Newsmakers

The latest project by documentary filmmakers JOHN HEMINWAY ’66 and KATIE CARPENTER ’79, right, took them to northern Kenya, where paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey and his team of fossil hunters have searched for ­fossilized bone, stone tools, and other remains that shed light on human evolution. Heminway directed and Carpenter produced an hourlong film for National Geographic, Bones of Turkana, about Leakey and discoveries he and others have made around northern Kenya’s Lake Turkana. The special will air on PBS May 16. ... The work of CATO T. LAURENCIN ’80, the director of the Insti­tute for Regenerative Engineering at the University of Connecticut Health Center, made National Geographic’s “100 Scientific Discoveries That Changed the World” issue. He was recognized for research that may greatly help patients recover from tears of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), a common knee injury. ... DAN FEYER ’99 successfully defended his title at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in March, defeating 600 top solvers and a computer program. ... 2011 James Madison Medalist ELAINE FUCHS *77, a cell biologist at Rockefeller University, and Howard Green, a professor of cell biology at Harvard Medical School, have been awarded the 2012 March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology for revolutionizing “the understanding of skin ­biology, creating crucial advances in treating skin cancers and other diseases as well as severe burns.” ... United Continental Holdings CEO JEFF SMISEK ’76 and Ariel Investments CEO JOHN ROGERS ’80 and president MELLODY HOBSON ’91 were listed among this year’s 100 Most Power­ful Chicagoans by Chicago magazine.