PLENARY LECTURES PLENARY LECTURES HUMANS ARE NOT COOPERATIVE BREEDERS BUT PRACTICE BIOCULTURAL REPRODUCTION Bogin Barry1 , Bragg Jared2 , Kuzawa Christopher2 1School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK 2Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, USA Alloparental care and feeding of young is often called ‘cooperative breeding’ and humans are increasingly described as being a cooperative breeding species. <...> We critically evaluate whether the human offspring care system is best grouped with that of other cooperative breeders. <...> We fi nd that human reproduction and offspring care are distinct from other species because alloparental behaviour is defi ned culturally rather than by genetic kinship alone. <...> This system allows local fl exibility in provisioning strategies and ensures that care and resources often fl ow between unrelated individuals. <...> This study proposes the term “biocultural reproduction” to describe this unique human reproductive system. <...> Human biocultural reproduction lowers the lifetime reproductive effort of individual women by 14–29% compared to expectations based upon other mammals. <...> This effi ciency could help explain lifespan extension beyond menopause. <...> There are risks and trade-offs from the evolution of biocultural reproduction, including childhood neglect, social brain malfunction, and diseases of aging. <...> Key words: alloparenting, human life history, childhood, lifetime reproductive effort, longevity Contact information: Bogin Barry, e-mail: B.A.Bogin@lboro.ac.uk. <...> GLOBAL GROWTH CHARTS: NEW CONCEPTS OF GENERATING NATIONAL AND REGIONAL REFERENCES FOR HEIGHT, WEIGHT, AND BMI FROM 0–18 YEARS Hermanussen Michael1 , Karol Stec2 1Aschauhof, Altenhof, Germany 2University of Potsdam, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, Bioinformatics Group, Potsdam-Golm, Germany 3TNO Prevention and Health, LEIDEN, The Netherlands 4Deutsches Zentrum fьr Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen, Bonn, Germany Background: The world-wide variation in human growth has long been documented. <...> The present work was undertaken to re-analyse the between-population variance in growth, and to provide a globally applicable technique for generating growth references. <...> Material and methods: We meta-analyzed 196 female and 197 male growth studies published since 1831 using Preece-Baines analysis and Principal Component <...>