本片是英国的艺校学生Jamie Bell的短片作业。为了拍摄该短片，他花了3个星期的时间创作出了2100张简笔画作。其作品以诙谐幽默的手法绘制出了从宇宙大爆炸到恐龙灭绝，再到人类起源，乃至公元前文明发展和近现代工业的发展，值得一提的是本片的配乐十分搞怪，画面和配乐相得益彰十分出彩。从2010年问世至今受到了各大视频网站的疯狂转载 ，还受到了世界各地粉丝的喜爱。

本片是英国的艺校学生Jamie Bell的短片作业。为了拍摄该短片，他花了3个星期的时间创作出了2100张简笔画作。其作品以诙谐幽默的手法绘制出了从宇宙大爆炸到恐龙灭绝，再到人类起源，乃至公元前文明发展和近现代工业的发展，值得一提的是本片的配乐十分搞怪，画面和配乐相得益彰十分出彩。从2010年问世至今受到了各大视频网站的疯狂转载 ，还受到了世界各地粉丝的喜爱。

The guitar riff is the DNA of rock 'n' roll, a double helix of repetitive simplicity and fiendish complexity on which its history has been built. From Chuck Berry through to the White Stripes, this documentary traces the ebb and flow of the guitar riff over the last 60 years of popular music. With riffs and stories from an all-star cast including Brian May, Dave Davies, Hank Marvin, Joan Jett, Nile Rodgers, Tony Iommi, Robert Fripp, Johnny Marr, Nancy Wilson, Kevin Shields, Ryan Jarman, Tom Morello and many more. Narrated by Lauren Laverne.

The guitar riff is the DNA of rock 'n' roll, a double helix of repetitive simplicity and fiendish complexity on which its history has been built. From Chuck Berry through to the White Stripes, this documentary traces the ebb and flow of the guitar riff over the last 60 years of popular music. With riffs and stories from an all-star cast including Brian May, Dave Davies, Hank Marvin, Joan Jett, Nile Rodgers, Tony Iommi, Robert Fripp, Johnny Marr, Nancy Wilson, Kevin Shields, Ryan Jarman, Tom Morello and many more. Narrated by Lauren Laverne.

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。

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。

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.

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?