Nova does some amazing programming; it should be programmed on everybody's DVR.
I am half way through episode two and I have learned something that I have always wondered about but never knew the answer to:
- Why don't humans have hair all over our bodies like our primate cousins do?
We need to remember that humans did NOT evolve from monkeys and/or apes; we both share a common ancestor millions of years ago. So after we split from that common ancestor millions of years ago, the theory goes like this...
As homo genus lived on the plains of Africa, it was all about heat. It was the HIGH heat of the African plains that created the less hairy human as we know it today. In order to hunt for game (meat) without overheating, homo genus needed to be able to cool itself down in the heat of the hunt.
Having hair all over your body would not allow the air to evaporate the sweat off your body and cool you off. So the less hair on ones body the better above the body is to coll itself off and the better hunter one becomes. In the heat of the African plains, this was essential.
The antelope and other game that homo erectus were hunting do not have the ability to sweat and cool off. So the hunt would be won by homo erectus attacking and chasing (sometimes for hours) the game during the heat of the day until the game were overtaken by heat stroke and collapsed.
Evolution is so amazing: genetic mutation + inheritance + natural selection/adaptation