A story of human survival
Primatologist John Mitani reflects on his parents' incarceration under Executive Order 9066 and what human origins research tells us about fear, survival, and our capacity for cooperation.
Pop culture helped fan the flames of the Scopes ‘monkey trial’ 100 years ago − and ever since
Ask Americans about the Scopes trial, and they might have heard of it as the “trial of the century,” a showdown over teaching human evolution. Less well known are its origins.
Celebrating Louis S.B. Leakey
Louis Leakey was born on this day in 1903. He was a charismatic scientist who devoted his life to uncovering our shared past and telling our shared story.
The Discovery of “Zinj”
On July 17, 1959, Mary Leakey left her camp and went out to search the layers of sediment in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, as she and her husband Louis Leakey had done for almost 30 years. Their primary goal was to find fossils of our human relatives (hominins), and as hot, dusty, backbreaking, painstakingly slow and what many friends and fellow scientists might call impossible as that goal seemed, they were determined to reach it.
Louis Leakey’s Legacy
Louis S.B. Leakey was born on this day in 1903. To celebrate him and his legacy, we invite you to learn a little more about the jovial man who devoted his life to uncovering our shared past.