Video: Human Spark
THE HUMAN SPARK explores one central question: what makes humans unique? Three and a half billion years of evolution have produced uncountable billions of living species. But only one -- humans -- can think in symbols; recombine those symbols into infinite meanings; invent a technology to disseminate the message; worry how others might react to it; ponder the past; speculate about the future; and imagine the unknown. This three-part series is hosted by actor, author and science buff Alan Alda. He travels the world and speaks to a wide variety of experts who share their original thoughts about our most human characteristics. Along the way, Alda forms his own intriguing personal view of what our spark is and where it lies.
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The Human Spark | Human Language | PBS
A look at the difference between human language and others. 01:35
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The Human Spark | Cooperation | PBS
A brief look at the cooperative and social nature of humans. 00:19
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The Human Spark | To Make A Spear | PBS
Archaeologist John Shea demonstrates the construction of a primitive spear. 04:32
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The Human Spark | Beyond the Present | PBS
A look at humans' unique ability to reflect upon events. 00:52
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The Human Spark | Human Nature | PBS
A look at the ways in which monkeys and apes are similar to humans. 04:45
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The Human Spark | The Brain in Action | PBS
A look at the regions of the brain that are activated during different tasks. 06:50
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The Human Spark | A Matter of Size | PBS
A look at the brains of a rat, monkey, chimp and human. 03:03
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The Human Spark | Scanning the Brain | PBS
An introduction to MRI scans. 06:50
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The Human Spark | Links in the Evolutionary Chain | PBS
Full Program: An exploration of some of the different characteristics that distinguish the hominid. 04:30
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The Human Spark | Insight and Imagination | PBS
An overview of how insight and imagination distinguish humans from others. 02:15
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The Human Spark | Brain Matters | PBS (#103)
Full Program: Peer into Alan Alda's head as we uncover where our most human abilities reside. 54:12
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The Human Spark | Brain Matters | Kermit Loves Bucket | PBS (#103)
Alan Alda meets Harvard University cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Spelke, who is testing the representational thinking skills of children by asking them to relate a map to the real world. Can the... 03:08
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The Human Spark | Brain Matters | Social Networks | PBS (#103)
At Oxford University, Alan Alda finds out from Robin Dunbar how human social networks compare to those of chimps, and at Yale University, watches babies as young as three months old pick cooperative... 02:47
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The Human Spark | So Human, So Chimp | PBS (#102)
Full Program: Alan Alda explores how much humans and chimps have in common, and what sets us apart. 54:42
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The Human Spark | So Human, So Chimp | Monkey Business | PBS (#102)
Alan Alda visits Yale University's Laurie Santos at a small Caribbean island where she is studying rhesus monkeys' ability to steal grapes... and read minds. In "The Human Spark," Alan Alda visits... 03:34
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The Human Spark | Becoming Us | PBS (#101)
Full Program: Alan Alda explores why our ancestors flourished, while our Neanderthal cousins died out. 54:41
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The Human Spark | So Human, So Chimp | Chimps vs. Kids | PBS (#102)
Put to work at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, Alan Alda finds out how children will help -- and like it, while chimps are less inclined to offer... 02:27
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The Human Spark | Part 2: So Human, So Chimp | Trailer | PBS (#102)
Alan Alda joins researchers studying human children and chimpanzees to discover why we share some skills with our closest living relatives, but have far surpassed then in our most uniquely human... 00:32
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The Human Spark | Becoming Us | Wear Grandma's Teeth | PBS
Alan Alda vists the rock shelter of Abri Castanet in Southwest France, where he is shocked to learn about some of our ancestors' early behaviors. "And we're descendents of these people?!" In "The... 03:35
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The Human Spark | Becoming Us | Stone-Age Spears | PBS
Alan Alda joins John Shea at Stony Brook University for a lesson on Primitive Technology. Alan makes hand axes like a Neanderthal, but throws a pretty mean spear at an unsuspecting doe. In "The... 03:01
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