Origins of Us

Dr Alice Roberts reveals how the human body tells the story of our evolution. Here, Dr Roberts examines our skeleton with its long legs and narrow waist. Together with our naked, furless skin and rounded bottom, the investigation reveals how our ancestors survived on the open plains.

Dr Roberts examines how our ancestors' search for food changed the shape our faces, the way we see colour and even affects how we look for and keep a mate and who we find attractive.

Dr Alice Roberts reveals how our body tells the story of human evolution. The way we look, think and behave is a product of a six million year struggle for survival that transformed us from forest dwelling apes to the most powerful species on the planet. Why are we the only one of our kind left today? Was it really our big brains that enabled us to succeed where other human species like the Neanderthals died out?