"When Darwin proposed that humans evolved from a common ancestor with the great apes, he lacked fossil evidence to support his idea. One hundred and fifty years later, the evidence for human evolution is plentiful and growing, including detailed molecular genetics data, an impressive fossil record, and artifacts of early human culture like stone tools. In four presentations, leading scientists John Shea of Stony Brook University, Sarah Tishkoff of...

"They are the most iconic animals on Planet Earth - voracious crocodiles, acrobatic birds, majestic elephants, stupendous whales. To see them is to marvel - and to ask a surprisingly challenging question: Where did these amazing creatures come from? Traveling millions of years into the past, we unravel these iconic creatures' lineage - a story full of twists and turns, punctuated by dramatic events in earth history. Along the way we meet an extraordinary...

A mixture of animation and live footage serves as a background for a narrated introduction to the history of the creation of the earth, the origin of life, and the evolution of the many species including early man

A major discovery shows how life came back after an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs. With exclusive access to a fossil trove from the key first million years after impact, the film charts the rise of a new living world from the ashes.

"How did we get here? ... Using the evidence from genetics, fossils, archaeology and climatology, Dr. Alice Roberts uncovers five epic routes our ancestors took across the globe and the obstacles and brutal challenges they encountered along the way. It reveals how our family tree grew and spread out across the world, producing all the variety we see in the human species today -- but despite all that diversity, Dr. Roberts reveals how astonishingly...

NOVA presents an exclusive new investigation into the sensational discovery of the bizarre ancient bones of the so-called "Hobbit" unearthed in a cave on the island of Flores, Indonesia. No more than 3 feet tall when fully grown, these tiny humans survived in the cave for tens of thousands of years, hunting the huge and fierce Komodo dragons that roamed their remote island home. In Alien from Earth, NOVA explores the latest evidence in a furious scientific...

"Where did we come from? What makes us human? NOVA's ... investigation explores how new discoveries are transforming views of our earliest ancestors. Featuring interviews with world-renowned scientists, footage shot "in the trenches" as fossils were unearthed, and ... computer-generated animation, [these programs] bring early hominids to life, examining how we became the creative and adaptable modern humans of today ... In the first episode ... encounter...

For man, beast and nature, it's been a constant battlefield of change. Some strategic advances were anatomical while others were behavioral. While the bald eagle developed telescopic vision capable of spotting a hare a mile away, the shark evolved the act of sex as we humans know it. Discover what has propelled creatures large and small to survive. Trace the history and importance of these adaptations from their earliest beginnings to today

Who would have predicted that a hot spot left over from the Big Bang would eventually lead to our galaxy, the solar system, the Earth, - and to us? Origins explores how the universe and our planet began amid chaos and eventually gave birth to the first stirrings of life. Join cutting-edge scientists on a voyage deep into the Earth to find analogs to the earliest life on our planet, and travel a million miles from Earth with a space probe designed...

"Futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard brings together some of the finest minds of our time to reveal a positive future for humanity, filled with infinite possibilities."--Container.