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Wednesday 21 September 2016, 09:00 –14:45Conference with our new CNRS-Researcher, Laurent Bruxelles&#160;VENUE: Cate Druce Lecture Room,Evolutionary Studies Institute (ESI), Wits University&#160;SPEAKERS&#160;09:00 – Welcome, Professor Peter Vale (JIAS )09:10 – Chairperson, Professor Francis Thackeray(ESI, Wits; President, RSSAf)09:15 – Emeritus Professor John Parkington (UCT)The human brain and symptoms of modernity09:45 – Professor Jose Braga (University of Toulouse) andProfessor Francis Thackeray (ESI, Wits)Language and the brains of “Mrs Ples” and Homo habilis:A tribute to the late Professor Phillip Tobias&#160;TEA BREAK 10:45 – Dr Amélie Beaudet (University of Pretoria)Hominin brain evolution: extracting paleoneurologicalevidence from the fossil record11:15 – Dr Julian Benoit (ESI, Wits)The brain and sense organs in therapsids(“mammal-like reptiles”), 200-260 million years old&#160;12:00 LUNCH&#160;13:30 – Prof Paul Manger (School of Anatomical Science, Wits)The Five Evolutions of Large Brains in Mammals –humans, elephants, cetaceans, seals and camels&#160;14:00 –14:45 DISCUSSION&#160;14:45 CLOSURE