Introduction to the show and to Darwin

• Darwin's voyage on the Beagle
• Natural selection: a revolutionary and dangerous idea

Darwin's return to England

• The puzzle of the Galapagos finches
• Darwin's initial ideas about adaptation and the development of new species
• Darwin's relationships with his brother and with fellow naturalists

Darwin's theory of a single tree of life and current biological research

• In Ecuador, biologists explore how adaptations to new environments can create new species
• Comparisons of rainforest and mountain hummingbirds
• What Darwin learned from the Galapagos finches
• Using DNA to determine when species diverged

Darwin's marriage and the development of his thinking

• Darwin's relationships with his brother, scientific peers, and future wife
• Darwin considers MalthusŐ theories of human growth and struggle
• Does survival of the fittest apply to all species? Even humans?

A modern definition of natural selection, and HIV as an example of evolution in action

• Natural selection explained in detail
• How traits are passed along to offspring
• Two personal stories about HIV explore how natural selection produces drug-resistant viruses
• How scientists use their understanding of natural selection to combat HIV

Darwin's personal and professional life

• Darwin with his family
• Darwin's reluctance to publish his theory of natural selection

The eye's flaws and evolution

• Darwin's separation of nature and religion
• The human eye as an example of evolutionŐs imperfections
• Models of eye development over time and across species

Tragedy in Darwin's life

• Darwin's work to produce evidence for his theory, and his continued unwillingness to publish
• Darwin's poor health
• The death of Darwin's daughter and his split from Christianity

The religious beliefs of scientists today

• Biologist Kenneth Miller, a self-described "orthodox Catholic" and "orthodox Darwinist"
• Natural selection's compatibility and conflict with religion

Darwin publishes On the Origins of Species and faces resistance to his ideas

• Darwin's theory as a threat to Victorian religion and science

Humans and Darwin's theory

• Are humans "just" animals?
• Creationist attacks on evolution
• Fossils supporting the link between humans and apes
• DNA evidence of a common ancestor
• Comparisons of human and chimpanzee mental development

Darwin's death

• A prestigious burial in Westminster Abbey; England's recognition of Darwin's powerful idea