The Ape That Took Over The World

In 2001, scientists announced an amazing discovery: the oldest skull of a human ancestor ever found. The 3½ million year old fossil was remarkably complete, and unlike any previous fossil find. Its discovery - by a team led by Meave Leakey of the famous Leakey fossil-hunting family - has revolutionised our understanding of how humans evolved.




The great mystery of our evolution is how an ape could have evolved into the extraordinary creature that is a human being. There has never been another animal like us on the planet. And yet ten million years ago there was no sign that humans would take over the world. Instead the Earth was dominated by the apes. More than 50 different species of ape roamed the world - ten million years ago Earth really was the planet of the apes. Three million years later, most had vanished. In their place came something clearly related to the apes, but also completely different: human beings!

Brainy or bipedal?
For years scientists searched for the first key characteristic which had allowed us to make the huge leap from ape to amazing human. At first they thought the development of our big brains was decisive. They even found the fossil that seemed to prove it, until along came the famous three million year old fossilised skeleton Lucy. This quashed the big brain theory, because here was a human ancestor which clearly walked on two legs, just as we do, but had the tiny brain of an ape. It seemed that the development of walking on two legs (bipedalism) was the first key human characteristic, the thing that set us on the road to becoming human.




Lucy soon became even more important. She seemed to defy the laws of evolution. Normally a major evolutionary adaptation like walking on two legs is followed by what scientists call an adaptive radiation. Many related species quickly evolve from an initial evolutionary innovation. It gives a very bushy evolutionary family tree, with many different but related species. Scientists knew that the human branch of the family tree had begun about six or seven million years ago, when the planet of the apes ended. And yet there was no sign of an adaptive radiation. The family tree showed just a straight line leading from the planet of the apes through to Lucy.

Evidence for evolution
All that has changed with Meave Leakey's spectacular new discovery, named Kenyanthropus platyops or, less formally, Flat-faced Man. Her find is the same age as Lucy's species, but also completely different. It's proof that there were two different bipedal human ancestors living at the same time, more than three million years ago. And it's the first sign of the adaptive radiation that the theory of evolution says should have followed the planet of the apes.

How to Make Better Decisions

We are bad at making decisions. According to science, our decisions are based on oversimplification, laziness and prejudice. And that's assuming that we haven't already been hijacked by our surroundings or led astray by our subconscious!




Featuring exclusive footage of experiments that show how our choices can be confounded by temperature, warped by post-rationalisation and even manipulated by the future, Horizon presents a guide to better decision making, and introduces you to Mathematician Garth Sundem, who is convinced that conclusions can best be reached using simple maths and a pencil!

PART ONE

How To Make Better Decisions part 1 of 2 @ Yahoo! Video

PART TWO

How To Make Better Decisions part 2 of 2 @ Yahoo! Video

More documentaries like this...

Stupidity

Stupid in America

How Does Your Memory Work?

Brainman

No End in Sight

No End in Sight is a documentary film that focuses on the two year period following the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The film asserts that serious mistakes made by the Bush administration during that time were the cause of ensuing problems in Iraq, such as the rise of the insurgency, a lack of security and basic utilities for many Iraqis, sectarian violence and, at one point, the risk of complete civil war.




The documentary does initially touch upon other aspects prior to the reconstruction. One mis-assumption that Bush made was that the Shi'ites (forming a 60% majority of the population) would welcome the invaders. This premise seems to arise from the fact that in 1991, after the end of the Persian Gulf War and encouraged by President George H. W. Bush, the Shi'ites rebelled against Saddam Hussein.




However, despite heavy losses from the Gulf War, Hussein's remaining forces crushed the rebellion. The US did not offer any support to the rebels at the time, nor did the US stop the Iraqi government troops. Another issue in the 2003 invasion was the number of troops that were to be sent.

Donald Rumsfeld estimated that the job would take half of the number of troops that Colin Powell and other US Army Generals had requested, but Rumsfeld essentially had his way as he enjoyed more support within the George W. Bush administration than Powell.

Own this documentary on DVD...

Simply Raw - Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days

Diabetes looks like it is going to be the # 1 epidemic over the next few decades. Almost everyone now knows that overeating and obesity are the primary causes of diabetes as clearly outlined in this article. Could it be that we all need to take a serious look at what we are eating these days?

Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days is an independent documentary film that chronicles six Americans with 'incurable' diabetes switching their diet and getting off insulin.




The film follows each participant's remarkable journey and captures the medical, physical, and emotional transformations brought on by this radical diet and lifestyle change. We witness moments of struggle, support, and hope as what is revealed, with startling clarity, is that diet can reverse disease and change lives.

Additional wisdom is provided by Morgan Spurlock, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Robbins, Rev. Michael Beckwith, and Doctors Fred Bisci, Joel Furman, and Gabriel Cousens.

Support the production team - buy the DVD...

Suggest a Documentary - December

Well as promised, the 1st post of the new month (...the 2nd actually, but let's not split hairs) suggest a documentary. This is where you can put all of your documentary requests for the month of December - title and subject areas included.

If I am not able to post the documentary straight away, it is always because it is not currently available online. If the particular title you have suggested is not available due to extreme policing by the copyright Nazis...I will post a reply telling you this.

We had some great requested title and subjects last month, so let's keep the momentum going this month.

Post your requests in the comments of this post only...I get so many comments on other posts that your request may get lost if it is not in the current month's suggest a documentary post.

Cheers,

Scott

The Corporation

Earlier in the month Mario requested films about Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr. Some of these were posted here, but he was also asking for more documentaries about the future of corporations in relation to some of the bigger issues currently being experienced around the world. I thought that a great place to start would be with a look at what a corporation actually is. This informative documentary will explore aspects of corporations that many of us have never considered.




Provoking, witty, stylish and sweepingly informative, The Corporation explores the nature and spectacular rise of the dominant institution of our time. Part film and part movement, The Corporation is transforming audiences and dazzling critics with its insightful and compelling analysis.




Taking its status as a legal "person" to the logical conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist's couch to ask "What kind of person is it?" The Corporation includes interviews with 40 corporate insiders and critics - including Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman, Howard Zinn, Vandana Shiva and Michael Moore - plus true confessions, case studies and strategies for change.

PART ONE

PART TWO

Among the 40 interview subjects are CEOs and top-level executives from a range of industries: oil, pharmaceutical, computer, tire, manufacturing, public relations, branding, advertising and undercover marketing; in addition, a Nobel-prize winning economist, the first management guru, a corporate spy, and a range of academics, critics, historians and thinkers are also interviewed.




Click here for the offical website to find out more about some of the issues raised in the film.

Oh...if you like this film, consider buying the DVD or contributing to the causes found on the official site.