NOVA - "The Missing Link"

[MKIRKALDY@aol.com]

Tom Holtz posted on Vrtpaleo about the tetrapod program which will be shown on 
NOVA on February 26. I am on their mailing list, so here are the details.

Mary
________

Subj:   [NOVA] "The Missing Link" 
Date:   Fri, 22 Feb 2002 2:37:56 PM Eastern Standard Time 
From:   owner-nova-online@franz.wgbh.org (NOVA) 
To:   nova-online@franz.wgbh.org (NOVA Online Mailing List) 
 
NEW FROM NOVA

_____________________________________________________________________
"THE MISSING LINK"

Broadcast: February 26, 2002
(NOVA airs Tuesday on PBS at 8 p.m. Check your local listings.)

According to the theory of evolution, all four-limbed animals -- everything 
from human beings to dinosaurs -- are descended from a single creature, the 
first to crawl from water to land. Yet finding that vital bridge between fish 
and four legs has proven elusive. A paleontological tour-de-force and 
suspenseful scientific detective story, "The Missing
Link" follows a trail of clues from Pennsylvania to Greenland, including the 
crucial rediscovery of a tiny fossil jaw that had lain unnoticed in a dusty 
museum drawer for decades.

Here's what you'll find online:
    
    A Brief History of Life
    The first tetrapods, or four-legged creatures, lived during the Devonian 
Period. How about the first simple plants? Sharks?
    Insects? Dinosaurs? Get the answers in our illustrated geologic table. 

    Diva of the Devonian
    Dr. Jenny Clack, a Reader at the University of Cambridge who specializes in 
the fish-to-tetrapod transition, describes what it was like to mount an 
expedition to one of the world's most forbidding regions and to discover 
fossils there that shook up her field. 

    Confessions of a Preparator
    Crack fossil preparator Sarah Finney offers valuable tips including what 
you should ask for if a genie suddenly appears, why you need to have catalogues 
of rotten teeth, and what you should do if your specimen starts grinning at you.

    Evolution in Action
    For many, the word "mutation" has a pejorative ring to it. But in nature, 
random mutations are a driving force of evolution. In this activity, change the 
environment of "living" things and see how random mutations help them survive 
the changes you bring about.

Plus Resources and a Teacher's Guide


http://www.pbs.org/nova/link/