The National Geographic special “Bones of Turkana” follows the story of famed paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey and his wife Meave, daughter Louise and their colleagues as they work in the arid northern regions of Kenya’s Turkana Basin to unravel the mysteries of human evolution. Leakey is a professor of anthropology at Stony Brook University and founder and chair of the Turkana Basin Institute. While one of the Leakeys’ goals is to demonstrate the complexity and truth of human evolution, they also seek to show how the qualities that we proudly call human were all born in Africa.

“Bones of Turkana,” written, directed and produced by John Heminway, airs on PBS on May 16, 2012. Please check local listings for the time of the broadcast.

Watch Richard Leakey’s Life and Work in Kenya on PBS. See more from Bones of Turkana.