ICTP Assistant Director Claudio Tuniz has been invited to deliver a keynote speech at the Italian Physical Society's National Congress, taking place 20 to 24 September in Bologna. Tuniz will speak on "Advanced physics methods in human evolution studies".

Microscopy and x-ray spectroscopy provide advanced tools to probe interesting archaeological materials, such as hominids’ teeth and bones. Teeth are the most ubiquitous fossil evidence, and within their micro-architecture they hold valuable information on growth, development, diet, migration and pathologies of hominids. In general, various components of the skeleton maintain archives of biological and biomechanical history of the body, associated to specific functions. For example, micromorphology of the hyoid bone provides information of the origin of language. Nowadays such information can be drawn in a non-invasive manner by utilizing x-ray microtomography.
ICTP and Sincrotrone Trieste, with a grant from Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia, are developing a last-generation portable x-ray microtomography system to be used in projects for characterizing ancient human remains that are kept in natural history museums in Europe and elsewhere.
Tuniz will illustrate the applications of advanced x-ray imaging in studies of human origins.

For more information about the Congress, visit the website. http://www.sif.it/SIF/en/portal