Your Inner Fish

The discovery of a 375-million-year-old fish, Tiktaalik, sheds light on a major transition in the history of life: the movement of vertebrates onto land. Paleontologist and anatomist Neil Shubin describes his team's discovery of that fossil.

Anatomist and paleontologist Neil Shubin has long been inspired by the hand's architecture and abilities. He traces this quintessentially human feature back in time to when our ancestors were fish living at the water's edge.

You may not think there's much insight to be gleaned from a tooth, but paleontologist Neil Shubin shows us that's not the case. As he demonstrates with a collection of skeletons, teeth contain an incredible amount of information about how an animal lives its life.

Paleoanthropologist Tim White and his team discovered a 4.4 million-year-old fossil they named Ardi. This fossil, along with other fossils of her species and from her environment, radically changed the way we think about how our species came to walk exclusively on two legs.

The ability to see the world in color is one most people take for granted. But our earliest primate ancestors lacked this ability. When and how did we gain the ability to see the world the way we do? Neil Shubin pays a visit to vision expert Jay Neitz to learn where our color vision comes from.

Anatomist and paleontologist Neil Shubin sees evidence of our ancient past in our anatomy and in our DNA. Join him as he journeys to meet our ancient animal ancestors, while revealing the impact those animals have had on our bodies.

After searching for some of the first stone tools made by our ancestors, Neil Shubin pays a visit to paleoanthropologist Tracy Kivell, who shows us how changes in the hands of our ancestors led to the ability to create and use tools.

Paleobiologist Neil Shubin uncovers the answers in this new look at human evolution. Using fossils, embryos and genes, he reveals how our bodies are the legacy of ancient fish, reptiles and primates — the ancestors you never knew were in your family tree.