July 10, 2017 8:42 pm

Tomorrow – Find out what the new fossil discovery in Morocco means for our origins!

Back in June, the world learned of new fossils found at Jebel Irhoud, a discovery that is reshaping our understanding about the origins of homo sapiens: how old we are, where we came from, and more. This week on StarTalk All-Stars primatologist Natalia Reagan, comic co-host Sarah Siskind, and paleoanthropologist Shara Bailey are ready to put those new findings into context.

You may be wondering why this is such a big deal. What can we learn from the discovery? You’ll hear how these newly unearthed fossils push the origins of homo sapiens back another 100,000 years, and how we can now say that the evolution of homo sapiens did not just happen in one part of Africa, but instead it was an accretion process throughout the entire continent.

Shara raised a point about the complexities of putting together a dig site that really made me think. Usually digs happen in sites that have already produced fossils. However, on top of that, not only do you have to find funding, but you also have to work with local governments, get permits, prove your reasoning behind your choice of site, and much more to make sure that your work is not grossly disruptive or dangerous to the local ecosystem around it. As Sarah mentions, “How much human history is just what people get funding for?” Not a bad question to ponder.

In the age of modern technology, it seems that science discoveries are happening more frequently, which only helps us better understand ourselves. I enjoy having people like Shara on StarTalk because we’re really able to dive into a discovery and explore all the implications it brings with it, instead of just reading a headline on a website.

In tomorrow’s episode, we’ll also explore the strangeness of Homo naledi teeth, Shara’s work with virtual anthropology, the defining characteristics between homo sapiens and Australopithecus, the origin story of the Jebel Irhoud dig site, and what comes after homo sapiens, if anything.

Please join us tomorrow night for Reconsidering the Origins of Homo Sapiens, with Natalia Reagan at 7pm EDT right here on our website, as well as on our StarTalk All-Stars channels on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Stitcher, Google Play Music, and TuneIn. And if you’re an All-Access subscriber, you can watch or listen to this episode ad-free at 7pm, too.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
–Ian Mullen