The seventy great mysteries of the natural world

Geological timescale Understanding the earth Origins : How did the earth form? ; The origins of life ; The origins of multicellular life ; The Cambrian evolutionary 'explosion' ; The biggest mass extinction of all time ; Were the dinosaurs warm-blooded? ; Why did the dinosaurs die out? ; Giant dinosaurs: how did they get so big? ; Why did the dinosaurs die out? ; Why do mammals rule the world? ; The hunt for the earliest human ancestor The earth : Why does the compass point north? ; How continents and oceans form ; Is Mount Everest getting higher? ; Where did the oxygen in the atmosphere come from? ; What makes volcanoes explode? ; The formation of diamonds ; Which was the largest volcanic eruption ever? ; The mystery of tsunamis ; Asteroid and comet impacts on earth ; Where does oil come from? Evolution : The evidence for evolution ; How did the eye evolve? ; Why do so many people not accept evolution? ; Disentangling the genetic code ; Selfish-gene theory ; Drawing the tree of life ; Human genetic variation ; How do new species form? ; Exploring the links between evolution and development ; Are five fingers essential? Biogeography & environments : Numbers of species in the tropics and at the poles ; The evolution of deserts ; How do plants and animals live in the desert? ; Has there always been ice at the poles? ; Why are islands special? ; What do we know about Darwin's finches? ; The origins of Australia's special wildlife ; Breathing sulphur: life on the abyssal black smokers ; Extremophiles and life on other planets Plants & animals : Estimating present-day global biodiversity ; Why are insects so diverse? ; Why are some organisms small and some large? ; What is the largest living organism? ; Engineering limits to the body size of land animals ; Running, hopping ; skipping: animal locomotion ; Flying and walking: learning from nature ; How do dogs see the world? ; Why are animals coloured? How do animals adapt to the deep?

Animal behaviour : Instinct and learning in animal behaviour ; Is an ant colony a superorganism? ; Why are animals nice to each other? ; How do animals navigate? ; Sexual selection ; Why do deer have antlers: fighting or display? ; Invisible signalling: pheromones ; Do animals have emotions? ; The language of honey bees ; Animal consciousness

Global warming & the future : Global warming ; What will earth's climate be like in the future? ; El Niño: extreme weather on the increase? ; Greenhouse gases and earth's natural rhythms ; Predicting future human population levels ; Flu pandemics and eastern Asia ; Wildlife extinction and conservation ; What will replace liquid hydrocarbon fuels? ; Humanity's ecological footprint ; Human behaviour and saving the planet.