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Could grandmotherly love help to explain how we became human?
From tools to language to brainpower, there’s no shortage of theories positing why humans went from the savannah to megacities, while, despite very similar DNA, other hominins have more or less stayed put. This video from NPR details an emerging theory of how human societies evolved. According to new research, our ancestors shared parenting within families, which might have led to an increased capacity for cooperation, ultimately opening the way towards the rest of the skills we love to praise in ourselves. Read more about the theory at NPR’s website.
Writer and Director: John Poole
Animators: Henry Richardson, Reece Wykes
video
Family life
A mother and child bond in an unusual prison visitation space in this poignant portrait
11 minutes
video
Archaeology
At a prehistoric pigment mine, researchers glimpse our earliest moments in the Americas
25 minutes
video
Wellbeing
Children of the Rwandan genocide face a unique stigma 30 years later
20 minutes
video
Anthropology
For an Amazonian female shaman, ayahuasca ceremonies are a rite and a business
30 minutes
video
Family life
The migrants missing in Mexico, and the mothers who won’t stop searching for them
21 minutes
video
Family life
One family’s harrowing escape from postwar Vietnam, told in a poignant metaphor
10 minutes
video
Technology and the self
Why single Chinese women are freezing their eggs in California
24 minutes
video
Family life
The stream-of-consciousness thoughts and memories that emerge while cooking a meal
5 minutes
video
Family life
The precious family keepsakes that hold meaning for generations
10 minutes