About the Guest: Dr. Lee Berger is a professor of anthropology in South Africa, explorer-in-residence for National Geographic. His team has discovered fossils of a number of new humans species, including Homo naledi. He is the author, together with John Hawks, of "Almost Human: The Astonishing Tale of Homo naledi and the Discovery That Changed Our Human Story."
Episode Summary: Nick Jikomes and Lee Berger, PhD discuss how his team mapped and explored caves all over South Africa, discovering a treasure trove of ancient human fossils. This includes the discovery of Homo naledi, an ancient human ancestor that had a much smaller brain than humans, but may have nonetheless harbored advanced cognitive abilities. Lee described the discovery of Homo naledi, human brain evolution, and why we are in a gold age of paleoanthropology.
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