She has heard that there may be jobs at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on the eastern shore of Virginia, where smaller research launches take place, but she has not formally inquired yet.

Yates, who is based at the University of the Witwatersrand's Bernard Price Institute for Paleontological research, led the research with a number of other local and international scientists.

Yo-Yo Ma will play the cello. Alice Waters will cook. Joel Coen will chat about "True Grit," and Meryl Streep will do a reading.