Nokia researcher Jan Chipchase's investigation into the ways we interact with technology has led him from the villages of Uganda to the insides of our pockets. He's made some unexpected discoveries along the way.

It's been said that when an elder dies, it's as if a library is burned. Anthropologist Elizabeth Lindsey, a National Geographic Fellow, collects the deep cultural knowledge passed down as stories and lore.

In Guatemala's 36-year conflict, 200,000 civilians were killed — and more than 40,000 were never identified. At the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala, Fredy Peccerelli and his team use DNA, archeology and storytelling to help families find the bodies of their loved ones. It's a sobering task, but it can bring peace of mind — and some...

Fredy Peccerelli works with families whose loved ones “disappeared” in the 36-year armed conflict in Guatemala. The executive director of the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation, he helps locate bodies and give back identities to those buried in mass graves.

Robin Nagle is an anthropologist with a very particular focus... garbage.

Matters of the heart sometimes feel impossible to parse. But when examined through the eye of an evolutionist, our romantic whims and sexual desires can start to make more sense, and even seem a bit predictable. Biological anthropologist David Puts confronts how we compete, care and copulate based on evolutionary biology -- and what that means f...

How do we look forward without knowing where we come from? These talks emphasize the importance of historical truths, nuanced observations and preserving cultural heritage.

Certain elements of childhood -- school, play, homework -- are often considered universal by those who live in industrial societies. Evolutionary anthropologist Dorsa Amir draws from her time living in foraging societies to explain how the post-industrial experience of childhood is a relatively new development for humanity with wide-ranging impl...

Nina Jablonski is author of Skin: A Natural History, a close look at human skin’s many remarkable traits: its colors, its sweatiness, the fact that we decorate it.

Amber Case studies the symbiotic interactions between humans and machines -- and considers how our values and culture are being shaped by living lives increasingly mediated by high technology.

The author of "Whitopia," Rich Benjamin sharply observes modern society and politics.

Zeresenay "Zeray" Alemseged digs in the Ethiopian desert, looking for the earliest signs of humanity. His most exciting find: the 3.3-million-year-old bones of Selam, a 3-year-old hominid child, from the species Australopithecus afarensis.

Technology is evolving us, says Amber Case, as we become a screen-staring, button-clicking new version of homo sapiens. We now rely on "external brains" (cell phones and computers) to communicate, remember, even live out secondary lives. But will these machines ultimately connect or conquer us? Case offers surprising insight into our cyborg selves.

It’s the dream of kids all around the world to see giant beasts walk the Earth again. Could -- and should -- that dream be realized? Hendrik Poinar talks about the next big thing: the quest to engineer a creature that looks very much like our furry friend, the woolly mammoth. The first step, to sequence the woolly genome, is nearly complete. And...

New York City residents produce 11,000 tons of garbage every day. Every day! This astonishing statistic is just one of the reasons Robin Nagle started a research project with the city's Department of Sanitation. She walked the routes, operated mechanical brooms, even drove a garbage truck herself--all so she could answer a simple-sounding but co...

Spencer Wells studies human diversity -- the process by which humanity, which springs from a single common source, has become so astonishingly diverse and widespread.

What do fans of atmospheric post-punk music have in common with ancient barbarians? Not much ... so why are both known as "goths"? Is it a weird coincidence – or is there a deeper connection stretching across the centuries? Dan Adams investigates. [Directed by Globizco, narrated Addison Anderson, music by Manuel Borda].

Are our thoughts different in the dark? Archaeologist Holley Moyes studies the ritual cave sites of the ancient Mayans and how darkness influences mythology and human thinking. In this evocative talk, she describes how humans have always sought darkness to transcend the ordinary and "find the divine within ourselves."

Elizabeth Lindsey is a fellow of the National Geographic Society. Her mission: to keep ancestral voices alive by recording indigenous wisdom and traditions.

Accompanied by a piano and her tar -- a single-headed frame drum -- singer Djazia Satour captivates with her brightly textured voice in this performance of two original songs: "Neghmat Erriah" and "Ghounia."

When Joshua Prager was 19, a devastating bus accident left him a hemiplegic. He returned to Israel twenty years later to find the driver who turned his world upside down. In this mesmerizing tale of their meeting, Prager probes deep questions of nature, nurture, self-deception and identity.

Stefana Broadbent watches us while we communicate, work and go about our daily lives. She is one of a new class of ethnographers who study the way our social habits and relationships function and mutate in the digital age.

Some of the world's most significant archaeological sites are located in disputed or dangerous regions. Deriving lessons from her own scientific expeditions to Yemen, palaeoanthropologist and standup comic Ella Al-Shamahi explains what the world loses when researchers are unable (or unwilling) to work in areas deemed unstable.

Before entering the world of financial journalism, Gillian Tett was a cultural anthropologist who studied how the past influences our present thoughts and behaviors. In an entertaining talk, she shows how you can use an anthropological outlook to see the world with fresh eyes -- and welcome new and different cultural truths into your life.

Kio Stark explores the myriad ways encounters with strangers impact our lives.

For centuries, the Irish funeral wake has served as a time for people to grieve a life lost and celebrate a life lived, together. In this profound and lyrical talk, poet Kevin Toolis laments the fear and denial of death that characterizes increasingly individualistic societies. He reasons that living life fully means embracing our shared mortali...

Louise Leakey hunts for hominid fossils in East Africa, in the family tradition.

The enduring ideas, discoveries and observations that define and expand life as we know it.

The word "normal" is often used as a synonym for "typical," "expected," or even "correct." By that logic, most people should fit the description of normal. But time and time again, so-called normal descriptions of our bodies, minds, and perceptions have turned out to match almost no one. So what does normal actually mean— and should we be relyin...

Did you know that gold is extraterrestrial? Instead of arising from our planet's rocky crust, it was actually cooked up in space and is present on Earth because of cataclysmic stellar explosions called supernovae. CERN Scientist David Lunney outlines the incredible journey of gold from space to Earth. [Directed by Andrew Foerster, narrated by Ad...