A look at human origins in the very place of our origins, Africa's Rift Valley
If we compare ourselves with our genetically closest living relatives, the chimpanzees, we have few physical advantages. We are far weaker, cannot move nearly as fast, and do not have the same climbing capabilities. Instead, humans excel in areas such as architecture, religion, science, language, writing, art, culture, and ideas. These achievements are due to our larger brain that contain billions of neurons. It was the rapid growth of our brain, originating about 2 million years ago, that allowed us to be the predominant species of the world. What caused this rapid growth of our cerebral cortex? Researchers worldwide have asked this question for many years, but now there finally seems to be an answer.
Can Homo sapiens evolve into Homo spatius? For over 50 years now, we have been testing our human nature in our effort to conquer outer space, and still 30 years away from a possible human exploration of Mars, a question remains: Can our body take such travels? Will it ever adapt? Combining human adventure and the exploration of the human body, this film offers unique insights into the physical and psychological effects of space travel on the Astronauts and measures the impact on medical sciences.
A feature documentary about the journey of mankind to discover our true force and who we truly are. It is a quest through science and consciousness, individual and planetary, exploring our relationships with ourselves, the world around us and the universe as a whole.
Over 60,000 years ago, the first modern humans left their African homeland and entered Europe, then a bleak and inhospitable continent in the grip of the Ice Age. But when they arrived, they were not alone: the stocky, powerfully built Neanderthals had already been living there for hundreds of thousands of years. So what happened when the first modern humans encountered the Neanderthals? Did they make love or war?
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What would have happened if the Neanderthals had prevailed over Homo Sapiens? How would our species have evolved? How does art relate to evolution, and why in the world does evolution behave like a bricoleur? Last of all, just what does Marcel Duchamp have to do with all of this? This film is neither a documentary nor a portrait of the artist Pable Echaurren; it’s a kaleidoscopic meditation on our past, present and future.
Looking at whether the history of early human evolution should be rewritten. For decades, most experts have been convinced that Africa is the cradle of mankind and many fossil finds from Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa and Chad seemed to prove it.
Nova and National Geographic present exclusive access to an astounding discovery of ancient fossil human ancestors.
The cutting edge group known as transhumanists see a beautiful future brought about by artificial intelligence, life extension, and cybernetics. What one must realize before getting carried away with such utopian dreams is that transhumanism was born out of the elitist pseudo-science eugenics. This documentary provides vital information on the history of eugenics and its new cutting edge transformation.
With the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, the line between humans and machines continues to blur, and everything is evolving at an astonishing pace as this technology offers tantalizing promises. However, some researchers, including 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics laureate Geoffrey Hinton, warn about its exponential power. A deep dive into the dizzying complexities of AI.
Neandertal man disappeared abruptly 30,000 years ago. Who was that "other" man and what is the most plausible hypothesis leading to his extinction? An investigation using all current knowledge available tries to answer these questions.
NOVA's groundbreaking investigation explores how new discoveries are transforming views of our earliest ancestors. Becoming Human explores the origins of us -where modern humans and our capacities for art, invention, and survival came from, and how our social history led to 3-5% of our genetic heritage being Neanderthal. Featuring interviews with world-renowned scientists, footage shot in the trenches as fossils were unearthed, and stunning computer-generated animation, Becoming Human brings early hominids to life, examining how they lived and how we became the creative and adaptable modern humans of today. In gripping forensic detail, we meet: Selam, the amazingly complete remains of a 3 million year-old child, packed with clues to why we split from the apes, came down from the trees, and started walking upright; Turkana Boy -a tantalizing fossil of Homo erectus, the first ancestor to leave Africa and colonize the globe. What led to this first great African exodus?
At what point in our evolution did we start talking? To paint, play music and travel? When did we build our first imaginary worlds? When was the need to believe born? In short, where, when and how did the contours of man's essence take shape? Going back to the origins of language, art and writing, this documentary by Emmanuel Leconte and Franck Guérin traces the fantastic cultural epic of thought. Although animals also dream, today only our species has the power to recount its dreams, transforming them into stories, narratives and destinies... But where does this astonishing human faculty come from?
This series incorporates the latest animated 3D films to explore recent discoveries about human history, especially in Asia.
In the docudrama "Les Derniers Secrets de l'humanité" (The Last Secrets of Humanity), author and director Jacques Malaterre and paleoanthropologist and professor at the Collège de France Yves Coppens reveal the incredible adventure of Asian prehistory. How does science help to reconstruct these bygone times in images? Thanks to discoveries made at excavation sites and in analysis and genetics laboratories, researchers are now revealing this distant, vanished past.
Explores the story behind the discovery of an early primate fossil, Darwinius masillae, nicknamed Ida, in a shale quarry in Germany. The fossil is believed to be around 47 million years old, and is extraordinarily well-preserved. Originally unearthed in 1983, Ida lay in the hands of a private collector for 20 years before it was shown to a Norwegian paleontologist, Dr Jørn Hurum. Realising that Ida could turn out to be a significant missing link between modern primates, lemurs and lower mammals, he persuaded the Natural History Museum in Oslo to purchase the fossil and assembled an international team of experts to study it. Their findings were announced in a press conference and the online publication of a scientific paper on 19 May 2009.
Narrator Lawrence Dobkin examines unusual paranormal activities and conspiracy theories in several eerie segments. Subjects include flying saucers and alien encounters, the disappearance of Atlantis, the Bermuda Triangle and the origins of Bigfoot, telekinesis, witchcraft, and the unusual notion that human evolution and technology might have been moved forward with assistance from intelligent extraterrestrial beings.
This documentary delves into the mysteries surrounding the Neanderthals and what their fossil record tells us about their lives and disappearance.
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