Monday, April 4, 2011

Nova on Netflix

Being and PopTech on iTunes...

image from wikimedia commons

Just finished a three part series on Nova called Becoming Human (2009). Part One dealt with the science involved in determining why hominids departed from the ape lineage some six million years ago.  Part Two discussed the importance of Homo Erectus and its early migrations across the Old World.  Part Three examines why Homo Heidelbergensis evolved into two closely related yet distinctly different branches of humanity, the Neanderthal and  modern humans.  Brilliant stuff.  Well worth your time.  Best of all, it's available as a Watch Instantly selection on NetFlix.

Being reprised Krista Tippet's interview with Jon Kabat-Zinn, author and researcher at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, who has done a lot of serious science over the years on the real effects of meditation and mindfulness practice on our emotional and physical well-being. 

On PopTech Chris Chabris gave a brief talk titled When Intuition Fails.  Chabris is co-author of “The Invisible Gorilla: and Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us," which sounds like a book that will end up on my bookshelf one of these days.

Who are we?  Where have we come from?  How do our origins contribute to way we perceive and interact with the world?  Take the time - make the time - to find out.