionary research for addressing human sustainability on our finite planet. [more]