What is it like to be responsible for the safekeeping of the ancestors of everyone in the world? In this episode, we travel to the National Museum of Ethiopia to see our most famous fossil relative – Lucy – and meet Yared Assefa, the person who takes care of her and all of our Ethiopian fossil ancestors and relatives.
If you love fossils, you won't want to miss this episode!
Special thanks
Thanks to Yared Assefa, Dr. Berhane Asfaw, and Dr. Mulugeta Feseha, who hosted The Leakey Foundation at the National Museum of Ethiopia.
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Support the show! Your donation will be quadruple-matched! Leave a note and let us know if you'd like a shoutout on the next episode.
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Links to learn more
President Obama's speech to the African Union
Lucy: A marvelous specimen
Top ten human evolution discoveries in Ethiopia
Rare 3.8 million-year-old fossil skull recasts origins of iconic Lucy
Ethiopia is top choice for the cradle of Homo sapiens
The Leakey Foundation
Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and outreach.
Funding provided by the Foundation has made many of the fossil hominin discoveries in Ethiopia possible. In addition, Our Baldwin Fellowship program has been building scientific capacity in Ethiopia and other countries since 1978. We also have a new program called the Francis H. Brown African Scholarship Fund that provides up to $25,000 for East African students or early career researchers in botany and geology. Learn about all of our grant programs at leakeyfoundation.org/grants
Lunch Break Science
Lunch Break Science is The Leakey Foundation's online series featuring short talks and interviews with Leakey Foundation grantees. Feed your brain with Lunch Break Science every third Thursday at 11 am Pacific on Facebook, YouTube, and leakeyfoundation.org/live.
Credits
Host and Producer: Meredith Johnson
Editor: Audrey Quinn
Theme Music: Henry Nagle
Additional Music:
Lee Rosevere "Tech Toys" and music from Blue Dot Sessions.
Sponsors
Origin Stories is made possible by support from Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund, and donors like you!
Episode 19: Being Human - Born and Evolved to Run
Episode 18: Empathy
Episode 04: How to Document a Society (Re-release)
Episode 17: Being Human - Speaking of Sex
Episode 16: Neanderthals
Episode 15: The Grandmother Hypothesis
Episode 14: Being Human - Why Do We Laugh?
Episode 13: Evolutionary Arms Race
Episode 12: The Origins of Tuberculosis
Episode 11: Face Mites
Episode 10: Being Human with Alison Gopnik
Episode 09: Did Cooking Make Us Human?
Episode 08: Being Human with Robert Sapolsky
Episode 07: The Currant Bush of Life with Bernard Wood
Episode 06: Being a Nice Animal
Episode 05: Discovery at Ledi-Geraru
Episode 04: How to Document a Society
Episode 03: Jane Goodall
Episode 02: Why Do We Get Hiccups?
Episode 01: On Two Feet
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