Ungar Featured in Science Nation Episode

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Peter Ungar, Distinguished Professor of anthropology

Peter Ungar, Distinguished Professor and chairman of the anthropology department, is featured in this week's Science Nation, a science video series commissioned by the National Science Foundation Office of Legislative and Public Affairs.

The episode, If These Teeth Could Talk, looks at Ungar’s groundbreaking study of fossil teeth to learn what ancient animals and humans ate, and how their diets evolved. His research combines anthropology, biology, engineering, and dentistry. The teeth he studies and compares range from dinosaurs to modern humans. Ungar’s NSF-funded research uses technology designed to look at the surface textures of the teeth of both ancient and living species.

His work is providing direct evidence of what ancient animals and early humans actually ate, not just what they were capable of eating. Understanding what and how our ancestors ate can help us understand their diet, their behavior and even their migration.

The episode can be viewed at:

http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/science_nation/index.jsp

The Science Nation piece is the second of three reports featuring University of Arkansas scientists. The first one, Lord of the Tree Rings, focuses on the work of David Stahle, Distinguished Professor of geosciences. Stahle examines tree rings to determine patterns of past climate, particularly rainfall patterns.

That episode can be viewed at:

http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/science_nation/lordtreerings.jsp

The third episode will feature the work of James Hinton, University Professor of chemistry and biochemistry, who has developed a computer program that allows researchers to interact with life-size virtual proteins in three dimensions.