Introducing Origin Stories: The Leakey Foundation Podcast
Origin Stories is our new podcast about what it means to be human and the science behind what we know about ourselves. We'll have interviews and stories from scientists about their research on a vast and fascinating range of topics. We'll learn about the biology and the millions of years of evolution that shape the way we look and act today.
Jane Goodall on Instinct
In this charming animated interview from the PBS Series Blank on Blank, Jane Goodall discusses her early dreams of studying animals in the wild, and how meeting Louis Leakey in Kenya made it possible for her to start her pioneering chimpanzee research.
Fossil jaw sheds light on the early evolution of Homo
A close up view of the fossil just steps from where it was discovered by Chalachew Seyoum. Photo by Brian Villmoare.
A fossil lower jaw found in the Afar Region of Ethiopia pushes back evidence for the human genus Homo to 2.8 million years ago. The jaw with five teeth was found by Chalachew Seyoum, a Baldwin Fellow and Arizona
Guest Post: Why walk on two legs?
By Jeremy DeSilva of Boston University.
Jeremy will discuss the question “Why walk on two legs?” along with Brian Richmond during a SciCafe at the American Museum of Natural History on April 1, 2015. This article is an excellent introduction to the pros and cons of bipedalism.
Humans are weird. We are mammals, yet we have very little body hair.
Survival of the fleetest, smartest, or fattest?
Our understanding of human evolution has grown exponentially since Darwin’s time. This week marks the 206th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, so we’re sharing a Darwin-related Leakey Foundation lecture from our archives. In this lecture, recorded in 2009 at the Field Museum in Chicago, Daniel Lieberman of Harvard University discusses the evolution and dysevolution of humans 150 years