0:00:00.792,0:00:05.768
So I've got something that I'm[br]slightly embarrassed to admit to.

0:00:05.792,0:00:07.351
At the age of 17,

0:00:07.375,0:00:09.184
as a creationist,

0:00:09.208,0:00:12.809
I decided to go to university[br]to study evolution

0:00:12.833,0:00:14.434
so that I could destroy it.

0:00:14.458,0:00:16.143
(Laughter)

0:00:16.167,0:00:17.434
I failed.

0:00:17.458,0:00:21.309
I failed so spectacularly[br]that I'm now an evolutionary biologist.

0:00:21.333,0:00:24.143
(Applause)

0:00:24.167,0:00:27.476
So I'm a paleoanthropologist,[br]I'm a National Geographic Explorer

0:00:27.500,0:00:30.143
specializing in fossil hunting in caves

0:00:30.167,0:00:32.708
in unstable, hostile[br]and disputed territories.

0:00:33.958,0:00:37.476
And we all know that[br]if I was a guy and not a girl,

0:00:37.500,0:00:40.684
that wouldn't be a job description,[br]that would be a pick-up line.

0:00:40.708,0:00:42.893
(Laughter)

0:00:42.917,0:00:45.351
Now, here's the thing.[br]I do not have a death wish.

0:00:45.375,0:00:47.518
I'm not an adrenaline junkie.

0:00:47.542,0:00:50.059
I just looked at a map.

0:00:50.083,0:00:54.309
See, frontline exploratory science[br]does not happen as much

0:00:54.333,0:00:56.833
in politically unstable territories.

0:00:57.542,0:01:01.309
This is a map of all the places[br]which the British Foreign Office

0:01:01.333,0:01:04.518
have declared contain[br]red zones, orange zones

0:01:04.542,0:01:07.809
or have raised some kind[br]of a threat warning about.

0:01:07.833,0:01:11.018
Now I'm going to go out on a limb here[br]and say that it is a tragedy

0:01:11.042,0:01:16.018
if we're not doing frontline exploratory[br]science in a huge portion of the planet.

0:01:16.042,0:01:19.792
And so science has a geography problem.

0:01:20.750,0:01:23.393
Also, as a paleoanthropologist,

0:01:23.417,0:01:26.601
guys, this is basically a map[br]of some of the most important places

0:01:26.625,0:01:28.393
in the human journey.

0:01:28.417,0:01:32.601
There are almost definitely[br]fascinating fossils to be found here.

0:01:32.625,0:01:35.393
But are we looking for them?

0:01:35.417,0:01:38.934
And so as an undergraduate,[br]I was repeatedly told

0:01:38.958,0:01:43.518
that humans, be they ourselves,[br]homo sapiens, or earlier species,

0:01:43.542,0:01:47.125
that we left Africa[br]via the Sinai of Egypt.

0:01:48.250,0:01:51.476
I'm English, as you can[br]probably tell from my accent,

0:01:51.500,0:01:53.518
but I am actually of Arab heritage,

0:01:53.542,0:01:56.226
and I always say that I'm[br]very, very Arab on the outside.

0:01:56.250,0:01:58.059
You know, I can really be passionate.

0:01:58.083,0:01:59.976
Like, "You're amazing! I love you!"

0:02:00.000,0:02:03.226
But on the inside, I'm really English,[br]so everybody irritates me.

0:02:03.250,0:02:05.917
(Laughter)

0:02:08.208,0:02:09.476
It's true.

0:02:09.500,0:02:13.018
And the thing is,[br]my family are Arab from Yemen,

0:02:13.042,0:02:16.643
and I knew that that channel,

0:02:16.667,0:02:18.059
Bab-el-Mandeb,

0:02:18.083,0:02:20.809
is not that much of a feat to cross.

0:02:20.833,0:02:24.601
And I kept asking myself[br]this really simple question:

0:02:24.625,0:02:30.059
if the ancestors to New World monkeys[br]could somehow cross the Atlantic Ocean,

0:02:30.083,0:02:33.625
why couldn't humans cross[br]that tiny stretch of water?

0:02:34.708,0:02:36.351
But the thing is, Yemen,

0:02:36.375,0:02:38.351
compared to, let's say, Europe,

0:02:38.375,0:02:40.434
was so understudied

0:02:40.458,0:02:43.708
that it was something akin[br]to near virgin territory.

0:02:44.917,0:02:51.351
But that, along with its location,[br]made the sheer potential for discovery

0:02:51.375,0:02:53.476
so exciting,

0:02:53.500,0:02:56.351
and I had so many questions.

0:02:56.375,0:02:59.434
When did we first[br]start using Bab-el-Mandeb?

0:02:59.458,0:03:04.226
But also, which species of human[br]besides ourselves made it to Yemen?

0:03:04.250,0:03:08.101
Might we find a species[br]as yet unknown to science?

0:03:08.125,0:03:12.643
And it turned out, I wasn't the only one[br]who had noticed Yemen's potential.

0:03:12.667,0:03:15.309
There was actually[br]a few other academics out there.

0:03:15.333,0:03:20.351
But sadly, due to political instability,[br]they moved out, and so I moved in.

0:03:20.375,0:03:23.559
And I was looking for caves:

0:03:23.583,0:03:28.643
caves because caves[br]are the original prime real estate.

0:03:28.667,0:03:32.643
But also because if you're looking[br]for fossils in that kind of heat,

0:03:32.667,0:03:36.726
your best bet for fossil preservation[br]is always going to be caves.

0:03:36.750,0:03:41.476
But then, Yemen took[br]a really sad turn for the worse,

0:03:41.500,0:03:45.393
and just a few days[br]before I was due to fly out to Yemen,

0:03:45.417,0:03:49.143
the civil war escalated[br]into a regional conflict,

0:03:49.167,0:03:51.268
the capital's airport was bombed

0:03:51.292,0:03:53.542
and Yemen became a no-fly zone.

0:03:56.000,0:04:00.684
Now, my parents made this decision[br]before I was born:

0:04:00.708,0:04:02.583
that I would be born British.

0:04:04.000,0:04:08.000
I had nothing to do[br]with the best decision of my life.

0:04:09.833,0:04:11.268
And now ...

0:04:11.292,0:04:16.434
Now the lucky ones[br]in my family have escaped,

0:04:16.458,0:04:19.351
and the others, the others[br]are being been bombed

0:04:19.375,0:04:23.958
and send you WhatsApp messages[br]that make you detest your very existence.

0:04:27.500,0:04:30.309
This war's been going on for four years.

0:04:30.333,0:04:35.583
It's been going on for over four years,[br]and it has led to a humanitarian crisis.

0:04:36.625,0:04:38.518
There is a famine there,

0:04:38.542,0:04:40.726
a man-made famine.

0:04:40.750,0:04:43.434
That's a man-made famine,[br]so not a natural famine,

0:04:43.458,0:04:47.018
an entirely man-made famine[br]that the UN has warned

0:04:47.042,0:04:51.292
could be the worst famine[br]the world has seen in a hundred years.

0:04:52.417,0:04:55.393
This war has made it[br]clear to me more than ever

0:04:55.417,0:04:59.417
that no place, no people[br]deserve to get left behind.

0:05:01.083,0:05:04.726
And so I was joining these other teams,[br]and I was forming new collaborations

0:05:04.750,0:05:06.934
in other unstable places.

0:05:06.958,0:05:10.059
But I was desperate[br]to get back into Yemen,

0:05:10.083,0:05:13.417
because for me, Yemen's really personal.

0:05:15.083,0:05:20.143
And so I kept trying to think[br]of a project I could do in Yemen

0:05:20.167,0:05:22.917
that would help highlight[br]what was going on there.

0:05:23.875,0:05:27.101
And every idea I had just kept failing,

0:05:27.125,0:05:30.726
or it was just too high-risk,[br]because let's be honest,

0:05:30.750,0:05:34.708
most of Yemen is just too dangerous[br]for a Western team.

0:05:35.875,0:05:41.559
But then I was told that Socotra,[br]a Yemeni island,

0:05:41.583,0:05:44.809
was safe once you got there.

0:05:44.833,0:05:49.101
In fact, it turned out there was a few[br]local and international academics

0:05:49.125,0:05:50.554
that were still working there.

0:05:51.417,0:05:53.417
And that got me really excited,

0:05:54.667,0:05:58.375
because look at Socotra's[br]proximity to Africa.

0:06:00.125,0:06:05.375
And yet we have no idea[br]when humans arrived on that island.

0:06:06.750,0:06:09.476
But Socotra, for those of you who know it,

0:06:09.500,0:06:13.101
well, let's just say you probably know it[br]for a completely different reason.

0:06:13.125,0:06:16.143
You probably know it[br]as the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean,

0:06:16.167,0:06:20.542
because it is one of the most[br]biodiverse places on this earth.

0:06:21.333,0:06:23.768
But we were also getting information

0:06:23.792,0:06:27.309
that this incredibly delicate[br]environment and its people

0:06:27.333,0:06:28.726
were under threat

0:06:28.750,0:06:32.518
because they were at the frontline[br]of both Middle Eastern politics

0:06:32.542,0:06:34.726
and climate change.

0:06:34.750,0:06:40.018
And it slowly dawned on me[br]that Socotra was my Yemen project.

0:06:40.042,0:06:45.059
And so I wanted to put together[br]a huge multidisciplinary team.

0:06:45.083,0:06:49.393
We wanted to cross the archipelago[br]on foot, camel and dhow boat

0:06:49.417,0:06:51.976
to conduct a health check of this place.

0:06:52.000,0:06:55.851
This has only been attempted[br]once before, and it was in 1999.

0:06:55.875,0:07:00.059
But the thing is, that is not[br]an easy thing to pull off.

0:07:00.083,0:07:02.518
And so we desperately needed a recce,

0:07:02.542,0:07:05.476
and for those of you who aren't[br]familiar with British English,

0:07:05.500,0:07:07.351
a recce is like a scouting expedition.

0:07:07.375,0:07:08.893
It's like a reconnaissance.

0:07:08.917,0:07:15.018
And I often say that a really big[br]expedition without a recce

0:07:15.042,0:07:19.184
is a bit like a first date[br]without a Facebook stalk.

0:07:19.208,0:07:20.809
(Laughter)

0:07:20.833,0:07:23.226
Like, it's doable, but is it wise?

0:07:23.250,0:07:27.809
(Laughter)

0:07:27.833,0:07:30.268
There's a few too many[br]knowing laughs in this room.

0:07:30.292,0:07:36.809
Anyway, so then our recce team thankfully[br]were no strangers to unstable places,

0:07:36.833,0:07:38.934
which, let's be honest,[br]is kind of important

0:07:38.958,0:07:42.184
because we were trying to get[br]to a place between Yemen and Somalia,

0:07:42.208,0:07:46.893
And after calling in[br]what felt like a million favors,

0:07:46.917,0:07:49.018
including to the deputy governor,

0:07:49.042,0:07:52.000
we finally found ourselves on the move,

0:07:53.375,0:07:56.893
albeit on a wooden cement cargo ship

0:07:56.917,0:08:00.184
sailing through pirate waters[br]in the Indian Ocean

0:08:00.208,0:08:02.018
with this as a toilet.

0:08:02.042,0:08:03.476
(Laughter)

0:08:03.500,0:08:05.125
Can you guys see this?

0:08:07.125,0:08:10.542
You know how everybody has[br]their worst toilet story?

0:08:11.875,0:08:14.875
Well, I've never swam[br]with dolphins before.

0:08:16.333,0:08:18.518
I just went straight to pooping on them.

0:08:18.542,0:08:20.917
(Laughter)

0:08:23.375,0:08:30.101
And also, I genuinely discovered[br]that I am genuinely less stressed

0:08:30.125,0:08:31.726
by pirate waters

0:08:31.750,0:08:35.308
than I am with a cockroach infestation

0:08:35.332,0:08:37.268
that was so intense

0:08:37.292,0:08:39.601
that at one point I went belowdeck,

0:08:39.625,0:08:42.308
and the floor was black and it was moving.

0:08:42.332,0:08:43.768
(Audience moans)

0:08:43.792,0:08:48.059
Yeah, and at night there was[br]three raised platforms to sleep on,

0:08:48.083,0:08:51.476
but there was only --[br]let's say there was four team members,

0:08:51.500,0:08:54.309
and the thing is, if you got[br]a raised platform to sleep on,

0:08:54.333,0:08:57.601
you only had to contend[br]with a few cockroaches during the night,

0:08:57.625,0:08:59.875
whereas if you got the floor,[br]good luck to you.

0:09:00.875,0:09:04.518
And so I was the only girl in the team[br]and the whole ship,

0:09:04.542,0:09:07.559
so I got away without[br]sleeping on the floor.

0:09:07.583,0:09:09.976
And then, on, like,[br]the fourth or fifth night,

0:09:10.000,0:09:14.667
Martin Edström looks at me and goes,[br]"Ella, Ella I really believe in equality."

0:09:15.167,0:09:18.208
(Laughter)

0:09:19.750,0:09:24.809
So we were sailing on that[br]cement cargo ship for three days,

0:09:24.833,0:09:28.500
and then we slowly started seeing land.

0:09:29.458,0:09:32.018
And after three years of failing,

0:09:32.042,0:09:33.792
I was finally seeing Yemen.

0:09:34.792,0:09:39.518
And there is no feeling on earth[br]like that start of an expedition.

0:09:39.542,0:09:42.768
It's this moment where[br]you jump out of a jeep

0:09:42.792,0:09:45.101
or you look up from a boat

0:09:45.125,0:09:47.934
and you know that[br]there's this possibility,

0:09:47.958,0:09:50.018
it's small but it's still there,

0:09:50.042,0:09:52.226
that you're about to find something

0:09:52.250,0:09:57.476
that could add to or change our knowledge[br]of who we are and where we come from.

0:09:57.500,0:10:00.684
There is no feeling like it on earth,

0:10:00.708,0:10:04.268
and it's a feeling[br]that so many scientists have

0:10:04.292,0:10:08.476
but rarely in politically unstable places.

0:10:08.500,0:10:13.309
Because Western scientists[br]are discouraged or all-out barred

0:10:13.333,0:10:15.750
from working in unstable places.

0:10:16.875,0:10:18.143
But here's the thing:

0:10:18.167,0:10:21.934
scientists specialize in the jungle.

0:10:21.958,0:10:25.726
Scientists work in deep cave systems.

0:10:25.750,0:10:30.351
Scientists attach themselves to rockets[br]and blow themselves into outer space.

0:10:30.375,0:10:32.643
But apparently,[br]working in an unstable place

0:10:32.667,0:10:35.059
is deemed too high-risk.

0:10:35.083,0:10:37.768
It is completely arbitrary.

0:10:37.792,0:10:42.583
Who here in this room[br]wasn't brought up on adventure stories?

0:10:43.167,0:10:47.708
And most of our heroes[br]were actually scientists and academics.

0:10:48.750,0:10:51.893
Science was about going out[br]into the unknown.

0:10:51.917,0:10:57.184
It was about truly global exploration,[br]even if there were risks.

0:10:57.208,0:11:02.601
And so when did it become acceptable[br]to make it difficult for science to happen

0:11:02.625,0:11:04.167
in unstable places?

0:11:05.833,0:11:08.768
And look, I'm not saying[br]that all scientists should go off

0:11:08.792,0:11:10.601
and start working in unstable places.

0:11:10.625,0:11:12.684
This isn't some gung-ho call.

0:11:12.708,0:11:14.250
But here's the thing:

0:11:15.792,0:11:19.917
for those who have done the research,[br]understand security protocol

0:11:20.917,0:11:22.184
and are trained,

0:11:22.208,0:11:24.458
stop stopping those who want to.

0:11:25.083,0:11:26.333
Plus,

0:11:27.417,0:11:31.559
just because one part of a country[br]is an active war zone

0:11:31.583,0:11:33.476
doesn't mean the whole country is.

0:11:33.500,0:11:36.518
I'm not saying we should go[br]into active war zones.

0:11:36.542,0:11:40.042
But Iraqi Kurdistan looks[br]very different from Fallujah.

0:11:40.917,0:11:44.934
And actually, a few months[br]after I couldn't get into Yemen,

0:11:44.958,0:11:46.601
another team adopted me.

0:11:46.625,0:11:51.208
So Professor Graeme Barker's team[br]were actually working in Iraqi Kurdistan,

0:11:52.458,0:11:55.351
and they were digging up Shanidar Cave.

0:11:55.375,0:11:58.434
Now, Shanidar Cave a few decades earlier

0:11:58.458,0:12:02.917
had unveiled a Neanderthal[br]known as Shanidar 1.

0:12:04.042,0:12:08.393
Now, for a BBC/PBS TV series[br]we actually brought Shanidar 1 to life,

0:12:08.417,0:12:11.458
and I want you guys to meet Ned,[br]Ned the Neanderthal.

0:12:13.625,0:12:16.226
Now here's the coolest thing about Ned.

0:12:16.250,0:12:18.351
Ned, this guy,

0:12:18.375,0:12:21.684
you're meeting him before his injuries.

0:12:21.708,0:12:25.976
See, it turned out[br]that Ned was severely disabled.

0:12:26.000,0:12:30.601
He was in fact so disabled that[br]there is no way he could have survived

0:12:30.625,0:12:33.226
without the help of other Neanderthals.

0:12:33.250,0:12:35.018
And so this was proof that,

0:12:35.042,0:12:38.976
at least for this population[br]of Neanderthals at this time,

0:12:39.000,0:12:40.851
Neanderthals were like us,

0:12:40.875,0:12:44.667
and they sometimes looked after[br]those who couldn't look after themselves.

0:12:46.042,0:12:49.309
Ned's an Iraqi Neanderthal.

0:12:49.333,0:12:51.059
So what else are we missing?

0:12:51.083,0:12:53.684
What incredible scientific discoveries

0:12:53.708,0:12:56.542
are we not making[br]because we're not looking?

0:12:58.042,0:13:01.851
And by the way, these places,[br]they deserve narratives of hope,

0:13:01.875,0:13:05.309
and science and exploration[br]can be a part of that.

0:13:05.333,0:13:08.643
In fact, I would argue[br]that it can tangibly aid development,

0:13:08.667,0:13:13.250
and these discoveries[br]become a huge source of local pride.

0:13:13.833,0:13:17.958
And that brings me to the second reason[br]why science has a geography problem.

0:13:19.833,0:13:23.208
See, we don't empower[br]local academics, do we?

0:13:23.875,0:13:25.851
Like, it's not lost on me

0:13:25.875,0:13:28.708
that in my particular field[br]of paleoanthropology

0:13:30.000,0:13:31.893
we study human origins,

0:13:31.917,0:13:35.292
but we have so few diverse scientists.

0:13:36.458,0:13:40.101
And the thing is, these places[br]are full of students and academics

0:13:40.125,0:13:42.518
who are desperate to collaborate,

0:13:42.542,0:13:44.184
and the truth is

0:13:44.208,0:13:45.934
that for them,

0:13:45.958,0:13:48.542
they have fewer security issues than us.

0:13:50.458,0:13:54.351
I think we constantly forget that for them[br]it's not a hostile environment;

0:13:54.375,0:13:55.958
for them it's home.

0:13:57.000,0:13:59.059
I'm telling you,

0:13:59.083,0:14:03.559
research done in unstable places[br]with local collaborators

0:14:03.583,0:14:06.934
can lead to incredible discoveries,

0:14:06.958,0:14:11.458
and that is what we are[br]hoping upon hope to do in Socotra.

0:14:12.875,0:14:14.125
They call Socotra

0:14:15.333,0:14:18.351
the most alien-looking place on earth,

0:14:18.375,0:14:24.018
and myself, Leon McCarron, Martin Edström[br]and Rhys Thwaites-Jones could see why.

0:14:24.042,0:14:25.726
I mean, look at this place.

0:14:25.750,0:14:29.018
These places, they're not hellholes,[br]they're not write-offs,

0:14:29.042,0:14:32.708
they're the future frontline[br]of science and exploration.

0:14:34.042,0:14:36.625
90 percent of the reptiles on this island,

0:14:37.708,0:14:43.309
37 percent of the plant species[br]exist here and nowhere else on earth,

0:14:43.333,0:14:45.893
and that includes this species[br]of dragon's blood tree,

0:14:45.917,0:14:48.125
which actually bleeds this red resin.

0:14:49.000,0:14:50.726
And there's something else.

0:14:50.750,0:14:55.518
People on Socotra,[br]some of them still live in caves,

0:14:55.542,0:14:57.226
and that is really exciting,

0:14:57.250,0:15:00.309
because it means if a cave[br]is prime real estate this century,

0:15:00.333,0:15:02.601
maybe it was a few thousand years ago.

0:15:02.625,0:15:06.559
But we need the data to prove it,[br]the fossils, the stone tools,

0:15:06.583,0:15:10.101
and so our scouting team[br]have teamed up with other scientists,

0:15:10.125,0:15:12.393
anthropologists and storytellers,

0:15:12.417,0:15:15.726
international as well as local,[br]like Ahmed Alarqbi,

0:15:15.750,0:15:18.934
and we are desperate[br]to shed a light on this place

0:15:18.958,0:15:20.833
before it's too late.

0:15:22.667,0:15:26.101
And now, now we just somehow[br]need to get back

0:15:26.125,0:15:28.434
for that really big expedition,

0:15:28.458,0:15:30.143
because science,

0:15:30.167,0:15:32.542
science has a geography problem.

0:15:33.625,0:15:35.726
You guys have been[br]a really lovely audience.

0:15:35.750,0:15:37.018
Thank you.

0:15:37.042,0:15:40.542
(Applause)