Summary: Did the ancestors of the human race go through a crucial semi-aquatic phase? This balanced program examines the latest evidence that water played a major role in human evolution and assesses how it stands up to the traditional Savanna Theory proposed by Darwin. Preeminent critics and adherents of the Aquatic Ape Theory discuss such key points as humans' unique diving reflex and voluntary breath...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Is the key theory about how we evolved from apes based on mistaken evidence? Since 1974, the 3.2-million-year-old fossil dubbed "Lucy" has been considered humankind's prime ancestor. Now, a fossil recently unearthed in Kenya by distinguished paleontologist Dr. Meave Leakey is rewriting the theories. This program examines the implications of Flat-Faced Man, a bipedal hominid just as old as Lucy...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Often thought of as nature at its most elusive and chaotic, the wind is actually a function of highly regimented patterns-forces within the Earth's atmosphere that have shaped the destiny of continents and lie at the heart of some of the greatest turning points in human history. This program travels to stunning locations in the Sahara desert, on the coast of West Africa, and among the currents...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: Beginning with a mind-boggling stunt that only science or spirituality can justify-a veritable walk through fire-this program examines humankind's long, complicated relationship with the ravenous power of combustion. Fire was, for millennia, humanity's principal source of heat and energy, and viewers learn the implications of that fact in scenes of Britain's industrial revolution as well as...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: When paleontologist Per Ahlberg discovered a strange fossil overlooked for decades at a museum in Latvia, he knew he was onto something. In this astounding program, Ahlberg and Jenny Clack, of the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology; Ted Daeschler, of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences; and Keith Thomson, of the Oxford University Museum, reexamine the evolution of the first...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Filmed in magnificent locations in Iceland, India, and the Middle East, this program looks at how control over water has been a central factor in human existence. Viewers take a precarious flight in a motorized paraglider to experience the water cycle up close; discover how villagers in the Himalayan foothills have built a living bridge to cope with the monsoon; and visit Egypt to study the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: 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...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005