The Forgotten Voyage: The Story of Alfred Russel Wallace

The Forgotten Voyage was the dramatised story of Alfred Russel Wallace, the 19th century naturalist who published the theory of evolution by natural selection together with Charles Darwin in 1858 - more than a year before Darwin's book "On the Origin of Species" was released.

This film was written by Elaine Morgan and directed by Peter Crawford. Actor Tim Preece played the part of Alfred Russel Wallace, the 19th Century naturalist. It was Wallace's eight year voyage of discovery to the East Indies in search of wildlife that prompted Darwin to publish his revolutionary theory on the evolution of life by Natural Selection. (For more information abut this film: here)

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Alfred Russel Wallace
Charles Darwin

Darwin’s Darkest Hour

Darwin's Darkest Hour tells the remarkable story behind the unveiling of the most influential scientific theory of all time, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Darwin spent years refining his ideas and penning what he called his "big book." Yet, daunted by looming conflict with the orthodox religious values of his day, he resisted publishing–until a letter from naturalist Alfred Wallace forced his hand. In 1858, Darwin learned that Wallace was ready to publish ideas very similar to his own. In a sickened panic, Darwin grasped his dilemma: To delay publishing any longer would be to condemn his greatest work to obscurity–the brilliant argument he had pieced together with clues from his voyage on the Beagle, his adventures in the Andes, the bizarre fossils of Patagonia, the finches and giant tortoises of the Galapagos, as well as the British countryside. But to come forward with his ideas risked the fury of the Church and perhaps a rift with his own devoted wife, Emma, who was a devout Christian.

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Charles Darwin
The Voyage of Charles Darwin

Dogs Decoded (NOVA Documentary)

Dogs Decoded reveals the science behind the remarkable bond between humans and their dogs and investigates new discoveries in genetics that are illuminating the origin of dogs - with surprising implications for the evolution of human culture. Other research is proving what dog lovers have suspected all along: Dogs have an uncanny ability to read and respond to human emotions. Humans, in turn, respond to dogs with the same hormone responsible for bonding mothers to their babies. How did this incredible relationship between humans and dogs come to be? And how can dogs, so closely related to fearsome wild wolves, behave so differently?

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Dogs That Changed the World
And Man Created Dog

Nice Guys Finish First (Richard Dawkins, 1987)

Nice Guys Finish First is a BBC Horizon documentary presented by Richard Dawkins. It discusses selfishness and cooperation, arguing that evolution often favors co-operative behaviour, and focusing especially on the tit for tat strategy of the prisoner's dilemma game.

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The Genius of Charles Darwin

Earth: Making of a Planet (National Geographic)

Earth: Making of a Planet is a 96-minute documentary by National Geographic Channel, telling the story of planet Earth from its birth 4.5 billion years ago, through ice-ages and the dinosaur’s reign to the first humans. Go back to five billion years ago and discover the birth of the Earth that is the only home to life as far as we know, see how life flourished and evolution worked, from the first single-celled organism to age of the dinosaurs and the first humans who walked on the planet, through the dazzling images and CGI animations.

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How the Earth Was Made
Rise of the Continents

What Darwin Never Knew

Earth teems with a staggering variety of animals, including 9,000 kinds of birds, 28,000 types of fish, and more than 350,000 species of beetles. What explains this explosion of living creatures—1.4 million different species discovered so far, with perhaps another 50 million to go? The source of life's endless forms was a profound mystery until Charles Darwin brought forth his revolutionary idea of natural selection. But Darwin's radical insights raised as many questions as they answered. What actually drives evolution and turns one species into another? To what degree do different animals rely on the same genetic toolkit? And how did we evolve? (from pbs.org)

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Charles Darwin and the Origin of Species

Are We Still Evolving? (BBC Horizon)

Dr Alice Roberts asks one of the great questions about our species: are we still evolving? There's no doubt that we're a product of millions of years of evolution. But thanks to modern technology and medicine, did we escape Darwin's law of the survival of the fittest?

Alice follows a trail of clues from ancient human bones to studies of remarkable people living in the most inhospitable parts of the planet and the frontiers of genetic research, to discover if we are still evolving - and where we might be heading.

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Walking with Cavemen
Origins of Us

What Darwin Didn’t Know

Documentary which tells the story of evolution theory since Darwin postulated it in 1859 in 'On the Origin of Species'.

The theory of evolution by natural selection is now scientific orthodoxy, but when it was unveiled it caused a storm of controversy, from fellow scientists as well as religious people. They criticised it for being short on evidence and long on assertion and Darwin, being the honest scientist that he was, agreed with them. He knew that his theory was riddled with 'difficulties', but he entrusted future generations to complete his work and prove the essential truth of his vision, which is what scientists have been doing for the past 150 years.

Evolutionary biologist Professor Armand Marie Leroi charts the scientific endeavour that brought about the triumphant renaissance of Darwin's theory. He argues that, with the new science of evolutionary developmental biology (evo devo), it may be possible to take that theory to a new level - to do more than explain what has evolved in the past, and start to predict what might evolve in the future. (from bbc.co.uk)

Part 1 - The Struggle for Existence

Part 2 - Darwin Resurgent

Part 3 - Tree of Life

Part 4 - Endless Forms

Related Links:
Charles Darwin and On the Origin of Species