ListenNOVA: Becoming Human: Birth Of Humanity -Part 2
Airs Tuesday, November 25 at 10 p.m. on KPBS TV
Above: This definitive three-part special on human evolution combines interviews with renowned scientists and the most recent, groundbreaking discoveries with vivid images of our earliest ancestors to tell the first comprehensive story of our human past. Pictured: An actor portraying a member of the tiny population of Homo sapiens from whom we all sprang. Geneticists have traced our ancestry to a bare 600 individuals who lived on the shores of Pinnacle Point, South Africa, learning to read the moon to exploit a rich marine resource.
November 6, 2009
Where did we come from? What makes us human? An explosion of recent discoveries sheds light on these questions, and "NOVA's" comprehensive, three-part special, "Becoming Human," examines what the latest scientific research reveals about our hominid relatives.
Above: Depicting Our Ancestors: In this audio slideshow, filmmaker Graham Townsley describes what it takes to bring ancient hominids to life.
Part 2, “Birth of Humanity,” investigates the first skeleton that really looks like us–"Turkana Boy"–an astonishingly complete specimen of Homo erectus found by the famous Leakey team in Kenya. These early humans are thought to have developed key innovations that helped them thrive, including hunting large prey, the use of fire, and extensive social bonds.
The program examines an intriguing theory that long-distance running–our ability to jog–was crucial for the survival of these early hominids. Not only did running help them escape from vicious predators roaming the grasslands, but it also gave them a unique hunting strategy: chasing down prey animals such as deer and antelope to the point of exhaustion. "Birth of Humanity" also probes how, why, and when humans' uniquely long period of childhood and parenting began.
