"First Steps," examines the factors that caused us to split from the
other great apes. The program explores the fossil of "Selam," also known
as "Lucy's Child." Paleoanthropologist Zeray Alemseged spent five years
carefully excavating the sandstone-embedded fossil. NOVA's cameras are
there to capture the unveiling of the face, spine, and shoulder blades
of this 3.3 million-year-old fossil child. And NOVA takes viewers
"inside the skull" to show how our ancestors' brains had begun to change
from those of the apes.
Why did leaps in human evolution take
place? "First Steps" explores a provocative "big idea" that sharp swings
of climate were a key factor.
