About The Project

Acknowledgments

At the Exploratorium, no one works alone. Without the help of Exploratorium staff, as well as those in the scientific community who shared their work with us, this site would not have been possible.

At the Exploratorium:

Principal Investigator
Robert J. Semper, Ph.D.

Co-Principal Investigator
Melissa Alexander

Project Directors
Melissa Alexander
Ruth T. Brown

Project Development Team
Charles Carlson
Thomas Humphrey
Mary Miller
Lowell Robinson
Rob Rothfarb
Susan Schwartzenberg
Elisabeth M. Spencer
Pearl Tesler
Adrian Van Allen
Noah Wittman

Web Site Design & Development
Adrian Van Allen, Lead Developer
Aaron Kline, Lead Programmer
Alyson Abriel
Yael Braha
Mycho Jellison
Rob Rothfarb
Jenny Villagrán

MyEvidence Design & Development
Lowell Robinson, Lead Developer
Dave Beck, Lead Programmer

Writer
Pearl Tesler

Editors
Judith Brand
Ruth T. Brown
Laura Jacoby

Videographer
Elisabeth M. Spencer

Video Editors
Dia Felix
Elisabeth M. Spencer
Robert Tullis

Photographers
Susan Schwartzenberg, Lead Photographer
Lowell Robinson
Amy Snyder
Adrian Van Allen

Audio
Robin Marks

Illustrators
David Barker
Alisa Lowden
Adrian Van Allen

Spanish Translation
Oscar A. Arteta, Language Consultant
Jacqueline Venegas

Project Evaluation
Sherry Hsi, Ph.D.
Valerie Knight Williams/Knight-Williams Communication Research

At Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology:
Mimi Arandjelovic
Christophe Boesch, Ph.D.
Josep Call, Ph.D.
Michael Cysouw, Ph.D.
Wolfgang Enard, Ph.D.
Richard Edward Green, Ph.D.
Philipp Gunz, Ph.D.
Katerina Harvati, Ph.D.
Jean-Jacques Hublin, Ph.D.
Sandra Jacob
Johannes Krause, Ph.D.
Svante Pääbo, Ph.D.
Brigitte Pakendorf, Ph.D.
Tanya Smith, Ph.D.
Mark Stoneking, Ph.D.
Linda Vigilant, Ph.D.
Felix Warneken, Ph.D.

With special thanks for the support and participation of:
Richard Carrier, Ph.D., Science Historian
Isabel Hawkins, Ph.D., UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory / NASA Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum
Matthew C. Nisbet, Ph.D., School of Communication, American University
David Perlman, Science Editor, San Francisco Chronicle
Paul Renne, Ph.D., Berkeley Geochronology Center
Cheryl L. Smith, Ph.D., Stanford University
David Glenn Smith, Ph.D., University of California, Davis
Mel Zucker, Skyline College, San Bruno, California

IMAGE CREDITS

All images copyright © Exploratorium, with the exception of the contributors listed below.

OBSERVING BEHAVIOR
How do chimps use tools? “Leaf Clipping,” “Ant Dipping,” “Hive Raiding,” “Nut Cracking”—Images courtesy Christophe Boesch and Hedwige Boesch-Acherman, Wild Chimpanzee Foundation.

Who’s more likely to help out, a child or a chimp? “Altruism: The Instinct to Help”—Images courtesy Felix Warneken, Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; Video courtesy Deutsche Welle Television and the Max Planck EVA VR Lab. “Observing Altruism: Field vs. Lab”—Images courtesy Christophe Boesch and Hedwige Boesch-Acherman, Wild Chimpanzee Foundation; Felix Warneken, Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

Do brothers help brothers? Field photos courtesy Dr. Linda Vigilant and Mimi Arandjelovic, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology/Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Center.

What do apes know about physics, planning, and payback? “Planning for the Future,” ”Solving Problems,” “Repaying Favors”—Field photos courtesy Dr. Linda Vigilant and Mimi Arandjelovic, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology/Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Center.

COLLECTING CLUES
How Do You Find a Fossil?
“Finding Fossils”—Images © Çatalhöyük Research Project; Courtesy John Crossley, www.americansouthwest.net (bones eroding out); Bonfire Shelter, southwestern Texas, courtesy www.texasbeyondhistory.net (single arrowhead).

Geology for Fossil Hunters Map © European Communities, 1995–2008; Images © 2008 Jupiterimages Corporation (ammonite).

Did modern humans mix and mingle with Neanderthals? Images © Richard Harwood, Black Hawk College (skulls); © Çatalhöyük Research Project (Homo sapiens burial site; skeleton in grave); NASA image by Reto Stöckli and Robert Simon/Courtesy NASA Visible Earth (globe; http://visibleearth.nasa.gov); © Natural History Museum, London (Homo neanderthalensis burial site); © Claudio Vasquez (body ornaments).

INVESTIGATING RELATIONSHIPS
Why is it so hard to reconstruct Neanderthal genes? Images © Çatalhöyük Research Project; Eva-Maria Geigl, Institut Jacques Monod, CNRS France (archeologist wearing gloves).

Is speech in our genes? 3D4Medical.com/Getty Images (DNA double helix); Clip by Kenneth N. Stevens and Sven Öhman from 35mm cineradiograph of Kenneth Stevens speaking at Norrtull’s Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden, 1962 (X-ray of talking person); D. Roberts/Photo Researchers, Inc. (2 facing skulls); Video courtesy Deutsche Welle Television and Max Planck EVA VR Lab; Footage used with permission, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, © 2003 (mice; DNA chart).

What is mitochondrial DNA... and who is “Mitochondrial Eve”? Images courtesy Dave Adair, www.daveadair.com (portraits); Courtesy Louisa Howard/Wikimedia (mitochondrial DNA); Courtesy Wikimedia: ancestor photo, inherited by infrogmation (four generations/Doddy women); Courtesy Mark D. Brown (family group); Copyright © James Hastings-Trew (world map).

How can Neanderthal DNA tell us about ourselves? Pascal Goetgheluck/Photo Researchers, Inc. (human and Neanderthal skulls); Philippe Plailly /Photo Researchers, Inc. (Neanderthal child of Gibraltar); Philippe Plailly & Atelier Daynes/Photo Researchers, Inc. (Neanderthal child of Roc de Marsal); Courtesy Dave Adair, www.daveadair.com (young boy); © Natural History Museum, London (Homo neanderthalensis burial site).

FINDING PATTERNS
What can we learn from a tooth? Photomicrographs courtesy Dr. Jean-Jacques Hublin and Dr. Tanya Smith, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

How do bones and teeth grow? Anatomical Travelogue/Photo Researchers, Inc. (skeleton).

CONSIDERING POSSIBILITIES
What can you do with a squashed skull? Video courtesy Deutsche Welle Television and Max Planck EVA VR Lab; Virtual skull computer models courtesy Dr. Jean-Jacques Hublin and Dr. Philipp Gunz.

Why are fossils so rare? Images © Çatalhöyük Research Project.

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?
Images © 2008 Jupiterimages Corporation (cuffed hands, pouring coffee, baby, meteor); Courtesy Ron Russell, www.cropcircles.org (crop circle).