Fossilized footprints reveal two extinct hominin species living side by side 1.5 million years ago
New research reveals fossil footprints that record two different species of hominins walking along the same Kenyan lakeshore at the same time, roughly 1.5 million years ago.
Grantee Spotlight: Kakamega Monkey Project
Learn about the Kakamega Monkey Project, one of the longest continuous studies of wild primates in the world.
The oldest human burial in Kenya
An international team of researchers has identified the earliest known human burial in Africa at Panga ya Saidi, a cave near the Kenyan coast. The remains of a 2.5 to 3 year-old child were found deliberately buried in a shallow grave directly under the sheltered overhang of the cave. The child was laid carefully on their side, in a curled up position, likely wrapped in a shroud with a pillow under the child's head.
Turbulent environment set the stage for leaps in human evolution and technology 320,000 years ago
People thrive all across the globe, at every temperature, altitude and landscape. How did human beings become so successful at adapting to whatever environment we wind up in? Human origins researchers like me are interested in how this quintessential human trait, adaptability, evolved.
Global Climate Change Concerns for Africa’s Lake Victoria
Global climate change could cause Africa’s Lake Victoria, the world’s largest tropical lake and source of the Nile River, to dry up in the next 500 years, according to new findings funded in part by The Leakey Foundation. Even more imminent, the White Nile — one of the two main tributaries of the Nile — could lose its source waters in just a decade.