Iowa State anthropologist Pruetz to be guest on NPR's "Talk of the Nation" Thursday

AMES, Iowa -- Iowa State University anthropologist Jill Pruetz is a guest during the second hour of National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation" program on Thursday, Jan. 6, starting at 2 p.m. Iowa time. It can be heard on Iowa Public Radio (locally, WOI-AM, 640), and streamed online at: http://www.npr.org/programs/talk-of-the-nation/.

The segment will feature three prominent National Geographic explorers: Pruetz, an ISU associate professor of anthropology who studies savanna chimpanzees in Senegal; deep sea explorer Bob Ballard, who found the wreck of the Titanic; and pioneering photographer Nick Nichols. It is titled, "Exploration in the 21st Century: What's Left to Explore?"

A past National Geographic Emerging Explorer, Pruetz has trekked up to 15 hours a day to study chimpanzees on the savannas of Senegal. She was the first to document chimps using spears to hunt and seeking shelter in caves.

"Talk of the Nation" is a live, two-hour program broadcast to more than 320 stations across the United States and overseas, with over three million listeners per week. Thursday's show will be broadcast live from the stage of Grosvenor Auditorium at National Geographic's Washington, D.C. headquarters.