Kenyan President William Ruto visited the Turkana Basin Institute’s (TBI) booth on opening day of the Turkana Festival last week in Lodwar, Kenya.
Christine Atabo, curatorial assistant of fossils at TBI’s Turkwel campus, met with President Ruto and explained how the institute’s important collections prove that Turkana county is the cradle of mankind. Atabo spoke about the stories behind the replica casts of ancient human skulls and hand tools, found during TBI excavations over the last 25-plus years.
Professor Julien Ayroles described his research to President Ruto. Ayroles, from Princeton University, is a principal investigator working with TBI Chief Executive Officer Dino J. Martins, an evolutionary biologist, entomologist and naturalist, on the Turkana Health and Genomics Project. The project aims to understand how human health is impacted by modern life, including changes in diet.
Atabo was also interviewed by the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation that aired on prime time in Kenya:
The TBI team on hand also discussed the importance of the science and sustainability work done by the institute, emphasizing the role of the Turkana Basin in understanding human origins and evolution. Several thousand people stopped by the booth to learn more about TBI.
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