For John Shea, the way we posed our questions about the human spark got him pondering the evolution of our human uniqueness in a new way.

Here John Shea shares a bit more about his research interests – and what it’s like to be interviewed for television!

A new study suggests that chimpanzees do help out other chimps – but are much more likely to help if the chimp in need basically asks for it.

John Shea at Stony Brook University is keeping alive the stone toolmaking technologies used by our most ancient ancestors.

Dr. Svante Pääbo, an evolutionary biologist featured in The Human Spark, was recently awarded the 2009 Kistler Prize. Watch video of Dr. Pääbo with Alan Alda.

Larry Engel and the crew head to Stony Brook, where Alan Alda gets a lesson in primitive weapon- and bead-making from experimental archaeologist John Shea.

Scientists are attacking the question of how we became human from a number of new directions – in addition to analyzing the evidence of ancient fossils.

Check out this video to learn more about Lisa Parr's studies on chimp emotions and what these studies can tell us about the human spark.

Alan enters the lab at Yerkes hoping to learn about chimpanzees and facial recognition. But instead, the chimps show Alan and the crew who's boss.

Psychologist Vicky Horner discusses research into chimpanzee cultural transmission. Do chimps have "culture" like humans?