Decoding Neanderthals: NOVA Resources on Evolution

Decoding Neanderthals Ep MainTonight at 9pm, WGBY will broadcast NOVA:  Decoding Neanderthals, a program that will allow viewers to find out what happened when the first modern humans encountered Neanderthals 60,000 years ago.  You can also find seemingly inexhaustible resources at NOVA’s beta site.  Here are just a few, all of which have related links:

Homo Sapiens Versus Neanderthals  (Teacher Video) Fossil evidence from Middle East caves and elsewhere has revealed some competitive advantages modern humans, known as Homo sapiens, are believed to have held over the more archaic human species, Neanderthals. This video segment explores the origins of modern humans.

Are Neanderthals Human?  (Article and Related Content) Bones discovered in a cave in the German valley of Neander — Neanderthal in German — that looked vaguely human, eventually made their way to an anatomist in Bonn named Hermann Schaafhausen.

Ten Great Advances in Evolution  (Text and Photographs) To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Origin of Species in 2009, NOVA prepared this list, by no means exhaustive, to reveal some of the biggest advances in evolutionary biology over the past decade as well as insights into the evolutionary process itself. In some cases those insights would have given Darwin himself a pleasant jolt of surprise!

You can also explore other NOVA’s educator sites such as NOVA science NOW and NOVA education.

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