Featuring Michael Pollan and based on his best-selling book, this special takes viewers on an eye-opening exploration of the human relationship with the plant world — seen from the plants’ point of view. Narrated by Frances McDormand, the program shows how four familiar species — the apple, the tulip, marijuana and the potato — evolved to satisfy our yearnings for sweetness, beauty, intoxication and control.
Watch Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 7pm.
It’s easy!
1. Go to ExploreMyKC.com.
2. Upload your favorite photo of the Kansas City area.
3. Watch for it on KCPT, in a promotion or as part of a coffee table edition book.
Pictured: Morning Dew by Diana O’Bryan
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Following the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s famous On the Origin of Species, NOVA reveals answers to the riddles that Darwin couldn’t explain. Stunning breakthroughs in a new science — nicknamed “evo devo” — are linking the enigma of origins to another of nature’s great mysteries: the development of an embryo. To explore this exciting new idea, NOVA takes viewers on a journey from the Galapagos Islands to the Arctic, from the Cambrian explosion of animal forms half a billion years ago to the research labs of today. Here, scientists are finally beginning to crack nature’s biggest secrets at the genetic level. And, as NOVA shows in this absorbing detective story, the results are confirming the brilliance of Darwin’s insights, while exposing clues to life’s breathtaking diversity in ways he could scarcely have imagined.
Watch Wednesday, December 21 at 8pm.
As snow falls and Christmas lights glow in Jackson Hole, a holiday season of a different sort settles in just beyond the town, in the great winter world of Yellowstone. Breathtaking landscapes frame intimate scenes of wolves and coyotes, elk and bison, bears and otters as they make their way through their most challenging season of the year. NATURE journeys in the footsteps of the men who first explored the park, and travels with their modern-day counterpart on his own journey of discovery. From the unique crystals of individual snowflakes to the grand sweep of Yellowstone’s Hayden Valley, this is a Christmas like no other.
Watch Wednesday, December 21 at 7pm.
