Creation Story

Ella al-Shamahi is one part Charles Darwin, one part Indiana Jones. She braves war zones and pirate-infested waters to collect fossils from prehistoric caves, fossils that help us understand the origin of our species. Her recent hit BBC / PBS series Human follows her around the globe trying to piece together the unlikely story of how early humans conquered the world.  But Ella’s own origins as an evolutionary biologist are equally unlikely. She sits down with us and tells us a story she has rarely shared publicly, about how she came to believe in evolution, and how much that belief cost her.

Special thanks to Misha Euceph and Hamza Syed.

EPISODE CREDITS:
Reported by - Latif Nasser
Produced by - Jessica Yung and Pat Walters
with help from - Sarah Qari
Fact-checking by - Diane Kelly
and Edited by  - Pat Walters

EPISODE CITATIONS:

Videos -

“ Human ” ( https://www.bbcearth.com/shows/human ), Ella’s show on the BBC and PBS

Signup for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!

Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.

Follow our show on Instagram , Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org .

Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.