Please pass it on to any friends who you think are likely to be interested. I heard the speaker last year, and was thoroughly fascinated; he held a room of 65 high school students rapt for nearly an hour. The only scientist in the media I can think of offhand who is this entertaining and great at explaining their topic, is Neil Degrasse Tyson. And we have homemade cookies, too. Here's the info:

Professor Jeremy DeSilva of Dartmouth College will present "Underground astronauts and the discovery of early human fossils in South Africa", a story of chance, adventure and a big scientific payoff, at 1 PM in the Emory Hubbard State Office Building in Newport on Friday, June 16. Admission is free.

Dr. DeSilva is a dynamic speaker with a special gift for making science completely accessible to anyone, and his talks are consistently lively and fascinating. He'll tell us about the recent discoveries in South Africa that are having a big impact on theories of human evolution , and which are the subjects of the National Geographics cover article "Almost Human" (Oct 2015) when they were announced and Nova special called "Dawn of Humanity", as well as world-wide news reporting and many significant scientific publications. The story of how these fossils were found and retrieved is a tale of creativity and adventure, even aside from the huge scientific implications of what they've unearthed.

Dr. De Silva is a principal researcher on the discoveries, a 'rock star' in the world of anthropology.

Northeast Kingdom Homecare is hosting the talk and providing refreshments.