PASADENA, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 04/23/08 -- The interdisciplinary "What Makes Us Human?" Conference is jointly sponsored by the Vision.org Foundation and the Oxford International Biomedical Centre. News of the recently discovered ancient European toothed hominin jawbone fragment, as reported in the March 27, 2008 scientific journal Nature, has raised more questions about human origins. This important find comes at a time when some of the world's most respected thinkers and researchers in the fields of archaeology, anthropology, biology and other fields will have the opportunity to discuss its significance. Read press release here. Members of the media will have the opportunity to interview six panelists including:

Frans de Waal, Dutch-born ethologist/biologist famed for drawing parallels between primate animal and human animal behavior will focus on what sets the human animal apart from the primates.

Ian Tattersall, prominent interpreter of human paleontology, is curator in the Department of Anthropology of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City who concentrates his research on the analysis of the human fossil record and the ecology and systematics of the lemurs of Madagascar.

Craig Stanford, an authority on human evolution and primate behavior who is Professor of Anthropology and Biological Sciences at USC and Director, USC Jane Goodall Research Center.

Arnold Schwartzman, a filmmaker and noted director of design for the 1984 Olympic Games who produced the Academy Award® winning documentary feature film, "GENOCIDE" (1981), among others.

Donald Johanson, a paleoanthropologist best known for his discovery of the Lucy skeleton, the widely studied fossil find of the 20th century.

David Hulme, Chairman of Vision.org Foundation, focuses on international relations with an emphasis on the Middle East. Author of "Identity, Ideology and the Jerusalem Question."

Other conference panelists include John Allman, Miguel Angel Corzo, Antonio Damasio, Marc Hauser, William Hurlbut, Christine Kenneally, Bruce Lahn, Barbara Lambert, Charles Pasternak, John Shea, Jeffrey Schwartz, Bruce Weber, and other experts in psychology, religion, culture, arts, philosophy, emotions, biological anthropology and human/animal behavior.

WHEN:   V.I.P. Press Event and Cocktail Party: Monday, April 28 @ 6:30 PM
        Conference: Monday, April 28 @ 8 AM through Tuesday,
        April 29, 2008 @ 4:30 PM

WHERE:  V.I.P. Press Conference and Cocktail Party
        Museum of Natural History (Lobby)
        900 Exposition Boulevard
        Los Angeles, CA 90007
        (In Exposition Park, across from USC between Vermont and Figueroa.)
        What Makes us Human? Conference:
        The Conference is at Zipper Concert Hall at the Colburn School
        200 South Grand Avenue
        Los Angeles, CA 90012

The cost for registration to attend the "What Makes Us Human?" Conference is $99.00. For more information visit www.whatmakesushuman.info.

AUDIO AND VISUALS: Pre-conference audio interviews and visual b-roll available upon request. Listen to what ordinary people think about what makes us human.

Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=743913

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Contact:
Kristin Gabriel
Expansion Plus
www.expansionplus.com
323.650.2838

Edwin Stepp
www.vision.org
Vision Media Productions
Phone (24 hrs): 626 535-0444 ext 105