Professor Alice Roberts, a renowned expert in human anatomy, evolution, and archaeology, is set to embark on a new live show exploring humanity's fundamental questions. 'From Cell to Civilisation: Humankind, Genetics, and Archaeology' aims to delve into who we are, where we come from, and what it means to be human, bridging the gap between science and storytelling.
It’s barely gone 7am in the UK when Professor Alice Roberts joins me on Zoom, and within minutes she’s reeling off extraordinary facts about evolutionary biology and life’s biggest questions. Not that I should be surprised: Roberts, an academic, broadcaster and author who specialises in human anatomy, evolution, archaeology and history, is your genuine polymath. Even at 7am.
For years, she’s also specialised in sharing her knowledge with mainstream audiences through her many TV roles, on documentaries including In 2012, the University of Birmingham appointed her as Professor of Public Engagement in Science, and in 2020 she won the inaugural Royal Society David Attenborough Award for outstanding public engagement with science; Roberts is adept at making complex ideas accessible. Her evident enthusiasm for all things historical certainly helps.From Cell to Civilisation: Humankind, Genetics, and Archaeology, in which she will aim to answer some of humanity’s biggest questions: who are we? Where do we come from? And what does it mean to be human? Questions that historically, humanity has tried to answer, after a fashion, with religion and philosophy. She’s done live shows before, usually around her book releases, but this one, she says, is more theatrical. “I’m really excited for this one because it’s a chance to really bring this subject matter alive, in a very exciting way visually and theatrically,” she says. “It’s definitely not a lecture.” It does though, seem wildly ambitious – to cover the emergence of the human species and the story of life on Earth in one evening? “Just ambitious,” Roberts agrees with a laugh. “There’s lots of science, but if it was going to be a show about the flowering of human civilisation, I thought I may as well go large.”She says she was inspired by similar live tours that her friend, physicist Brian Cox, has toured. “He does incredible stage shows, and this one is produced by the same company”, Roberts reveals.
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