Ella Al-Shamahi is a palaeoanthropologist specializing in fossil hunting in caves in unstable, hostile and disputed territories. In her spare time, she's a stand-up comic.

Why you should listen

Ella Al-Shamahi sometimes calls herself an "adventure-scientist" -- but to her, it's less about the adventure of working in places like Yemen, Iraq, the Nagorno-Karabakh and northern Cyprus. She believes in using expeditions to shed light on some of the most misunderstood and disadvantaged people and places on earth.

Al-Shamahi is a TV presenter and stand-up comic, partly because she realized that it was an incredible way to communicate science. She performs stand-up and nerdy-science stand-up in the UK and internationally. She was named a 2015 National Geographic Emerging Explorer.

Ella Al-Shamahi’s TED talk

More news and ideas from Ella Al-Shamahi

Live from TED2019

Possibility: Notes from Session 7 of TED2019

April 18, 2019

To close out day 3 of TED2019, we imagine different versions of the future — from the magical possibilities of deep-sea exploration to the dark future of humanity if something goes horribly wrong. Gulp. The event: Talks and performances from TED2019, Session 7: Possibility, hosted by TED’s Helen Walters and Kelly Stoetzel When and where: […]

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