Photograph by David Evans
Photograph by David Evans
This scientist, author, and documentary filmmaker set an extraordinary goal for himself—using DNA from indigenous peoples, he aimed to document and create the first-ever map of human migration, showing how humans came to populate the planet after leaving the cradle of Africa some 60,000 years ago. Little has been known about our journey until now. A National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Spencer Wells also serves as Director of the Genographic Project—a partnership with IBM, the Waitt Family Foundation, and National Geographic, and the most ambitious research project in the Society’s 125-year history. The project is working to capture an invaluable genetic snapshot of humanity before modern-day influences erase it forever.
Wells’ journey of discovery began at the University of Texas, where he enrolled at 16, majored in biology, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa three years later. He then pursued his Ph.D. at Harvard University and conducted postdoctoral training at Stanford University’s School of Medicine with Luca Cavalli-Sforza, considered the “father of anthropological genetics.”
Presentation Topics
Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project
Join Wells on an epic journey that spans the globe, using DNA to trace the migration routes of our ancient ancestors and revealing the incredible tapestry of human diversity created along the way.
Pandora’s Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization
Terrorism, pandemic disease, and global warming—what do these have in common? To find the answer we need to go back ten millennia, to the wheat fields of the Fertile Crescent and the rice paddies of southern China. It was then that our species made a radical shift in its way of life, progressing from a largely hunter-gatherer society, eking out a living within the constraints of the world around us, to controlling our food supply by domesticating animals and plants. Journey with Dr. Wells on a 10,000-year tour of human history as he charts the rise to power of Homo agriculturis and the effects this radical shift in lifestyle has had on our species, and speculates on where we might be headed in the future.
Learn More About Spencer:
Listen to Radio Interview With Spencer Wells
Boyd Matson Interviews Spencer for NG Weekend Radio Show
All humans share some common bits of DNA, passed down to us from our African ancestors. Geneticist Spencer Wells talks about how his Genographic Project will use this shared DNA to figure out how we are – in all our diversity – truly connected.
Nat Geo Explorer-in-Residence Spencer Wells maps the history of human migration by analyzing the DNA of hundreds of thousands of people around the world.
Stephen claims his grandfather collected over 100,000 issues of National Geographic.
Spencer Wells describes the rising rates of obesity and mental illness as the unintended consequences of a more sedentary culture.
The genes of people today tell of our ancestors’ trek out of Africa to the far corners of the globe.
Somewhere between 80,000 and 50,000 years ago, Africa saved Homo sapiens from extinction. Charting the DNA shared by more than six billion people, a population geneticist—and director of the Genographic Project—suggests what humanity “owes” its first home.
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