-So what will be the next version of a homo sapien?
-If the system is geared towards better medical care,
Everyone will become taller.
-I would imagine their brains are getting bigger.
It's going to be really interesting.
-If we keep using dating apps to find partners,
Humans could evolve to have more beautiful faces.
-The pinky toe is the less important of all,
And will probably disappear, with time.
-My new human would be able to repair,
Augment, live the same life you're doing now,
For much longer periods of time.
-We imagine actually being able to control our evolution.
-Surely, we've discovered all the bits of this. No!
♪♪♪
(narrator) -the human body is a marvel of elaborate engineering
And intricate design.
But we're a forever unfinished work of art.
Like all living creatures, we gradually adapt and evolve
In reaction to the world around us.
Just look down. At our feet.
And imagine a far-off descendent with fewer toes.
-The first toe is the most important one, and will
Certainly not disappear for a while because it's responsible
For the lever and the propulsion. The other toes are
Important, but less and less. The pinky toe is the less
Important of all and probably will disappear with time.
The pinky toe is not a lot of purpose in our equilibrium,
Running and walking.
(narrattor) -francois allart helped start the first
Podiatric medical school in canada. You could say,
A dedication to foot care is in his genes.
-I'm the third generation of the family interested in the foot
And foot ailments. The evolution made our toes shorter
So running would become more efficient.
You can understand how something so small, to walk and dance
And run, the foot is a marvel of architecture and physics.
(narrator) -the process of natural selection,
Specifically our need to run away from predators,
Shaped our feet aeons ago. In modern times,
It's our lifestyle, in particular our footwear,
That's transformed them.
-The culture does influence the shape of the foot immediately.
It's not only evolution. Wearing pointy shoes
In the sixteenth century for example, the pointy shoes create
Bunions. We saw the chinese in the culture binding the feet to
Transform the shape of the foot to please the emperors.
(narrator) -today, we're making different choices.
We've learned our shoes affect more than just our feet.
-People are more aware of the effect of the foot on the body
And the health of the foot and shape of the foot from the shoes
They are wearing. They're realising now that it has
An effect on the foot, the knees, the back,
The hip so the human of the future will probably
Be more careful with their feet.
(narrator) -the way we use our feet is changing.
We spend more time sitting, than running.
-If the culture becomes a culture of sitting down
And watching everything on video, the foot will become
Weaker and probably become flatter and flatter.
(narrator) -flat feet with fewer toes may be hard to imagine,
But we're not the first creature that evolution
Has robbed of its digits.
Many animals have run down an evolutionary path
Parallel to horses. They used to have
Five toes. Today they gallop on the tip of just one.
-It's like a dancer who's always on pointe.
This is emberlee. Emberlee is one of the horses here in the
Atlantic veterinary college herd of horses at the university
Of prince edward island. I'm gonna pick up your foot.
All of this stuff down here is her toenail. That whole thing is
A thickened, elongated toenail. This is exactly what happens
When they have that one digit emphasized and everything else
Is either gone or reduced. Horses have been around in some
Form or another for 50 million years. There were ancestral
Horses that were short and then the climate began to change.
As we moved these early horses out of the jungle into the
Developing savannah, being able to run very quickly to escape
Predation was the adaptation for the hooves when you could no
Longer hide in the jungle and get away from somebody.
(narrator) -evolution is slow, and not very tidy.
Consider the case of flightless birds.
Emus haven't been able to fly for 50 million years
But they still have wings.
-Emus have tiny little front wings.
There you go, you can see it. And these emus are going to get
As big as a human. So although they have these tiny
Little wings, they don't have the keel,
Which is usually a bone that's connected to the breastbone,
To which pectoral muscles attach, so they cannot,
They don't have the muscle structure to fly.
Their legs got bigger but their wings stayed tiny.
(narrator) -emus may not be able to take flight,
But boy can they run, faster than the fastest human.
Evolution has a habit of creating traits that keep
Us alive, while sometimes leaving us with leftovers.
Whales still have pelvic bones from when they walked on
Four legs. And some snakes have the remains of their hind limbs.
-Hey possum, let's find those legs you're supposed to have.
So we've got one here and one here.
They're small spurs or hooks, vestigial legs.
(narrator) -if you think snakes with feet are unusual.
How about humans who can wiggle their ears?
-I'm pretty secure that I can wiggle my ears when I need to.
People would say, how do you do this? And I'm like,
Use your ear wiggling muscles, I don't know.
-I guess it just feels like it's connected to so much else,
At least on this side of my face.
-It's hard for me to wiggle it without kinda arching
My eyebrow, which is kind of a special look, you know.
(narrator) -ear wiggling is a great party trick for humans.
But for many mammals, it's no joke. For them it's still a life
Saver, allowing them to pick up on the subtle sounds of
Predators and prey. Cats have more than 30 outer ear muscles
At their disposal. Rabbits can rotate their ears an impressive
270 degrees. Primates started losing this ability in the
Distant past. So imagine the reaction
When it was discovered we still had neural pathways
From before we were even human.
-Who would think that an ability that has been unused
For 25 million years would still be in our brain?
It was wonderful to encounter daniel strauss
At a conference in vienna. I felt immediately
Like we were intellectual brothers.
(narrator) -the two colleagues immediately teamed up.
They're studying lemurs, an endangered primate from
Madagascar, that's very social and has very busy ears.
-There's a good spot to eat, ok?
-That's the best carrot ever.
The first primates were creatures similar to lemurs.
And these animals are very good at moving their ears.
They can shift their ears, they can swivel their ears,
They can change the shape of their ears. There we go.
That's what I was talking about.
-You see movements.
(narrator) -a thermal imaging camera records video
To be analyzed in a lab at saarland university.
(sound of guitar)
This is also where volunteers are wired up
And treated to competing guitar solos.
Sensors detect the slightest muscle movement.
-So what we see here is the activity of the muscles from
Behind the ear. The red curve is showing us the
Activity of the right ear and the blue curve is showing us
The activity of the left ear and apparently benedict is now
Paying more attention to the guitar coming from the right.
(sound of guitar)
(sound of cell phone on vibrate)
(beeping sound)
(narrator) -even when subjects were distracted by reading,
Enhanced video shows small ear movements.
(sound of baby crying)
(sound of dog barking)
-We also have a very dedicated camera system, which is able,
With a specially developed software to monitor the movement
Of the ears in 3-dimensional space.
(sound of cell phone on vibrate)
Yeah, I still remember how mind-blowing it was, you know,
When we saw the first time this muscle activity and we could say (sound of cell phone on vibrate)
Objectively or decode the listening intention
Of the particular person. It was really amazing.
(sound of dog barking)
(narrator) -german scientists were also excited to
Discover that people can be trained to move their ears.
Enough to potentially operate devices like wheelchairs.
-The most important and direct applications will be
To create improved hearing aids. People who have hearing aids,
If they're listening to sound like that, if they don't want to
Hear it, it's hard to filter it out because hearing aids amplify
Everything. The idea is for a hearing aid that could focus
Just to what you're listening to.
(narrator) -another mysterious remnant of our past
Is goosebumps. They can be caused
By intense emotions, often fear.
(hiss)
We see it in animals that are threatened.
Whether it's feathers, quills or hair, they stand up to make
Them look bigger. Our nervous system automatically
Responds by producing a shot of adrenaline.
It causes the hair follicles to contract and form what looks
Like the flesh of a plucked goose.
How our body reacts to emotion, fascinated australian
Physiologist, james heathers. The more he worked out,
The more curious he became.
-It's been a constant in learning about the human body
For more than a decade. It's resulted in some really
Strange areas of academic endeavour.
(narrator) -heathers' research led him to people who can give
Themselves goosebumps -no scary movie required- including this
Retired canadian software developer.
-Take one.
(narrator) -they're even visible on his face.
-It feels like ants radiating out from your head all through
Your nervous system, all over your body.
I can also cause my adrenalin to flow and I think a common
Element of both is installing great fear in your mind.
-I'm almost certain that there's a genetic component to this.
I've had too many reports of people within the same family,
I talked to identical twins who can both do it.
(narrator) -heathers' believes if we better understood our
Ancient fear responses, we might understand the role
Emotions play in our health today.
-What does that mean for anxiety disorders,
What does it mean for panic disorders, what does it
Mean for post-traumatic stress disorder? There is potentially a
Window into all of that, by studying this and phenomenon
That are like it. It's a very small unopened box in the
Entire pantheon of scientific understanding.
We've only really cracked the lid open a little bit.
(narrator) -but there are other questions about
Our changing anatomy that we're closer to figuring out.
What determines our height, our strength,
Even the colour of our hair?
♪♪♪
(narrator) -in the 21st century, we're living faster, and often
Longer, than ever before. Our diet is changing,
So is our health. Our lifestyle is re-sculpting us.
Take our height for example. On average, people are
Five per cent taller than they were a century ago.
The tallest people of all are the dutch.
The average man here is over six feet
And the women are over five foot eight.
-They joke about it, but the truth is women here
Prefer tall men.
-I do! (laughter)
-I like to have a tall man.
-She likes me. That's the honest thing about her.
-That's why I am with him, so he can put his big arms around me.
Then I feel like a tiny potato. (laughter)
-Good genes, you know. Good genes.
-Jeans not genes. (laughter)
-This is the bed that I bought when I was a student.
It's a nineteenth century bed, people were much shorter
At that time.The only solution was to elongate it by welding
A piece between it. So now I can fit in.
(narrator) -j.W. Drukker is one of the pioneering
Historians who believe our stature, is a result of our
Standard of living, as well as our genetics and mate choice.
-Here we have scribbled the heights of the family members
On the wall for years. Here is me. Here is our son, lars.
Here is our granddaughter, sanne, she will grow as tall
As me or even a little bit taller.
-Ninety per cent of your final height is determined first
By the height of your parents. Lots of it is determined during
The period where you grow very fast. Dutch people were the
Shortest in europe. When the netherlands caught up in
Modernization, they started to grow and they started to grow
Rather fast. You see that there is a little dip after the second
World war caused by the occupation by the nazis.
(narrator) -while people in many wealthy nations are still
Getting taller, americans are actually shrinking.
-And maybe that's leaving up the social medical care more to
The market, that it has isolated the poorest groups of the
Population out of social medical care. The height of the new
Human will depend on the system that she creates
Around her. And if the system is geared toward better social
Medical care, healthy food, healthy lifestyle,
Everyone will become taller.
(narrator) -in the animal world, giraffes are the giants.
Baby amani lifted spirits when she was born at the toronto zoo
In the middle of a pandemic. At the rate she's eating,
She'll soon be as tall as her parents.
That's almost two stories tall.
-So majestic and beautiful creatures to watch.
(narrator) -the evolution of these creatures has intrigued
Tamara franz-odendaal. Since she was a young
Biologist studying giraffe fossils in south africa.
-Not trees like living giraffesd and they were actually suffering
From a nutritional defect because of the flash-flooding
That was happening in the area. So one of the hypotheses of why
The giraffe has its long neck is it was competing with other
Animals to shift its diet to eating trees.
(narrator) -giraffes have the same number of vertebrae
As we do. Starting about 14 million years ago,
As they reached for higher branches,
The vertebrae slowly grew and grew.
-It reminds us to ask some really interesting questions
When we think about fossils and how did they come to be
Like that, so then we can start to understand what are the
Genes are involved in how bones form in humans and what
Controls their shape and size.
(narrator) -giraffes have been dramatically impacted by diet.
But then there's the sexual part of the equation. In the giraffe
World, the strongest neck and hardest head wins.
(tamara) -the necks for sex hypothesis is the survival of
The fittest, the strongest male gets selected by the female
That she will then mate with.
(narrator) -the dutch have likely reached the maximum
Height that can be supported by their bones
And circulatory system. While many of the rest of us are
Generally getting taller, we're not getting any stronger.
(narrator) -french biologist, alex courtiol,
Is riding a tidal wave of genetic information.
And he's noticed some remarkable trends.
(narrator) -even the fittest of us are only
Half as strong as a chimp.
A landmark study in europe showed monkeys can easily
Pull three times their body weight.
Scientists also compared tissue from chimps and macaques
To samples from swedish athletes and found further evidence
Humans have evolved to become weaker.
Before we began losing our strength,
We began losing our hair. Lucy, our ancestor
From three million years ago, had fur all over the place.
We still have the same number of hair follicles, but our hair
Is so fine, we look like naked apes. Naked, except of course
For areas like men's faces. Canadian geneticist,
Sean myles, discovered a new aspect of hair genetics,
After visiting the solomon islands in the western pacific.
-During my graduate work, I was fortunate enough to travel there
To study the population history and during that trip,
Every once in a while you'd see this child with just this
Big head of blonde hair, a really striking trait.
That blonde hair, did it get dropped off with a european
Explorer several hundred years ago or did it evolve
Independently in this part of the world?
We collected dna samples.
We discovered the gene, that causes blonde hair in
Melanesia is a different gene from the one that
Causes blonde hair in europeans.
(narrator) -so blonde hair genes arose twice, independently,
On opposite sides of the earth. Myles also discovered that
Melanesian blonde hair is a recessive trait.
Red hair is also recessive. That means, as time goes on,
Dark hair will become more common.
-Everybody has two copies of their genome, one they get from
Their father and one they get from their mother.
So, for the blonde hair in solomon islands
You need two copies of the blonde hair gene.
If you only have one copy you have dark hair.
(narrator) -so, the only way you can end up with certain
Characteristics is if you inherit them from both parents.
Hair colour is also being impacted by how mobile
We've become. For most of our history, we paired up with
People living nearby. Now we're moving around the planet
More than ever before and interacting more
With people of other ancestries.
That means the new human may very well have a new look.
(narrator) -having children with someone from a
Different ancestry leads to what's called hybrid vigour,
In short, better health. Purebred dogs are a good example
Of what can happen if reproduction is too restricted.
-This is annie and this is hamilton. And they're both
Australian shepherds. These are purebred dogs, and they do have
Genetic problems in their lines. In fact, if you cross two dogs
That look like annie, with this merle pattern, your chances
(narrator) -the same is true for every plant and animal,
Including us.
-So for humans, the more that they breed outside
Their own communities, the greater the likelihood
That they'll decrease the concentration of genes
That will cause those genetic diseases.
(narrator) -our evolving culture may help us predict what the new
Human will look like on the outside. But it's going to take
Some powerful new technology to help us envision
Changes happening inside
(narrator) -the human body is the result of many millennia
Of minute changes to our dna. Changes propelled by our need
To survive and our drive to reproduce. As we gradually
Transform into a new version of ourselves, we hold onto some
Traits we share with our animal relatives.
That's the case of what is called the palmaris longus.
Just touch your third finger to your thumb,
Flex your wrist and it will pop-up, if you have it.
-The palmaris longus is a tendon or a muscle that's in the
Forearm of humans and it doesn't seem to serve a purpose.
So I don't have it, but 86 percent of humans do.
Our primate ancestors used to live in trees and
Hang from trees and then the tendon did serve a function.
So when primates started to move out of trees and be more
Ground-dwelling, so you can think of a gorilla versus an
Orangutan. Gorillas, like humans are losing this
Tendon, but they actually serve a function in orangutans.
So most likely, we'll continue to lose it. It's gonna
Take hundreds of years for us to eventually lose it,
Because evolution is very slow and it's particularly slow
In a large organism that breeds at a very slow rate.
It's interesting to contemplate time.
So we're sitting you know, here in this great environment on
Rocks that are ancient and then we think about our own lives and
What we do in a day and then you think about in an embryo,
What happens in an hour is just incredible.
(sound of heartbeat)
The more than we can understand about where we came from
And how we came to be, how we are today,
It can also help us understand the diversity of life.
(narrator) -another trait we share with our primate
Relatives is our wisdom teeth.
While theirs are usually perfectly aligned,
Ours are often a mess.
-You've actually got five. You've got one, two, three,
Four and then an extra one for five. You don't have
Room for them. The problem is, there's not enough space in your
Jaw. Not to mention you've got one that's lying sideways.
-So, is it better if I get them out now?
-Makes sense to get them out when you're young and healthy.,
That does reduce the rate of complications.
(narrator) -millions of people have their wisdom teeth
Extracted every year. And one canadian anthropologist
Couldn't help but wonder why.
-I was in a lab as an undergraduate student where
We had all these skulls laid out on a table from fossil relatives
And ancestors and, and so off I went to try and understand how
The biology of our teeth and our jaws could be informed by our
Culture and our technology. So, millions of years ago,
If we look at what our ancestors would have looked like before
We branched from chimpanzees, we can see that we have very,
Very long jaws, sticky outie face, big teeth and as we
Progress in time, we can see that the face is starting to get
Flatter, the jaws are getting shorter
And the teeth are getting smaller.
And it's not until we get into homo sapiens, we see a flat face
And small jaws, to the extent that actually the wisdom teeth
Don't erupt properly. We will see very few cases of wisdom
Tooth impaction in these other primate groups.
They're still eating the foods that they evolved to eat.
Whereas we, living in, let's say canada, are eating diets that
Are so different including things that didn't exist, like
Smoothies. We're not stimulating our jaw bones
To max out their growth.
(narrator) -so could we eventually lose wisdom teeth
Altogether? We don't know, but as part of her research at
The university of saskatchewan, julia boughner
Uses canada's only synchrotron.
(sound of alarm)
Electrons are forced through tunnels by strong
Magnetic fields. Producing light beams
More than a million times brighter than the sun.
-We can bring teeny-tiny tissue samples to the synchrotron and
Look at teeth as they're developing inside jaws.
It's effectively a football field-sized microscope that can
Take 3d images at incredibly high resolution.
Having new 3d technologies is so exciting and powerful
For people who are trying to link the genetic recipe of dna
To the final animal form, because having these tools lifts
The lid on what we would refer to as a black box of knowledge.
(narrator) -if there's another aspect of our anatomy that can
Be a real thorn in our side, it has to be the appendix.
It's been part of our digestive system for 80 million years.
But it's been shrinking since we stopped making
A meal of tree bark. Koalas are among the mammals that
Rely on an appendix to cope with bacteria in the plants they eat.
But one in a hundred thousand humans is now born without
An appendix. And many of the rest of us
End up having it removed in a hurry.
-The appendix is, depending on who you ask, either an important
Repository for bacteria or an enormous
Pain in the ass that needs to go away.
(narrator) -so perhaps our vestigial traits have something
To teach scientists like james heathers',
Before they potentially disappear.
-The evolutionary heritage that's in us,
In a strange way, has left us with a series of options,
Options for investigation, options for potential
Therapeutic and treatment, options for understanding.
(narrator) -while we may be reassessing
Parts of our body that we thought we had little use for.
We've now reached a point that we can design our own parts.
So what we look in the future, for better or worse,
May be much more up to us.
♪♪♪
(narrator) -scanning technology that produces
Light beams brighter than the sun.
Masses of human genetic data coming to us at what seems like
The speed of light. It's all making it easier to imagine
The human of the future. But a new part of this picture is the
Technology. How will it change us?
Some artists imagine we'll develop hands like this,
Designed to press buttons and interact with scanners.
Technology may soon be
Mostly, voice-activated. More than a third of people online
Use dating apps. So mate selection
Is more about the face.
(narrator) -meanwhile, technology is changing
Other aspects of our appearance.
Canada's francoise bayliss is a bioethicist
And advisor to the world health organization.
-We imagine actually being able to control our evolution.
We're basically looking at the future and thinking we can make
Ourselves different and better.
(narrator) -melding humans with machines is no longer just
In the minds of movie makers.
-Input the data into the brain of a human courier.
-Hit me.
(narrator) -microchips, like the ones we put in our pets,
Are being implanted in people. It's how these swedish workers
Get into their offices. The world has its first
Government-recognised cyborg, britain's neil harbisson.
Then there are other people, like canada's steve mann,
Who consider themselves cyborgs.
3d printing is helping us not just live longer, but better.
-The information for a three-dimensional printer is
Obtained from a ct scanner or a cat scanner.
When it finishes one print, it prints another
Layer on top and another layer on top.
(narrator) -canadian surgeon, ivan wong,
Helped pioneer the use of 3d printed models
In surgery. He uses them as a guide in order to prevent major
Operations down the road.
-Viewing it is one thing, but our eyes are not perfect.
With your finger and notice a little imperfection
In any surface better than your eyes can pick it up.
So this is that lump we saw down there on the 3d model.
Can you bring that back over again towards me please.
The new information that we're getting is we can actually
Change the natural history of patients. So patients may not
Get arthritis, if we are able to catch this early enough.
Now we can actually print biological tissue. They've been
Able to print different types of shapes that cells can grow into,
Different scaffolds. So these are all possible. And they can
Print multiple types of materials simultaneously using
Different extruders. This gives you the potential to print
Organs. I really do think that this likely will happen
Within the next decade.
-I believe that on a short time scale technology
Will change us much more than biological evolution,
Because we just use it so much, have it with us all
The time, integrated in our lives. And that's why I believe
Technology will shape us much more than biological evolution.
(narrator) -replacing parts of our body is one thing.
But since 2012, we can make changes to our very essence,
Our genes. Using the controversial technology
Called crispr.
-We have a technology whereby we can go,
Find a very specific spot in our dna and make a cut either
To add new dna, remove defective dna or literally just disrupt
The dna so when it rejoins, it will function differently.
(narrator) -crispr technology makes editing dna
Seem almost as easy as child's play. Exciting? Yes.
But dangerous too.
-It's not good.
-If you make changes to somatic cells, body cells,
Those changes die off when the person dies.
If you make changes to germ cells, the reproductive cells,
Those changes will be passed on from generation,
To generation, to generation.
(narrator) -we're talking about the ability to permanently alter
Human beings. Unexpected changes could be passed on to future
Generations. A doctor is in jail in china after he revealed
He had edited genes in the embryos of twin girls.
-And in that context people worry about something
As mundane as just making a mistake. And once you've made
The mistake you may not actually know until the person has grown
Up, has reproduced, has children and that mistake has been passed
On to another generation. We might be racing toward a new
Human that we think has really specific advantages.
We might imagine something is really positive
And it could turn out to be our downfall.
(narrator) -crispr has already been used to alter the gender
Of beef cattle because males provide more meat.
And edit the dna of mosquitos to potentially prevent the spread
Of disease. At dalhousie university, it's being used
To develop new tools for cancer treatments.
-I think that the modern foot was handled by nature and
Evolution. I personally think that the second part
Of the evolution of humans, will be done by humans
With genetic engineering.
A foot where all the arches are at the right height and the foot
Is aligned perfectly with the leg and is proportionally the
Good size with the body it's connected. So in the future,
If everything is perfect, everybodys gonna walk
The same way.
(narrator) -but it'll probably be decades before there's
Widespread use of crispr on humans.
There's so much division in the scientific community.
-If we're asking questions about a timeline.
I think it's pretty safe to say, not in my lifetime.
(narrator) -in the meantime, nature remains the master
Designer. With what seems to be an unlimited imagination.
-We can feel the awe and the wonder of this incredible system
That has been put in place through nature.
It really is, it's unbelievable.
-I think the new human's gonna have a bigger brain,
Bigger heart and lungs to provide oxygen to the brain and
Blood to the brain, but we may see other features of humans
Like arms and legs, maybe getting smaller. Who knows?
-Evolution is the stuff of life. Evolution is the way
It all comes together. It's an endless set of experiments
Happening all the time and it's happening now. I mean we always
Think it's over. It's not over. It's far from over.
It is the thing that, as long as there is life, will keep going.