Fossil Hunting in Conflict Zones

Sign up for Nature's newsletter: Ella Al-Shamahi grew up a creationist, but her perspective shifted when she studied evolution at university. Today, she’s a paleoanthropologist who hunts fossils in unstable territories to uncover the overlooked stories of human evolution. Ella is a fierce advocate for conducting research in places where people don’t usually do science, and she believes these under-researched places are the frontier of scientific discovery. Through her archeological pursuits, Ella is not only working to eliminate the blind spot of Western science, but she’s also shedding light on the least understood people and places on Earth. She envisions a world where “conflict zones” aren’t just seen as war-torn landscapes, but as places where life continues and discoveries are possible. Thanks for listening to Going Wild. You can learn more about season four HERE and catch up on seasons one through three HERE. If you want to support us, you can follow Going Wild on your favorite podcast-listening app. And while you're there, please leave us a review. It really helps. Follow PBS Nature and Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant on Instagram, TikTok, X, and Facebook. You can find more information on all of our guests this season in each episode's show notes. And you can catch new episodes of Nature, Wednesdays at 8/7 Central on PBS, pbs.org/nature, and the PBS app. Going Wild is a podcast by PBS Nature. NATURE is an award-winning series created by The WNET Group and made possible by all of you. Views and opinions expressed during the podcast are those of the individuals expressing them and do not necessarily reflect those of THIRTEEN Productions LLC/The WNET Group.

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Fossil Hunting in Conflict Zones is an episode from Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant by WNET.

This episode is 39:17 long.

This episode was published on May 6, 2025.

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