“The greatest history book ever written is the one in our DNA” – Dr. Spencer Wells

Take an epic journey spanning the globe in search of the secrets of our own distant past. Since 2005, Dr. Spencer Wells, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and director of the Genographic Project, has been leading a team of scientists to reveal the incredible tapestry of human diversity. Collecting hundreds of thousands of samples of DNA from participants around the world, Wells is creating a detailed, genetically-based map of human migration, using clues in our own cells to show how modern humans came to populate the planet after leaving the cradle of Africa some 60,000 years ago.

In this up-to-the-minute report on the Genographic Project’s findings, illustrated with images and video of Dr. Wells’ own travels around the globe in search of human origins, you’ll retrace humanity’s first tentative steps out of our African homeland, to the peopling of different regions of Asia, Europe, and the Americas, to the complex ethnic and cultural tapestry that humans have woven around the planet. An entertaining and engaging presenter who can uncover the stories hidden beneath mountains of data, Wells will show how our latest scientific tools are providing us with new answers to some of our oldest questions: where did we come from, and how did we get to where we live today? The author of the bestselling book The Journey of Man, which was also made into a popular television film, and the National Geographic book Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project, will conclude by offering a look over the horizon at the next steps to be taken in this groundbreaking research. A book sale and signing will follow the presentation.

Recommended for grades 8–12.

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Watch a video about the Genographic Project