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The ESRF features in a BBC documentary

25-10-2012

Prehistoric Autopsy is a three-part BBC natural history programme which sets out to reconstruct the lives and bodies of three of our human ancestors. The first episode focuses on Neanderthals and shows how the latest technology is providing new clues as to why Neanderthals may have died out while we survived.

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In March 2012, the BBC filmed Paul Tafforeau from the ESRF along with Tanya Smith from Harvard University and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology for the first episode of the programme broadcast on 22 October on BBC2. The section on the ESRF has been made available by the BBC on YouTube: Teeth X-ray - Prehistoric Autopsy - Episode 1.

For more details of the programme see the BBC page: Prehistoric Autopsy

Top image: The upper jaw of a Neanderthal under investigation at ESRF beamline ID19. In the photo are scientists Paul Tafforeau (ESRF), Tanya Smith (Harvard University & MPI-EVA), and Jean-Jacques Hublin (MPI-EVA). Photo credit Chantal Argoud (ESRF).

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European Synchrotron Radiation Facility - 71, avenue des Martyrs, CS 40220, 38043 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.