Your Inner Fish

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.

Because of our evolutionary relationship, we have quite a bit in common with other living primates, including squirrel monkeys. See what we mean as you watch these agile monkeys navigate their forest world.

Fossils of human ancestors from millions of years ago can be found in the rocks of Ethiopia. Paleontologist Don Johanson recounts his discovery of one iconic fossil, and the impact it had on our understanding of where we come from.

The Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, Canada, is home not only to the world's largest tides, but also to some incredibly important fossils. Paleontologist Neil Shubin describes one particularly striking specimen from these cliffs: an animal in the midst of the reptile-to-mammal transition.

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

The molars, incisors and canines that fill your mouth have a deep evolutionary history. Join paleontologists Roger Smith and Neil Shubin as they trace the history of your teeth back to fearsome beasts that lived over 200 million years ago.

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.

Unlike most other primates, apes don't have a tail. When did our ancestors lose this potentially useful appendage? Paleoanthropologist Holly Dunsworth introduces Neil Shubin to Proconsul, a fossil ape that provides some answers to that question.

Even though your brain enables you to do some amazing things, its evolutionary story runs deep. Biologists Peter Holland and Neil Shubin go hunting for Amphioxus, a tiny, simple animal, whose genes show us just how ancient our brain truly is.

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.

Our ears are much more sensitive than those of most reptiles, due to the tiniest bones in the human body. But where did these bones come from? Evolutionary biologists Karen Sears and Neil Shubin show us evidence of their connection to the bones of ancient reptilian jaws.