Speakers Leslie Aiello, Michael Purugganan and Vanessa Ezenwa discuss humanity's past, present and future of the Anthropocene. Aiello speaks on how the human capacity to change the planet is not something new, but is rooted in our deep evolutionary past. One of the hallmarks of humans is our large brain size, which began to expand about 2 million years ago. Purugganan discusses how domesticated species are an interesting group of organisms that have co-evolved with Homo sapiens, and have been important in human survival and fitness. Ezenwa explores the idea that interactions between climate change and infectious diseases can increase disease prevalence in human and animal populations, but disease, in turn, may exacerbate climate change. (#37936)