Mysterious Origins of Insects
This film delves into the captivating world of these creatures, aiming to shed light on their enigmatic evolution and the threats they face.
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Evolution
Earth episode 1 – Permian-Triassic Extinction Event
Earth episode 1 –Â Join renowned naturalist and presenter Chris Packham on an extraordinary and captivating journey as he delves deep into the annals of Earth’s history, unearthing the secrets of one of the darkest periods ever recorded. Prepare to be enthralled as we explore the harrowing tale of the worst mass extinction ever witnessed on our planet, an event so catastrophic that it claimed the lives of up to 90% of all species, leaving an indelible mark on the course of life’s evolution. This awe-inspiring epoch, which unfolded approximately 252 million years ago, brought life to the
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Islands of Evolution episode 3 – Madeira
Islands of Evolution episode 3 – Madeira: In the final episode, Richard Fortey travels to Madeira to examine what happens to a volcanic island as it nears the end of its life cycle and starts sinking back into the sea. Here, in the island’s laurisilva forest, he examines the remains of an ancient forest that once carpeted all of Europe, finds island lizards that live to be four times older than their mainland counterparts, and meets a huge wolf spider. With the help of local divers, he also discovers an unexpectedly rich marine habitat populated by whales, dolphins and unusual
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Islands of Evolution episode 2 – Madagascar
Islands of Evolution episode 2 – Madagascar: Professor Richard Fortey travels to the rainforests of Madagascar – an ancient island that has spawned some of the most extraordinary groups of plants and animals anywhere in the world. From beautiful Indri lemurs, toxic frogs, and the cat-like giant mongoose called the fossa, to evolutionary oddities like the giraffe-necked weevil and the otherworldly aye-aye, he uncovers the secrets of the evolutionary niche – examining how, given millions of years, animals and plants can adapt to fill almost any opportunity they find. Three-part series in which Professor Richard Fortey investigates
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Your Inner Fish: An Evolution Story episode 3
Your Inner Fish: An Evolution Story episode 3: In the final episode, Neil tracks our hands, feet, colour vision, spine and upright gait to our primate and hominid progenitors, who also passed on perhaps the most important legacy of all – a path to the human brain. It took more than 350 million years for the human body to take shape. Anatomist Neil Shubin reveals how our bodies are the legacy of ancient fish, reptiles and primates, the ancestors you never knew were in your family tree. Our bodies carry the anatomical legacy of animals that
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Islands of Evolution episode 1 – Hawaii
Islands of Evolution episode 1 – Hawaii: Richard Fortey investigates why islands are laboratories of evolution. On Hawaii he finds honeycreeper birds, carnivorous caterpillars and silversword plants. In the first episode, Fortey is on Hawaii to investigate how life colonises a newly born island. According to some estimates, Hawaii has been successfully colonised by only one new species every 35,000 years due to its remote location – yet the Hawaiian Islands teem with a great diversity of life. In search of the evolutionary secrets of how one species becomes many, Fortey encounters beautiful honeycreeper birds whose evolution rivals that of
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Your Inner Fish: An Evolution Story episode 2
Your Inner Fish: An Evolution Story episode 2 traces our hair, skin, teeth, jaws and sense of hearing back to reptilian ancestors – from ferocious beasts that ruled the Earth, to a little shrew-like animal that lived 195 million years ago. It took more than 350 million years for the human body to take shape. Anatomist Neil Shubin reveals how our bodies are the legacy of ancient fish, reptiles and primates – the ancestors you never knew were in your family tree. Our bodies carry the anatomical legacy of animals that lived hundreds of millions of
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Your Inner Fish: An Evolution Story episode 1
Your Inner Fish: An Evolution Story episode 1: It took more than 350 million years for the human body to take shape. Anatomist Neil Shubin reveals how our bodies are the legacy of ancient fish, reptiles and primates, the ancestors you never knew were in your family tree. Our bodies carry the anatomical legacy of animals that lived hundreds of millions of years ago. Journeying to the Arctic, South Africa and Ethiopia, Neil uncovers an astonishing story spanning hundreds of millions of years, a tale full of strange facts and remarkable insights. Using fossils, embryos and
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Secret Mind of Slime
Secret Mind of Slime: Meet slime molds: the brainless blobs that can learn, make decisions, and navigate mazes. Who says you need brains to be smart? Extremely primitive life-forms called slime molds can navigate mazes, choose between foods, and create efficient networks—no brain required. New research on these organisms, which are neither plant nor animal, could help reveal the fundamental rules underlying all decision making. Slime mold is an informal name given to several kinds of unrelated eukaryotic organisms with a life cycle that includes a free-living single-celled stage and the formation of spores. Spores are often
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The Incredible Human Journey episode 5 – The Americas
The Incredible Human Journey episode 5 – The Americas: Alice Roberts investigates how humans may have reached North and South America, looking at routes across the Canadian ice sheet and from Australia across the Pacific. For Stone Age people, reaching North and South America seems impossible – on each side vast oceans, and to the north an impenetrable ice sheet that covered the whole of Canada. So how did the first Americans get there? Dr Alice Roberts discovers evidence for an ancient corridor through the Canadian ice sheet that may have allowed those first people through. But
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The Incredible Human Journey episode 4 – Australia
The Incredible Human Journey episode 4 – Australia: Dr Alice Roberts looks at our ancestors’ seemingly impossible journey to Australia. There are seven billion humans on Earth, spread across the whole planet. Scientific evidence suggests that most of us can trace our origins to one tiny group of people who left Africa around 70,000 years ago. In this five-part series, Dr Alice Roberts follows the archaeological and genetic footprints of our ancient ancestors to find out how their journeys transformed our species into the humans we are today, and how Homo sapiens came to dominate the planet.
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The Incredible Human Journey episode 3 – Europe
The Incredible Human Journey episode 3 – Europe: In Europe, Dr Alice Roberts investigates how our species coped with the rival Neanderthals and the Ice Age. There are seven billion humans on Earth, spread across the whole planet. Scientific evidence suggests that most of us can trace our origins to one tiny group of people who left Africa around 70,000 years ago. In this five-part series, Dr Alice Roberts follows the archaeological and genetic footprints of our ancient ancestors to find out how their journeys transformed our species into the humans we are today, and how Homo Sapiens came to
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