The third episode of Becoming Human — a three-part NOVA documentary on what the latest scientific research reveals about our hominid relatives — will air on November 17, 2009, on public broadcasting stations around the country. According to NOVA:
How did modern humans take over the world? New evidence suggests that they left Africa and colonized the rest of the globe far earlier, and for different reasons, than previously thought. As for Homo sapiens, we have planet Earth to ourselves today, but that's a very recent and unusual situation. For millions of years, many kinds of hominids co-existed. At one time Homo sapiens shared the planet with Neanderthals, Homo erectus, and the mysterious "Hobbits" — three-foot-high humans who thrived on the Indonesian island of Flores until as recently as 12,000 years ago.Further information about the film, including a preview, interviews, and interactive features, is available at NOVA's website. Information on finding local public broadcasting stations is available via PBS's website.
"Last Human Standing" examines why "we" survived while those other ancestral cousins died out. And it explores the provocative question: In what ways are we still evolving today?