Evolution
Evolution is a PBS documentary series exploring various facets of evolution - the theory of evolution, its impact on our understanding of the world, and how evolution continues to affect us everyday. The series consists of seven episodes. It begins with a dramatization of key moments in Charles Darwin's life two-hour long titled "Darwin's Dangerous Idea". The second episode "Great Transformations" explores the evolutionary changes that the incredible biodiversity on Earth. The third episode "Extinction" tries to explain why and how some 99.9 percent of all species that have ever lived on Earth are now extinct. The fourth episode "The Evolutionary Arms Race" is about natural selection and survival of the fittest. The fifth episode "Why Sex?" tries to explain why, in evolutionary terms, sex is more important than life itself. The sixth episode "The Mind Big Bang" looks at what forces contributed to the emergence of the modern human mind. And the seventh and final episode "What About God?" explores real human stories of people struggling to find a balance between science and religion.
| Episode 1 - Darwin's Dangerous Idea |
Episode 1 - Darwin's Dangerous Idea
This episode presents a dramatization of key moments in Charles Darwin's life, interspersed with commentaries, and explores why Darwin's theory of evolution might matter even more today than it did in his own time.
Episode 2 - Great Transformations
This episode focuses on the important evolutionary changes that triggered the incredible biodiversity on Earth, such as the development of the four-limbed body plan and the emergence of humans.
Episode 3 - Extinction
This episode tries to explain why and how some 99.9 percent of all species that have ever lived on Earth are now extinct. Five mass extinctions have occurred since life began on Earth. Are humans causing the next mass extinction?
Episode 4 - The Evolutionary Arms Race
This episode is about natural selection and survival of the fittest. Interactions between and within species are among the most powerful evolutionary forces on Earth, and understanding them may be a key to our own survival.
Episode 5 - Why Sex?
This episode investigates the endless variety of sexual expression and the powerful hold sex exerts over almost all living things. And it tries to explain why, in evolutionary terms, sex is more important than life itself.
Episode 6 - The Mind's Big Bang
This episode looks at what forces contributed to the emergence of the modern human mind. Fifty thousand years ago, something happened; the modern human mind emerged, triggering a creative, technological, and social explosion.
Episode 7 - What about God?
This episode explores real human stories of people struggling to find a balance between science and religion. Through the personal stories of students and teachers, it offers the view that they are compatible.
| Related Links |
| Evolution The most comprehensive evolutionary science resource on the Internet. A journey into where we're from and where we're going. |
| Evolution - wikipedia Evolution is the change in the inherited characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation. |
| Charles Darwin Documentary films related to Charles Darwin's life and his theory of evolution. Books by or about Charles Darwin such as On the Origin of Species. |
| The Genius of Charles Darwin This is a three-part television documentary presented by Richard Dawkins, explaining who Charles Darwin was, how he developed his theory of evolution, what it is, and why it matters. |
| The Forgotten Voyage: The Story of Alfred Russel Wallace The Forgotten Voyage was the dramatised story of Alfred Russel Wallace, the 19th century naturalist who published the theory of evolution by natural selection together with Charles Darwin in 1858. |
| Life on Earth This is a BBC nature documentary series presented by David Attenborough, about a study of the evolution of life on the planet. |
| Triumph of Life This is a six-part PBS documentary series narrated by Liev Schreiber, telling the story of evolution of life on Earth. |
| Journey of Life This is a five-part BBC documentary series hosted by Steve Leonard, taking us on a 4 billion year journey from the first spark of life to the conquering of a planet. |
| Becoming Human: Unearthing Our Earliest Ancestors This is a three-part NOVA's documentary series investigating the recent discoveries transforming our understanding of our human origins. |
| Evolution (University of Arizona) All the sciences, from astronomy to biology, have worked together to discover the processes that create the current state of our universe, our world, and ourselves. These evolutionary processes define the origin of the atoms that make up all matter, the origin of stars and planets, and the development of life itself. |