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The film “2001: A Space Odyssey” offers a tidy visual summary of man’s evolution from an ape-like brute to a technologically advanced human. After figuring out that a bone could be used as a weapon for hunting and warfare, one of the hirsute hominids throws a bone high into the air; the camera follows it until, suddenly, we see a space station orbiting the Earth. The message is clear: The power of logic will propel man to ever-farther frontiers.
From our early ancestors’ first steps out of Africa, we have always sought the horizon. It is part of our innate need for adventure, to push the limits of endurance and knowledge to, figuratively and literally, discover what lies over the next mountain.
Several million years ago, early humans began walking out of Africa. This “Great Journey,” which populated the globe, eventually ended in the Patagonia region of South America. Meet Yoshiharu Sekino, who spent almost 10 years recreating the Great Journey — and who has already begun his “New Great Journey” in the footsteps of his Japanese ancestors.
Life is robust, to be found in the most amazing places. Associate Professor Takeshi Naganuma journeys to the world’s most extreme locations — the poles, the deserts, the deep seas — in search of life forms that might offer clues to the origins of life on Earth. And you’ll be amazed at what he’s found!
Will humans ever live on the Moon? Naoki Sato and Shinichi Sobue of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency think so. Learn about the incredible work they’re doing as part of an international effort to return to the Moon. The difference this time? We’re going to stay.
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Updated November 10, 2008
