PBS

PBS

A non-profit public broadcasting television service with 354 member TV stations in the United States, with some member stations available over the air and by cable in Canada.
 
More Tags
 












Unmoderated Tag: Television Rating: Good Hits: 107 Comments: 0 The Shape of Life: Bones Brawn & Brains The Shape of Life: Bones Brawn & Brains PBS Broadcast (2002), Episode 8. As we go through our lives driving cars, exploring the Internet, studying the world around us it is hard to imagine that we're related to Earth's other animals. It's even a stretch to see what connects us with the rest of the chordates, a group of about 50,000 species including the vertebrates like fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds, mammals and ourselves. But indeed, all chordates, from the worm-like amphioxus to Homo sapiens have three common features. Each of us has a single hollow nerve bundle running up our backs that blossoms into a brain in the head of most chordates. Each also has a stiff rod, called a notochord, that contains fluid-filled cells sheathed in fibrous tissue. (In humans, as in most vertebrates, the notochord becomes part of the structure of the discs between the vertebrae of our spines.) The third trait shared by all chordates is the presence, at some stage of life, of gill slits in the throat. (Human gill slits close up while we're still embryos.) Chordates, and particularly back-boned vertebrates, have achieved incredible success on Earth. Scientists attribute much of that success to evolutionary modifications in their genetic make-up. Vertebrates have many more genes than our invertebrate relatives. The additional set of genes have allowed us to develop complex body parts, the backbones, skulls, jaws, teeth and sophisticated brains that have enabled vertebrates to dominate land, sea and air. Before we as humans gloat over our success, we must remember we are not the sole survivors of this great journey of evolution. We are part of an epic story much larger than ourselves. A revolutionary eight-part television series that reveals the dramatic rise of the animal kingdom through the breakthroughs of scientific discovery. The Shape of Life tells the gripping and magnificent tale of the beginnings of all animal life. Using innovative camera techniques to capture rarely seen creatures and breathtaking computer animation to reveal stunning detail, this digital high-definition series tells the stories of the revolutionary findings and scientific breakthroughs in biology, genetics and paleontology that are rewriting the book of life. The series celebrates the splendors and struggles of evolution, unveiling eight biological designs that are the underpinnings of nearly all animal life. User: spam_vigilante Feb 5, 2012 5:21 AM

Unmoderated Tag: Television Rating: No Votes Hits: 171 Comments: 0 PBS Nature: Andes, The Dragon's Back PBS Nature: Andes, The Dragon's Back F. Murray Abraham narrates this breathtaking episode. With glaciers marking its tip, active volcanoes running along its spine, snow-capped peaks rising high above its range, both wet and dry tropical rainforests within its interior, and desert, lowland savanna and alpine tundra in between, the Andes is an extraordinary world of diverse terrain, extreme temperatures and multifarious wildlife. Rising out of the Pacific Coast, this high mountain range is 5,000 miles long, extending over seven countries between Tierra del Fuego in the extreme south to the Caribbean coast in the north. Once the realm of the ancient Incan Empire, this place of myth and legend also has a rich, intriguing natural history going back to the Jurassic period, marked by an event of monumental portion—the formation of the Central American land bridge 3 million years ago. The creatures of the Andes set this land apart from all other places on earth. The Andes are home to the zorro, a “false fox” with adaptations that make it a successful inhabitant of the Andes. The flamingo, too, has developed utterly unique and specialized adaptations in order to thrive in an environment that doesn’t even seem livable—a salt pan. Only a mountain range of extremes could harbor such a rich and diverse variety of life forms. Here you will find some of the highest, saltiest, wettest and driest terrains on the planet. Penguins, opossums, hummingbirds, llamas, pumas, foxes, condors, spectacled bears and many more have all managed to carve out an existence somewhere in one of the many worlds that we call the Andes. User: spam_vigilante Sep 29, 2011 4:32 PM


 
Tags: Tavis Smiley, Poverty, Economics, Young Turks, PBS Off Book, Natural Disaster, Cenk Uygur, Merle Haggard, Cornel West, Tsunami, Jerry Garcia, Joan Baez, Elmo, Associated Press, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Tattoos, NOVA, Astronomy, Volcano, Dinosaurs, Sesame Street, PBS, San Francisco, Internet, Lego, Dogs and Puppies, Muppets, Military, Xmas, California, Big Business, Japan, Current TV, Tech Geeks, Science, Animation, Music Videos, News, Music, Celebrities, Politics, Humor, Television, Video Clips

MilkandCookies on Google Reader or Start Page MilkandCookies on Netvibes MilkandCookies on Yahoo!

The comments are property of their posters.

All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owners.

Everything else © 2009 MilkandCookies.com.

DMCA