What Darwin Never Knew

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Building Pharaoh's Chariot

Building Pharaoh's Chariot

NOVA

60 min.

Who Killed Lindbergh's Baby?

Who Killed Lindbergh's Baby?

NOVA

60 min.

Rise of the Drones

Rise of the Drones

NOVA

The technologies behind drone aircraft are investigated.

60 min.

Ice Age Death Trap

Ice Age Death Trap

NOVA

The discovery of Ice Age-era fossils in the Rockies.

60 min.

Decoding Neanderthals

Decoding Neanderthals

NOVA

Scientists examine evidence about Neanderthals that sheds light on the hominids, who died off some 30,000 years ago. See the 2010 reconstruction of the Neanderthal genome, which posits that modern humans and Neanderthals interbred.

1 min.

Doomsday Volcanoes

Doomsday Volcanoes

NOVA

A look at three Icelandic volcanoes (Katla, Hekla and Laki) that may be ready to erupt.

60 min.

Schedule

Sunday
2/3/13 10:00 PM
WGBH 44
Wednesday
2/6/13 9:00 PM
WGBH 2
Thursday
2/7/13 2:00 AM
WGBH 44
Thursday
2/7/13 5:00 AM
WGBH 2
Space Shuttle Disaster Building Pharaoh's Chariot Building Pharaoh's Chariot Building Pharaoh's Chariot

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Earth teems with a staggering variety of animals, including 9,000 kinds of birds, 28,000 types of fish, and more than 350,000 species of beetles. What explains this explosion of living creatures—1.4 million different species discovered so far, with perhaps another 50 million to go? The source of life's endless forms was a profound mystery until Charles Darwin's revolutionary idea of natural selection. But Darwin's radical insights raised as many questions as they answered. What actually drives evolution and turns one species into another? And how did we evolve?

 

What Darwin Never Knew reveals answers to riddles that Darwin couldn't explain. Breakthroughs in a brand-new science—nicknamed "evo devo"—are linking the enigmas of evolution to another of nature's great mysteries, the development of an embryo. Nova takes viewers on a journey from the Galapagos Islands to the Arctic, and from the explosion of animal forms half a billion years ago to the research labs of today. Scientists are finally beginning to crack nature's biggest secrets at the genetic level. The results are confirming the brilliance of Darwin's insights while exposing clues to life's breathtaking diversity in ways the great naturalist could scarcely have imagined.

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