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Scientists have struggled for centuries to pinpoint the qualities that distinguish humans from the millions of other animal species with which we share the vast majority of our DNA. In this NOVA scienceNOW program, we explore those traits once thought to be uniquely human to discover their evolutionary roots.
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Since Darwin's time, there's been a landslide of fossil evidence for evolution from all over the world. This video takes a look at how the discoveries of "missing links" are integrated into the constantly changing understanding of how life evolved. Missing links are evidence fossils that show how major groups of animals are related, like dinosaurs and birds, for example.
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In the 28th century, Valerian and Laureline are a team of special operatives charged with maintaining order throughout the human territories. Under assignment from the Minister of Defense, the two embark on a mission to the astonishing city of Alpha. A mystery is at the center of Alpha, a dark force which threatens the peaceful existence of the city.
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Where on Earth do we all come from? Hear archeologists detail the fierce and long-standing debate concerning human origins in this video clip. One view is that all humans are descended from Homo sapiens that emerged from Africa about 50 thousand years ago, but thanks to new DNA techniques, scientists in England are putting the "Out of Africa" hypothesis to the test.
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Over 60,000 years ago, the first modern humans left their African homeland and entered Europe, where Neanderthals had been living for hundreds of thousands of years. In 2010, a team led by geneticist Svante Paabo reconstructed much of the Neanderthal genome, discovering that they had interbred with humans, leaving a small but consistent signature of Neanderthal genes behind in everyone outside Africa today. In this program, NOVA explores a range of...
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Last in the series exploring evolution and the origins of human life. For 200,000 years the Neanderthals lived unchallenged in Europe. But 30,000 years ago climate change and the arrival of modern humans from the east forced them to adapt or die. A skeleton of a boy found in Portugal may tell the tale of when Neanderthals and modern humans met - the Lagar Velho Boy appears to be the offspring of a Neanderthal and our own species. The sudden disappearance...
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The common consensus among anthropologists is that modern man emerged from Africa. This program examines new evidence that disputes this theory and alleges that simultaneous to the emergence of Homo erectus in Africa, there were also groups of Homo erectus in Australia. Was there an earlier diaspora that predates the African migration? Is there a single, linear evolution from Homo erectus to modern man, or is it possible that there were various strains...
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British biologist Richard Dawkins is blunt in his support for evolutionary theory as opposed to "special creationism. This program, inspired by Dawkins' book, allows each side to present its best arguments-with some bias toward Darwinian evolution. The evidence is well-organized and current. Creationist ideas are vividly contrasted with contradictory data through observation, computer simulations, robotics, experiments, and close examination of designs...
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Part of the curriculum of Man: A Course of Study, or MACOS, looked to the Inuit of the Canadian Arctic to help American students see their own society in a new way. This riveting documentary reveals how an educational dream became a bitter political battle over cultural differences. MACOS was an innovative social sciences program designed to teach American children "what it was to be human." At its core was the Netsilik Eskimo Series of films, an...
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The evolution of the brain is a story of adaptation, consciousness, and responsiveness that begins with single celled organisms and continues through the vertebrates. In this film, Terry Deacon, Anthropology Department, University of California, Berkeley compares the adaptive brains of humans, chimpanzees, and our many evolutionary ancestors. The film also features footage from "Journey of the Universe," which covers the idea that the earth and life...
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More than 400,000 years ago a certain species of primates started their victory march: it was the victory march of the homo sapiens, the human being. Due to the special abilities of our brains we can produce complicated tools and use them, for example, to fly to the moon. We harnessed fire, developed culture and religion. With their talent for complex organization and communication humans rose above other living beings on this planet. Until recently...
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Arctic archaeologist Dr. Pat Sutherland started finding artifacts that weren't made by indigenous hands, but by Norse traders, possibly as far back as a thousand years ago. Is it possible that this is the site of first contact between native North Americans and Europeans? This program follows Sutherland from the south shore Baffin Island to the Outer Hebrides in Scotland, the departure point for Norse sailing west, searching for trade goods like ivory...
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From the first agricultural settlements, to the industrial revolution, to agribusiness and widespread urbanization, humans have been transforming the environment for thousands of years. But now, with rain forests disappearing at an appalling rate, pollution on the rise, and the world's population reaching truly astronomical proportions, how will the Earth survive? In this program, Lester Brown, president of Worldwatch Institute; academic experts;...
14) Cousin bonobo
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This program launches an investigation into the identity of the bonobo, formerly known as the pygmy chimpanzee. To what extent is this remarkable African ape closer to humans than all the other animals on the planet? Scientists from around the world, including Yves Coppens, paleoanthropologist at the College de France, and Paula Cavalieri, philosopher and founder of the Great Ape Project, discuss their findings on the genetics, biology, intelligence,...
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In this classic program, Horizon looks at discoveries about where modern man originated. Most scientists hold that modern man came from Africa, and some believe that everyone in the world today is descended from a single woman who lived in Africa 300,000 years ago. This program probes the "molecular clock" theory, which maintains that a new people evolved in Africa, and only a few thousand years have passed since they ventured into the rest of the...
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Curiosity is often the driving force behind great discoveries. In this program, Friedemann Schrenk teams up with Meave Leakey to examine fossil specimens recovered at Lake Turkana, Lothagam, and Kanapoi, where they discuss the relationships between Australopithicus afarensis, A. boisei, and Homo habilis. Dr. Schrenk also visits the Nairobi Museum, the Anatomical Institute in Dar es Salaam, and Ngorongoro National Park. In addition, a meeting at Witwatersrand...
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This video from the 2009 Falling Walls Conference features Michel Brunet's lecture on how human paleontology holds the key to the origin of human life. Brunet is a professor of human paleontology and leads digs for fossil mammals and primates in Chad, Libya, Egypt, and Cameroon. Here he discusses his expedition in Central Africa, during which he discovered the skull and several jaws of a late Miocene hominid whose remains are believed to predate the...
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This collection of 18 video clips (1 minute to 2 minutes 30 seconds each) takes a close look at genetics. Topics range from the human genome, to "junk" DNA, to genetic implications for obesity, dyslexia, eating disorders, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, substance abuse, weight loss, and aging. Video clips include: Genetics * Junk DNA * Living Longer * Secrets of the Y Chromosome * Tiny Genes, Big Role * Genome ABCs * Custom Cures * SIDS Test * Blame...
19) Dawn of Humanity
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NOVA and National Geographic present exclusive access to an astounding discovery of ancient fossil human ancestors. Deep in a South African cave, a special team of experts has brought to light an unprecedented wealth of fossils belonging to a crucial gap in the record of our origins that spans the transition between the ape-like australopithecines (such as the famous Lucy) and the earliest members of the human family.
20) Code Breakers
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When did the first peoples arrive in the New World? For decades, anthropologists believed that humans were unable to enter the Americas until the end of the last Ice Age. In this HD documentary, anthropologist Niobe Thompson opens a fascinating window onto new research overturning this longstanding theory. He works in cooperation with scientists who are studying everything from human coprolites to forgotten fossils to ancient DNA and revealing a much...