Emerging Explorers

ByDaniel Bortz
June 10, 2010
5 min read

This week at our headquarters in Washington, D.C., the National Geographic Society hosts its fourth annual Explorers Symposium, in which our grantees from around the world present their work and discuss such topics as educating girls in rural Kenya, sea turtle conservation in Nicaragua, and developing perennial crops that can flourish with little or no pesticides or fertilizer. Traveler intern Daniel Bortz profiles some of National Geographic’s Emerging Explorers, whose work today may yield scientific breakthroughs in the future.

For Christine Lee, it can start with a single tooth.

Lee, a bio-archaeologist based in China’s Jilin Province, spends most of the day looking at human bones

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how they’re shaped, what damage they’ve sustained, what might have caused a shift in DNA. Coaxing secrets from the skeletal remains, Lee pieces these bits of information together to study human existence. They provide a unique view into the past, enabling Lee and fellow archaeologists to

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gain a better sense of how groups have evolved over time.

The National Geographic Society welcomed Lee among its new class of Emerging Explorers Wednesday at the Society’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The 14 Explorers, highlighted in the June issue of National Geographic and each awarded $10,000 to further their fieldwork, gathered to share their stories.

Lee’s family, originally from the Gansu Province in China, inspired her to pursue archaeology. Through her research, she wants to learn more about the historical relationship between China and Mongolia and bridge the gap between the United States, where she was raised, and China.

“It’s amazing to look at a skull and realize I’m the first person to see that face in 2,000 years,” Lee told National Geographic. “They’ve been plowed under, covered by buildings, forgotten. Nobody knows their city, their name, or what culture they’re from. So it’s like I’m saying to them, ‘Don’t worry. I will tell the world about you, publish about you, describe what your life was like, and prove it had meaning.'”

Fellow Emerging Explorers Beth Shapiro, a molecular biologist and assistant professor at Penn State University, and Albert Lin, an engineer and research scientist at the University of California, San Diego, joined Lee and others for a panel discussion on Wednesday. Shapiro collects bone samples in remote landscapes in Alaska, Siberia and Canada’s Yukon Territory and analyzes their DNA to understand animal evolution as far back as 130,000 years ago. Lin uses advanced computer imaging in his exploration of “The Valley of the Khans,” a project that maps parts of Mongolia’s “forbidden land” in hopes of uncovering the long-lost tomb of Genghis Khan.

All three devote their work to exploring the past, searching for clues to discover hidden depths to human life.

To learn more about the groundbreaking discoveries explorers around the world are making, check back tomorrow for Day 2 coverage of the Explorers Symposium at National Geographic’s headquarters in D.C.

Image: Learn more about the National Geographic E-Team at National Geographic Kids

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