Huffington Magazine Issue 57 | Page 36

Voices sils that represent the complete record, as preservational events are in themselves very rare. With the discovery of Zinjanthropus at Olduvai Gorge in 1959, my grandmother Mary Leakey pioneered the research in East Africa, with my grandfather Louis. Many more spectacular fossil finds have since been made both in Africa and elsewhere, by many researchers driven to understand our past. These are exciting times, and new and often unexpected finds are announced quite regularly. Since I presented this TEDTalk in 2008, we now know of several new species of hominins from different places in Africa, including additional fossil material from Lake Turkana, helping us to understand our own genus, Homo. Technology has furnished us with a fascinating genetic story as well, allowing us to map the migration of early humans in more intricate detail than ever before. The work of Spencer Wells, a National Geographic Explorer in Residence, allows us to participate in his study by providing a cheek swab to discover how we fit into this incredible journey of humanity. In addition, genetic research has confirmed that there was LOUISE LEAKEY HUFFINGTON 07.14.13 We are undoubtedly the cause of the sixth mass extinction event that the planet has seen in its history.” gene flow between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals. Perhaps even more surprising was the further discovery that we humans also shared genes with a totally different hominid species, only known from DNA extracted from a finger bone found in a cave in Denisova in southern Siberia. To put the history of life on planet earth into a time perspective, imagine unrolling a toilet roll down a hillside. If there are 400 sheets of tissue paper in the roll, then the very first life in the oceans is seen at sheet 240. The TED and The Huffington Post are excited to bring you TEDWeekends, a curated weekend program that introduces a powerful “idea worth spreading” every Friday, anchored in an exceptional TEDTalk. This week’s TEDTalk is accompanied by an original blog post from the featured speaker, along with new op-eds, thoughts and responses from the HuffPost community. Watch the talk above, read the blog post and tell us your thoughts below. Become part of the conversation!