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Facing a dilemma: MacGyver or Indiana Jones? | Dr. Ricardo Fernandes | TEDxKielUniversity

1,093 views · Published 3 January 2016 · 12:26 · Indexed 23 September 2026

Channel: TEDx Talks · 2016 · Nonprofits & Activism

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When faced with the question of what to become when he grew up, Dr. Ricardo Fernandes couldn't decide whether he wanted to become a physicist like one of his childhood heroes, MacGyver, or an archeologist like Indiana Jones. He eventually decided to do both when he discovered that it is possible to apply the methods from physics to solve the questions from archeology. In this eloquent and entertaining talk Dr. Fernandes shows how these fields of research can work together to reconstruct human dietary behavior.



Dr. Ricardo Fernandes is a researcher at the universities of Kiel and Cambridge where he employs the methods from applied Physics to help answering the questions of Archaeology. He has been involved in several excavations around the world, from the Athenian Agora of Ancient Greece to some of the oldest prehistoric sites in South America located at the Atacama Desert. Fernandes relies on methods from Nuclear Physics to date archaeological samples and to obtain insights into the mobility patterns and dietary habits of past humans. This, in turn, led him to develop research in other scientific fields, including Ecology, Physiology, and Forensics. Fernandes is a strong advocate of interdisciplinarity as a source of novel and exciting research opportunities. Similarly, he believes that the study of the human past is a source of inspiration when facing present and future challenges.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

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