Baubellum: The Story of the Lost Bone

presented by taste of science festival 2021!

Did you know that in many mammals, including some of our close relatives, there is a bone inside the clitoris? It's called the baubellum, and chances are you've never heard of it before. We'll spend the evening finding out why that is, what the baubellum looks like in other animals, and why it's important for everyone (including scientists!) to know more about it than we do.

Join us for an evening of the evolutionary biology of bones. Be warned though, there will be some explicit adult themes.

Andrea has always had a love for nature, for animals, and for human culture. Raised in Tennessee, she first fell in love with skeletons as an undergrad at Middle Tennessee State University. Eventually she got her PhD at the University of Oregon in Anthropology, studying comparative anatomy among primates, including humans. She recently completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, where she directed a large-scale survey studying the differences between wild and captive-born monkeys and apes. She currently lives in Washington, D.C., where she enjoys debating philosophy with her partner Wesley, snuggling with their cat Jerry, and playing the ukulele.