What Darwin Never Knew; a look at evolution all the way down to the molecular level
PBS / NOVA Staff
28-Sep-2010 (one comment)

//www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/darwin-never-knew.html

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 brought forth his 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? To what degree do different animals rely on the same genetic toolkit? And how did we evolve?

"What Darwin Never Knew" offers 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 the 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 revealing clues to life's breathtaking diversity in ways the ... >>>

MM

What Darwin Never Knew

by MM on Tue Sep 28, 2010 06:47 AM PDT

In an embryonic stage, a human embryo looks just like a fish embryo, even with gill remnants, but as we grow, need I say, there is no comparison.  Furthermore, compared to a chimp, our genetic code is 99% alike.  So, what makes 2 million species on earth different?

On the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin and 150th anniversary of the publication of his "the origin of species", PBS first aired this 2 hour video program last Dec 2009 and again last week.  This program is an extraordinary look at the process of evolution from physical attributes all the way down to the molecular level, and what makes us humans comes down to opposing thumb, skull changes that allowed our brains to grow and specific genetic mutations that let our cortex grow.

In my opinion, this program is a big blow to the creationists and evolution nay-sayers.



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