Biology

Dr. Nahid Gani, assistant professor of geology in WKU’s Department of Geography and Geology, has been invited to present a talk at the Blue Mind international conference in June in England.

Dr. Nahid Gani

This invitation, which covers all travel-related expenses, is part of Dr. Gani’s collaborative research on river-margin habitat for early human evolution published in the journal Nature Communication. At the conference, Dr. Gani will discuss the geologic evolution of the Blue Nile, a major tributary of the River Nile, and the significance of East Africa’s landscape on early human evolution. This research suggests that human’s relationship with water runs quite deep in geologic time. The availability of fresh water (e.g., rivers and lakes along rift valleys) was instrumental for survival of early humans in the rather arid landscape of East Africa in Plio-Pleistocene times. Specifically, Ardi’s (4.4 million years old early hominin fossil) preference for river-margin habitat in Afar, Ethiopia, justifies why waterfront property is still the most expensive today.

The 4th Annual Blue Mind Conference, which will be held in Cornwall, England, is a prestigious, interdisciplinary conference that, this year, is a partnership between the California Academy of Sciences and the University of Exeter Medical School in the United Kingdom.

The goal of Blue Mind is to continue exploring the cognitive benefits and services provided by healthy waterways through collaboration between researchers and practitioners who may otherwise not interact.

The Blue Mind project helps everyone working with and for our blue planet to do their jobs more effectively by providing deeper insights into the science of “our brains on water.” The Blue Mind Summit brings together top geologists, neuroscientists, oceanographers, explorers, economists, educators, and artists to consider new questions about the “human brain on water.”

Contact: Nahid Gani, (270) 745-2813.