The Human Spark (1 of 3) Becoming Us

The Human Spark is a three-part series to be broadcast on PBS in 2010. Alan Alda begins a quest to uncover what makes humans unique since the first recognizable human walked on the Earth. Why did six million years of evolution make us human? How did our brain evolve?

In this first episode Alda explores the world of extinct cousins in Europe, the Neanderthals, and asks how we evolved into us and flourished while the others didn't. And learn how our Paleolithic geniuses made tools (I'm going to try to make a hand axe at home, if I find an obsidian).

Aired January 6th, 2010 on PBS.

The Other Episodes:
The Human Spark (3 of 3) Brain Matters
The Human Spark (2 of 3) So Human, So Chimp



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- ALL LINKS ARE INTERCHANGEABLE -

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National Geographic: Guns, Germs, and Steel - Part 1: Out Of Eden

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond is one of my favorite evolutionary biologists and most important researchers of our time. In his popular book Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies he has claimed that spreading of indigenous grain species all over world is the reason of imbalance between modern civilizations today.

How was possible that only 168 Spanish soldiers were able to kill 80000 men of great Incan Emperor Atahualpa's army and capture him?

Why was the New World conquered so easily?

Why did the world ever become so unequal?

So this 3 part documentary focuses on these controversial ideas. The first episode is dealing with the origins of agriculture and spreading of the domestical plants and animals from South West Asia (better to say the Fertile Crescent).

Related to: Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies




















File Size: 746 MB

Download (Transcript Included):
http://rapidshare.com/files/148378059/National.Geographic.Guns.Germs.And.Steel.1of3.Out.Of.Eden.x264.AC3.www.mvgroup.org.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/148325931/National.Geographic.Guns.Germs.And.Steel.1of3.Out.Of.Eden.x264.AC3.www.mvgroup.org.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/148343658/National.Geographic.Guns.Germs.And.Steel.1of3.Out.Of.Eden.x264.AC3.www.mvgroup.org.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/148361374/National.Geographic.Guns.Germs.And.Steel.1of3.Out.Of.Eden.x264.AC3.www.mvgroup.org.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/148430803/National.Geographic.Guns.Germs.And.Steel.1of3.Out.Of.Eden.x264.AC3.www.mvgroup.org.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/148440875/National.Geographic.Guns.Germs.And.Steel.1of3.Out.Of.Eden.x264.AC3.www.mvgroup.org.part6.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/148414245/National.Geographic.Guns.Germs.And.Steel.1of3.Out.Of.Eden.x264.AC3.www.mvgroup.org.part7.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/148419839/National.Geographic.Guns.Germs.And.Steel.1of3.Out.Of.Eden.x264.AC3.www.mvgroup.org.part8.rar

[Buy the DVD with Special Extras]

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National Geographic: Guns, Germs, and Steel - Part 2: Conquest

Second episode of Gun, Germs, and Steel.

On November 15th 1532, the Spanish conquistadors met the IncanEmperor Atahualpa, in Peru.

Within a day most of the Incan soldiers were slaughtered and after that the Emperor surrendered.

How was that happened?

Did the war between horses and llamas bring the end of a civilization?

Download (Transcript Included):
http://rapidshare.com/files/151145105/National.Geographic.Guns.Germs.And.Steel.2of3.Conquest.x264.AC3.www.mvgroup.org.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/151051279/National.Geographic.Guns.Germs.And.Steel.2of3.Conquest.x264.AC3.www.mvgroup.org.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/151061239/National.Geographic.Guns.Germs.And.Steel.2of3.Conquest.x264.AC3.www.mvgroup.org.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/151072955/National.Geographic.Guns.Germs.And.Steel.2of3.Conquest.x264.AC3.www.mvgroup.org.part4.rar
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http://rapidshare.com/files/151179027/National.Geographic.Guns.Germs.And.Steel.2of3.Conquest.x264.AC3.www.mvgroup.org.part6.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/151163005/National.Geographic.Guns.Germs.And.Steel.2of3.Conquest.x264.AC3.www.mvgroup.org.part7.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/151187674/National.Geographic.Guns.Germs.And.Steel.2of3.Conquest.x264.AC3.www.mvgroup.org.part8.rar

[Buy the DVD with Special Extras]

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National Geographic: Guns, Germs, and Steel - Part 3: Into the Tropics

Third episode of Guns, Germs, and Steel.

Jared Diamond continues to explain his theories on how Africa where is full of natural resources has become the poorest continent on earth.

Download (Transcript Included):

http://rapidshare.com/files/151474380/National.Geographic.Guns.Germs.And.Steel.3of3.Into.The.Tropics.x264.AC3.www.mvgroup.org.part1.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/151445729/National.Geographic.Guns.Germs.And.Steel.3of3.Into.The.Tropics.x264.AC3.www.mvgroup.org.part2.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/151494798/National.Geographic.Guns.Germs.And.Steel.3of3.Into.The.Tropics.x264.AC3.www.mvgroup.org.part3.rar

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http://rapidshare.com/files/151575862/National.Geographic.Guns.Germs.And.Steel.3of3.Into.The.Tropics.x264.AC3.www.mvgroup.org.part7.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/151529442/National.Geographic.Guns.Germs.And.Steel.3of3.Into.The.Tropics.x264.AC3.www.mvgroup.org.part8.rar

[Buy the DVD with Special Extras]

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BBC - The Story of God (1 of 3) Life, the Universe and Everything

Three-part video series presented by the physician Professor Robert Winston explores the nature of our believes, the understanding of God in different times and different cultures, what it means to be a human.

He begins his search in the depths of the caverns in south-west France. The mysterious hand prints on the cave walls establish a connection between the supernatural powers inside the rocks.

Then he visits Teotihuacan, one of the largest ancient cities in the world. In the great temple human sacrifice practiced by the Aztec priests once upon a time.

He meets a Buddhist priest to understand Buddhism its teachings are similar atheism.

The last stop in this episode is Iran, the birth place of Zoroastrianism that is possibly the source of monotheistic religions.




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Channels ...........: 2 Ch
Sampling Rate ......: 48000 Hz

The Other Episodes:
The Story of God - The God of the Gaps - 3 of 3
The Story of God - No God but God - 2 of 3

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http://rapidshare.com/files/260552830/BBC.The.Story.of.God.1of3.Life.the.Universe.and.Everything.TVcap.XviD.UKNova.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/260603035/BBC.The.Story.of.God.1of3.Life.the.Universe.and.Everything.TVcap.XviD.UKNova.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/260645605/BBC.The.Story.of.God.1of3.Life.the.Universe.and.Everything.TVcap.XviD.UKNova.part3.rar

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Richard Dawkins - River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life (Audiobook)

Nearly a century and a half after Charles Darwin formulated it, the theory of evolution is still the subject of considerable debate. Oxford scientist Richard Dawkins is among Darwin's chief defenders, and an able one indeed-- witty, literate, capable of turning a beautiful phrase. In River Out of Eden he introduces general readers to some fairly abstract problems in evolutionary biology, gently guiding us through the tangles of mitochondrial DNA and the survival-of-the- fittest ethos. (Superheroes need not apply: Dawkins writes, "The genes that survive . . . will be the ones that are good at surviving in the average environment of the species.") Dawkins argues for the essential unity of humanity, noting that "we are much closer cousins of one another than we normally realize, and we have many fewer ancestors than simple calculations suggest."

File Size: 39 MB

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Scars of Evolution - David Attenborough

A BBC Radio 4 documentary presented by Sir David Attenborough. Broadcasted on April 12, 2005 and April 19, 2005.

Scars of Evolution looks at the history and current status of the 'aquatic ape hypothesis' (AAH), first proposed over 45 years ago by Sir Alister Hardy, then elaborated and developed by Elaine Morgan and others.

Part 1
The series starts by looking at the history of the AAH and other competing theories of human origins - and at the prevailing ideas about early human evolution in 1960 when Hardy first raised the tentative question: Was man more aquatic in the past? Programme one considers Raymond Dart's Taung Child discovery and the ensuing savannah theory of human origins, as popularised by Robert Ardrey and Desmond Morris; the reaction to Hardy's radical alternative and to Elaine Morgan's bestseller: Descent of Woman.

Part 2
The second programme looks at the evidence that has accumulated in the last 5 - 10 years which seems to be driving the anthropological herd inexorably down to the water's edge. It includes reports on brain evolution, highlighting the essential fatty acids and nutrients that can only be sourced in the marine food chain; the global coastal migrations of early hominids, including major water crossings 1 million years ago; diving response and voluntary breath-control as semi-aquatic pre-adaptation for speech and some new and intriguing research findings that seem to indicate that water-births may be a very ancient human adaptation indeed.

File Size: 50 MB

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http://rapidshare.com/files/131387944/David.Attenborough-Scars.of.Evolution.rar

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Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors - Nicholas Wade (Audiobook)

In Before the Dawn, Nicholas Wade, science writer for the New York Times, traces our ancestral population’s unlikely prehistoric passage out of Africa through the Gate of Grief, eastward into Sunda and Sahul for some, northward into modern day Turkey and Iran for others. Mastery of language, pair mating, and a swiftly swelling intellect were among the crucial innovations that allowed humans to embark on this epic voyage, to overcome their aggressive hunter-gatherer past, and embrace a settled, cooperative, and civilized future.

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http://rapidshare.com/files/151652699/Before.the.Dawn-Nicholas.Wade.part2.rar
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http://rapidshare.com/files/151676374/Before.the.Dawn-Nicholas.Wade.part4.rar
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The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology - Robert Wright

A top recommended and very well written book about evolutionary psychology by Robert Wright. As a New Darwinian Robert Wright explains human behaviors under the light of natural selection.

File Size: 574 KB

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Richard Dawkins - How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think

A collection of essays and valuable tribute to Richard Dawkins by the well-known scientists and free-thinkers such as Michael Shermer, Daniel C. Dennett, Philip Pullman...


File Size: 2.95 MB

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[LINK1]
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[LINK2]
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Human Evolution: An Illustrated Introduction - Roger Lewin

Roger Lewin's, the author of People of the Lake which co-wroted with Richard Leakey, best-selling book is an ideal reference source for anthropology and biology and also contains new archeological discoveries and molecular evidence on human evolution with detailed drawings and photographs.


File Size: 10 MB

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http://rapidshare.com/files/210485521/Human.Evolution-An.Illustrated.Introduction-5th.Edition-Roger.Lewin.pdf


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Religion Explained - Pascal Boyer

Cognitive anthropologist Boyer does not shrink from the task of explaining "the full history of all religion (ever)" in this engaging but somewhat oversold synopsis of anthropological findings, purporting to show how "the intractable mystery that was religion is now just another set of difficult but manageable problems." Boyer eloquently critiques mainstream academic treatments of religion that, in his view, distort the facts by imposing a single explanatory theory on a complex assortment of religious phenomena. At the same time, he argues that the variety of human religious concepts is not infinite, suggesting an underlying pattern in the way certain kinds of religious concepts engage the mind by "successful activation of a whole variety of mental systems." These patterns increase the probability that such concepts will be remembered and transmitted. Besides the religious concepts' appeal in stimulating individual minds, Boyer's account sees no deeper function or significance in them, a stance he realizes will leave most religious believers nonplussed. "People who think that we have religion because religion is true... will find little here to support their views and in fact no discussion of these views," he cautions. Boyer's strategy of explaining religion in terms of mundane, everyday thought processes puts him at odds with recent neuropsychological studies that identify "special" cognitive structures or events associated with religious experience. Ultimately, it may be Boyer's criticism of the mere concept of "religious experience" that makes this book such a fascinating exercise in devil's advocacy. Publishers Weekly


File Size: 25 MB

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Jared Diamond - The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee: Evolution and Human Life

More than 98 percent of human genes are shared with two species of chimpanzee. The 'third' chimpanzee is man. Jared Diamond surveys out life-cycle, culture, sexuality and destructive urges both towards ourselves and the planet to explore the ways in which we are uniquely human yet still influenced by our animal origins. Amazon


File Size: 1,70 MB

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Carl Sagan - The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence

Dr. Carl Sagan takes us on a great reading adventure, offering his vivid and startling insight into the brain of man and beast, the origin of human intelligence, the function of our most haunting legends--and their amazing links to recent discoveries. Amazon


File Size: 814 KB

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