Walking with Monsters. Life before the dinosaurs

[Stocka]

Anyone else see the first episode of this new series earlier?

 

I found it really interesting, its fascinating how we have evolved over time, but even more amazing how they know all the stuff they do(e.g. what lived 53 million years ago)

 

Its on every thursday night on BBC One at 8:30, its very interesting so check it out

 

[Platty]

What amazes me more is after years upon years of Evolution, It's now kinda stopped with us (human kind)

 

I wonder what we would look like if we kept on evolving? would we end up gaining extra senses x men style? who knows.

[dukkadukka]

platty, i have to disagree. if you look at how quickly we're changing not only ourselves but the world around us too, putting that into perspective you could argue that we're evolving at a far more rapid pace than ever before. and i wouldn't say evolution's "stopped" with us, i'm certain that at some point we will be superseded by a race greater than our own.

[Arragaun]

I agree there, we're evolving, just artificially not naturally. People are always thinking of new ways to make life better/easier/prettier for us.

[Sarka]

It took something like 40,000,000 years to grow 4 limbs and a jaw so we won't notice any differnce in say a million years. Yet if you look back at the cavemen, we have evolved faster and faster, and although it's down to us improving the landscpae we are getting smarter and living longer.

[goron49]

What amazes me more is after years upon years of Evolution, It's now kinda stopped with us (human kind)

 

I wonder what we would look like if we kept on evolving? would we end up gaining extra senses x men style? who knows.

I think we evolve into grey aliens, but we call them "aliens", I think grey aliens are actually really extremely developed human beings, but from another world.

[Fields]

Of course we're still evolving. You have to understand that this happens over an extremely large time scale, you're not going to notice any differences within your lifetime lol.

[Shino]

I don't think humans are evolving anymore, we cure our deciesed people and heal the wounded, and the human female doesn't choose's wich male is more apt, natural selection in the human race as ended, the only way for us to keep evolving is genetics. We will keep this appearance as long as we exist.

[EEVILMURRAY]

It just looked like cheap Dinosaurs. I was watching it while on le computer, and loved how they were able to gather, from probably finding some skeleton that one species did push-ups as battling for mating. Maybe they can cure cancer while they're at it.

[Dan_Dare]

on human evolution: we effectivly removed ourselves from evolution when we ended natural selection in favour of social standards :awesome:

[thecreepingmess]

What amazes me more is after years upon years of Evolution, It's now kinda stopped with us (human kind)

 

I wonder what we would look like if we kept on evolving? would we end up gaining extra senses x men style? who knows.

 

Evolution hasn't stopped, it's just we don't live nearly long enough to witness its effects first hand.

[Shino]

Humans actually are still evolving. As a race, we're slowly becoming hairless, our small fingers are shrinking, and we're getting taller.

 

lol, and why is that? Do humans need does features to survive?

[Atomic Boo]

i saw this prog and loved it.

 

it was so cruel but funny when that beast (i call it that cos it was such a beast, but its a whale really) ate those fish things that eveloved to crodile looking creatures while they were having sex

[Retro_Link]

I can't believe some people thought we weren't still evolving and had stopped!!

 

I mean Seriously!! (There should be a DUH!! smilie!)

 

What are you expecting? Someone to get a pair of wings or fins over 10 years or something!!

Evolution takes place SOOO slowly and gradually, over hundreds of thousands/millions of years!

[Shino]

I can't believe some people thought we weren't still evolving and had stopped!!

 

I mean Seriously!! (There should be a DUH!! smilie!)

 

What are you expecting? Someone to get a pair of wings or fins over 10 years or something!!

Evolution takes place SOOO slowly and gradually, over hundreds of thousands/millions of years!

 

Well then, explain to me how does this evolution occurs? And yes I know, that evolution takes many generations to be noticeble (and I'am sure that everybody else that posted here and that doesnt agree with you knows it too).

[Retro_Link]

Well then, explain to me how does this evolution occurs? And yes I know, that evolution takes many generations to be noticeble (and I'am sure that everybody else that posted here and that doesnt agree with you knows it too).

I can't see how anyone can NOT agree!

 

Evolution occurs largely through natural selection; survival of the fittest.

 

In the case of humans; those (depending on the situation) that are the strongest or healthiest or who have adapted best to their environments, will live longer/live long enough to have kids and pass their strong attribute on.

e.g. a smoker may die early and not have kids, or they may not be able to have kids because of smoking, where as an athlete as a general example may be extremely heathly and have a number of kids, who will then (in this case) inherit the athletes strong physical attributes.

 

Another example; Intelligent business men for are going to have a better quality of life than a poor 'stupid' person, and the business mans intelligence etc... in many cases will be apparent in his children because of the advantageous more previlaged world they live in. They will pass on better survival qualities.

 

Human attributes (combined with our ever changing environment) that over hundreds of thousands of years, prove advantageous; will determine how humans look in the future;

In todays world it could be the one of the most insignificant things we possess; but something that over a VERY VERY long time will prove important.

 

Who knows what we will evolve into;

We could have longer more powerful legs, very large brains, we could be 2 foot taller, have more flipper like feet for more speed in the water;

We just don't know!!

[Shino]

Evolution occurs largely through natural selection; survival of the fittest.

 

In the case of humans; those (depending on the situation) that are the strongest or healthiest or who have adapted best to their environments, will live longer/live long enough to have kids and pass their strong attribute on.

e.g. a smoker may die early and not have kids, or they may not be able to have kids because of smoking, where as an athlete as a general example may be extremely heathly and have a number of kids, who will then (in this case) inherit the athletes strong physical attributes.

 

Another example; Intelligent business men for are going to have a better quality of life than a poor 'stupid' person, and the business mans intelligence etc... in many cases will be apparent in his children because of the advantageous more previlaged world they live in. They will pass on better survival qualities.

 

The problem with those examples, is that in a modern western life, there's now longer the rule of survival of the fittest. Theres not many decieses like cancer and AIDS, that cannot be cured or at least support the life of the person until it has kids, just because a person is intelegent doesn't means that it will have kids or that it will be rich, its about education. The same goes to the atlete, just because he is healthy doesn't means his father was, maybe his father was saved by some medical improvement, wich allowed him enough time to procriate, but the problem he had might be hereditary, and people don't even notice, because its normal to have those decieses cured.

My point is, people get helped along they're lifes, annulling watever avantages and disavantages they had when born.

And women don't choose anymore the most apt male, eradicating whats left of natural selection.

The only way possible for evolution is genetics.

[bob]

We arent likely to evolve being taller through natural selection, since short people are not going to die fron being short. They arent unlikely to get mates from being short either.....so that wont work.

[Retro_Link]

The problem with those examples, is that in a modern western life, there's now longer the rule of survival of the fittest. Theres not many decieses like cancer and AIDS, that cannot be cured or at least support the life of the person until it has kids, just because a person is intelegent doesn't means that it will have kids or that it will be rich, its about education. The same goes to the atlete, just because he is healthy doesn't means his father was, maybe his father was saved by some medical improvement, wich allowed him enough time to procriate, but the problem he had might be hereditary, and people don't even notice, because its normal to have those decieses cured.

My point is, people get helped along they're lifes, annulling watever avantages and disavantages they had when born.

And women don't choose anymore the most apt male, eradicating whats left of natural selection.

The only way possible for evolution is genetics.

Your right about the western world, it is hard to find examples of where natural selection would occur; but there are always those factors such as alcohol or drug abuse that may be passed on through generations as a result of what you see in your childhood and see it as acceptable etc...

 

Natural selection will occur though, however it is doing it nowadays i don't know, but like i said, as environments change over thousands of years, there are likely to be new circumstances and conditions that will lend themselves to certain people; perhaps (for example) even a relatively small population (comparitive to the rest of the world), who will suddenly have an advantage and grow more dominant over more thousands of years.

Other factors such as climate change could play a part and a certain area in the world is able to adapt and survive much more easily.

 

However evolution is occuring in todays world, it IS occuring (without us really knowing/being able to determine the factors because of the hundreds of thousands/millions of years it occurs over!)!

We arent likely to evolve being taller through natural selection, since short people are not going to die fron being short. They arent unlikely to get mates from being short either.....so that wont work.

Yeah alright! I was just trying to think of random examples!!

Anyway who knows, in the future there may well be a factor that benefits taller people!!

Random example... in the same way i'm sure you feel the effects of traffic exhaust more if you are lower to the ground. That, over hundreds of thousands of years would make a difference!! (yes i realise the traffic situation wouldn't be the same in the future, i'm just given an example in todays world!)

[Indigo]

It amazes me how people take programmes such as these as if they are absolute historical and scientific fact. It's history jumbled together from a bunch of estimations. They don't know what lived 53 million years ago, they can only guess and assume.

[bob]

It amazes me how people take programmes such as these as if they are absolute historical and scientific fact. It's history jumbled together from a bunch of estimations. They don't know what lived 53 million years ago, they can only guess and assume.

 

HERETIC!!!!!!! Stone the unbeliever!!!!!

[weeyellowbloke]

If you want I could pull out my geology hat and hammer and regale you with the facts, theories and scientific method behind this program.... with diagrams

[ggamer]

new episode on soon....not gonna miss it this time

[mario114]

Well then, explain to me how does this evolution occurs? And yes I know, that evolution takes many generations to be noticeble (and I'am sure that everybody else that posted here and that doesnt agree with you knows it too).

 

Natural selection and evolution are quite differnt things, through the ns is linked into the thoery of evolution. Natural selection can happen quite fast and is basicaly the loss of genitic code. Such as breeding dogs (which wasn't natural but follows the secltion part) small dogs havn't gained the ability to give there offspring small legs ect. the just lost the ability and coding to allow off spring to be tall. This is how in such a small time humans were able to breed out hundreds of dog trypes from wolfs. It didn't take in the millions of years, just a couple of thousand from wolf to small dog, and in some cases much fatser like bull dogs who were bread for fighting and that is reflected in the phyical stance. As for evolution, i don't know to much about it so correct me if i am wrong but it is based on mutaions and genetic anomalies, this linked with Natural selection means a species that mutats a new feature or slight change in gentic structure which favers the species suvival, it stands more cahnce of suvival, it will then pass on it's gentics, and the other "normal" species die out.

 

As for humans well our bodys have changed in recent years, records for races are allways being broken. But this is probaly just as much advancements in training and understandign of the body as better genetics.

[Stocka]

I thought it was funny how the big green lizards charged in tonight's episode.