In "Birth of Humanity," the second part of the three-part series "Becoming Human," NOVA investigates the first skeleton that really looks like us–"Turkana Boy"–an astonishingly complete specimen of Homo erectus found by the famous Leakey team in Kenya. These early humans are thought to have developed key innovations that helped them thrive, including hunting large prey, the use of fire, and extensive social bonds. 　　The program examines an intriguing theory that long-distance running–our ability to jog–was crucial for the survival of these early hominids. Not only did running help them escape from vicious predators roaming the grasslands, but it also gave them a unique hunting strategy: chasing down prey animals such as deer and antelope to the point of exhaustion. "Birth of Humanity" also probes how, why, and when humans' uniquely long period of childhood and parenting began.

杨世男，再直不过的高中男孩，打游戏、打飞机，对异性兴致勃勃。在这一天，他一如往常站向小便斗，下体却冒出大量鲜血。经过诊断，原来他同时拥有一具完整的男性与女性生殖器，在医师建议之下，父母擅自决定让他／她以女生之姿重生。搬了家，也转了学，从今天开始，她，叫杨诗兰。然而，表面上性别改了，却改不了小男生的心思与对女孩的迷恋。“转性”的崭新生活究竟带来的是福还是祸？

杨世男，再直不过的高中男孩，打游戏、打飞机，对异性兴致勃勃。在这一天，他一如往常站向小便斗，下体却冒出大量鲜血。经过诊断，原来他同时拥有一具完整的男性与女性生殖器，在医师建议之下，父母擅自决定让他／她以女生之姿重生。搬了家，也转了学，从今天开始，她，叫杨诗兰。然而，表面上性别改了，却改不了小男生的心思与对女孩的迷恋。“转性”的崭新生活究竟带来的是福还是祸？

“Art describes the eternal”, Roy Andersson muses on the set of About Endlessness (44th HKIFF), his apparent final feature summoning poetry from life’s most mundane nooks to reveal profound truths about human existence. In an affectionate and often enchanting tribute, director Fred Scott immerses himself in the Swedish master’s vision of cinema, examining his use of trompe l’oeil trickery in his personal studio to create all his unmistakable tragicomic tableau scenes. An honest portrait of an artist with instinctive sensitivity and empathy, and simultaneously, of a man struggling with alcoholism and the emotional toll his creativity has taken.

很多科学家曾经认为，当人类将自身与奇妙的自然隔离开来的时候，进化的历程也随之停止了。但随着人类基因图谱的绘制，科学家们得以详细地了解人类的整个进化史。他们发现了一个令人吃惊的事实：在近5万年内，人类不仅在继续进化，其速度还比历史上任何时期都要快。爱丽丝?罗伯茨博士将带我们探索人类在未来将如何进化，并提出一个疑问：如果我们能控制动植物的进化过程，那么我们可以掌控自身的进化之路吗？

如何才能战胜最凶猛的野兽；如何学会驾驭火；如何制造工具；如何躲避天灾人祸；并最终从一种猿猴似的生物、演变成了地球的主宰？想要揭开我们祖先的秘密，只有回顾发生在几百万年前所经历的生存之战，才能为我们解开谜底。 　　为了揭开人类进化的谜底，科学家来到了南非。非洲的独特之处就在于到处都是化石，人类进化史上的每一个重大事件都源自这块大陆。 　　在约翰内斯堡西面的格拉迪斯维尔洞穴内，科学家发现了数百具动物骨骼化石，其中有三具是人类家族中的早期成员。其中之一是我们的直系祖先，也就是大约20万年前、生活在非洲平原上的早期智人。 　　不过，早期智人并不是第一个具备人类特征的生物。在非洲，考古学家还发现过另外两种有着人类特征的动物遗骸——阿法南猿和直立人。然而毕竟，我们的祖先只有一个，只有一种生物能够存活、并演化成为现代人。 　　经科学家对三种生物的研究发现，促使人类发展突飞猛进，以至在短短的7万5千年里，我们从原始的穴居人变成了地球上最强大的物种的原因之一，可能是某种灾难的降临，迫使那些最有能力、最聪明、最有想象力的人类祖先学会了适应花茎，存活下来。灾难的降临原本意味着人类会灭绝，但实际上，却可能造就了现代人类。 　　就这样，一场原本可能让人类灭绝的灾难、或许恰恰造就了今天的我们。它促使人类的创造力全面爆发、加快了漫长的人类进化历程，也使得人类与其它动物有了本质的区别。

随着英国王位新继承人的到来，这部见解深刻的纪录片记录了剑桥公爵和公爵夫人的第一个孩子——伊丽莎白女王二世的长孙、剑桥乔治王子殿下的生活。纪录片着力描述了之前几代王储的童年时光，预测了这个为统治而生的男孩的未来生活。这个节目引人注目，将皇家评论家、历史学家还有皇室亲友都请到节目中，他们最为了解王储将要面临什么样的生活。节目还提供了前几任王储的特别档案资料，其中包括了乔治的父亲威廉王子。本节目突出表现了历代王储生活的变化，阐明皇家成员的诞生既是一个历史事件，并且也是对未来的一种展望。

Where did we come from? What makes us human? An explosion of recent discoveries sheds light on these questions, and NOVA's comprehensive, three-part special, "Becoming Human," examines what the latest scientific research reveals about our hominid relatives. 　　Part 1, "First Steps," examines the factors that caused us to split from the other great apes. The program explores the fossil of "Selam," also known as "Lucy's Child." Paleoanthropologist Zeray Alemseged spent five years carefully excavating the sandstone-embedded fossil. NOVA's cameras are there to capture the unveiling of the face, spine, and shoulder blades of this 3.3 million-year-old fossil child. And NOVA takes viewers "inside the skull" to show how our ancestors' brains had begun to change from those of the apes. 　　Why did leaps in human evolution take place? "First Steps" explores a provocative "big idea" that sharp swings of climate were a key factor.

In "Last Human Standing," the final program of the three-part series "Becoming Human," NOVA examines the fate of the Neanderthals, our European cousins who died out as modern humans spread from Africa into Europe during the Ice Age. Did modern humans interbreed with Neanderthals or exterminate them? The program explores crucial evidence from the recent decoding of the Neanderthal genome. 　　How did modern humans take over the world? New evidence suggests that they left Africa and colonized the rest of the globe far earlier, and for different reasons, than previously thought. As for Homo sapiens, we have planet Earth to ourselves today, but that's a very recent and unusual situation. For millions of years, many kinds of hominids co-existed. At one time Homo sapiens shared the planet with Neanderthals, Homo erectus, and the mysterious "Hobbits"–three-foot-high humans who thrived on the Indonesian island of Flores until as recently as 12,000 years ago. 　　"Last Human Standing" examines why "we" survived while those other ancestral cousins died out. And it explores the provocative question: In what ways are we still evolving today?

演员casting中，第一轮截止12月25日