Why do we drink and abuse alcohol? In this talk, biologist and author Robert Dudley will provide a deep-time, interdisciplinary perspective on today's patterns of alcohol consumption and abuse. Follow the link between the fruit-eating behavior of arboreal primates and the evolution of the sensory skills required to identify ripe and fermented fruits that contain sugar and low levels of alcohol. In addition to introducing this new theory, Dudley will touch on  the medical and social impacts of alcoholism.

Robert Dudley is Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and Research Associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. His research on the evolutionary origins of alcohol consumption has appeared in numerous journals and in his book "The Drunken Monkey."

Admission to the lecture is $5 (free for Museum Members).

SPONSORED BY HILTON GARDEN INN MONTEREY