PBS
No Single Cradle of Humankind
It would take decades for paleontologists to realize that maybe there wasn’t just one so-called "cradle of humankind," and realize that maybe they’d been asking the wrong question all along.
SciShow
A Quarter Of All Your Bones Are In Your Feet
You might have heard that a quarter of your skeleton is in your shoes, and that's true, as long as they're closed-toe. So why do we need that many foot bones? The answer is more complicated than you think, and to get to the bottom of it...
SciShow
Hobbits Were Real. Why Were They So Small?
You may have heard of the Hobbits -- no, not the Tolkien ones. Our cousins, Homo floresiensis! But have you ever wondered why this enigmatic mini species was so little? Let's talk about the decades of research into what made the hominins...
SciShow
That Time Our Ancestors Almost Went Extinct
There's a lot of humans on our planet. But our global domination was hardly a given. New evidence suggests that our ancestors were on the brink of total extinction nearly a million years ago. So let's talk about that time when the Homo...
Crash Course
Human Evolution: We Didn't Evolve From Chimps: Crash Course Biology #19
What’s a human? And how did we become humans, anyway? In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll meet some of our closest relatives and trace how we evolved into the brainy, inventive, complex species we are today.
SciShow
Why Do Our Noses Stick Out?
Have you ever thought about why we humans have noses that stick out? Turns out, there's been a big story about human evolution right... under your nose.
PBS
When We Tamed Fire
The ability to make and use fire has fundamentally changed the arc of our evolution. The bodies we have today were, in many ways, shaped by that time when we first tamed fire.
PBS
When We Met Other Human Species
We all belong to the only group of hominins on the planet today. But we weren’t always alone. 100,000 years ago, Eurasia was home to other hominin species, some of which we know our ancestors met, and spent some quality time with.
PBS
When We First Talked
The evolution of our ability to speak is its own epic saga and it’s worth pausing to appreciate that. It’s taken several million years to get to this moment where we can tell you about how it took several million years for us to get here.
Curated Video
When We First Made Tools
The tools made by our human ancestors may not seem like much when you compare them to the screen you’re looking at right now but their creation represents a pivotal moment in the origin of technology and in the evolution of our lineage.
PBS
When Hobbits Were Real
Its discoverers named it Homo floresiensis, but it’s often called “the hobbit” for its short stature and oddly proportioned feet. And it’s been at the center of a major controversy in the field ever since. Was it its own species? Or was...
PBS
The Humans That Lived Before Us
As more and more fossil ancestors have been found, our genus has become more and more inclusive, incorporating more members that look less like us, Homo sapiens. By getting to know these other hominins--the ones who came before us--we...
PBS
How Humans Lost Their Fur
We’re the only primate without a coat of thick fur. It turns out that this small change in our appearance has had huge consequences for our ability to regulate our body temperature, and ultimately, it helped shape the evolution of our...
PBS
The Two Viruses That We’ve Had For Millions of Years
There’s one kind of herpesvirus that’s specific to one species of primate, and each virus split off from the herpesvirus family tree when the primate split off from its own tree. But of course, humans are a special kind of primate.
PBS
The Risky Paleo Diets of Our Ancestors
We can track our history of eating just about anything back through the fossil record and see the impact it’s had on our evolution. Throughout time, part of the secret to our success as a species has been our early - and sometimes fatal...
SciShow
Anthropology’s Greatest Hoax
Scientists are sometimes deemed objective observers of the world in which we live, but that’s not entirely true. They’re still human and can find themselves victim to fraudsters just like the lot of us.
SciShow
Where Did Humans Come From?
Hank tells us about new and confusing discoveries in the field of Human Evolution.
SciShow
How Long Has Health Care Existed on Earth?
We know modern day healthcare to be a world of expensive premiums, long wait times and frustrating hospital bills. However health care has existed long before insurance premiums and online portals! Curious about when healthcare for...
TED Talks
Denis Dutton: A Darwinian theory of beauty
TED collaborates with animator Andrew Park to illustrate Denis Dutton's provocative theory on beauty -- that art, music and other beautiful things, far from being simply "in the eye of the beholder," are a core part of human nature with...
TED Talks
Spencer Wells: A family tree for humanity
All humans share some common bits of DNA, passed down to us from our African ancestors. Geneticist Spencer Wells talks about how his Genographic Project will use this shared DNA to figure out how we are -- in all our diversity -- truly...
SciShow
Music in Your DNA and A New Species of Human?
Is musical ability genetic? And were there more species of ancient humans than we once thought? SciShow News investigates!
SciShow
Pink Lake Mystery Solved!
Remember that episode we did on Australia’s Pink Lake? Well, we have a follow-up! Hank explains in this episode of SciShow News.
SciShow
Why Do Humans Have Butts?
If you've been wondering why we have butts, wonder no more! We have an answer for you.
SciShow
Should You Worry About Antarctica's New, Massive Iceberg?
How concerned are scientists about the Larson C ice shelf calving its most recent iceberg? Archeologists have also found new evidence that confirms earlier dates for the existence of ancient Australian humans.