Human Evolution

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the story of human evolution, which stretches back over six million years. It is not the story of one species but of several diverse species, some of whom walked the Earth at the same time. From the earliest hominids to the early Homo sapiens, there was nothing inevitable about the course of human evolution. But what conditions created the opportunity for diverse human species to thrive? What environmental factors led to the survival of one human species, but contributed to the extinction of so many others? What can the fossil record and the science of genetics tell us about our ancestors? How does the brain make modern man so unique in the natural world?

→ Play on BBC Sounds website

Guests

• Steve Jones 22 episodes
  Professor of Genetics in the Galton Laboratory at University College London
• Fred Spoor No other episodes
  Professor of Evolutionary Anatomy at University College London
• Margaret Clegg No other episodes
  Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Biological Anthropology at University College London

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Programme ID: p003hyfl

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003hyfl

Auto-category: 569 (Human evolution)

Hello (First sentence from this episode)

Hello. The story of human evolution stretches back over about six million years.