Devolution vs evolution: The Handwalkers

PBS show "Nova" looks at a family in rural Turkey in which five of the siblings walk on all fours. The discovery has sparked fierce discussions about evolution, genetics and social environment. Discovered in 2005 and called handwalkers, the family has received immense press attention as competing scientific theories abound -- particularly those of scientist Uter Tan, who found the family and has since made waves by saying its members are the product of "reverse evolution," describing them as "genetic throwbacks." Actual footage of the family has not been widespread, and their dailyjourneys as documented in "Family That Walks on All Fours" never fails to leave you riveted to the screen, even in those fleeting moments when it seems less like an exploration of science and more like sad vestiges of a freak show.

This being "Nova," luckily, there's not a whole lot of taint on the screen; there's rarely a sense of exploitation, though no matter how delicately the "Nova" crew treads, every time the camera lingers on the handwalkers for longer than four or five seconds, it seems ever-so-slightly like inappropriate staring. What works here beyond the images is the scientific discussion at hand. As noted, humans haven't walked that way in 3 million years, so the questionbecomes whether this family is now "more important than studying fossils" as we seek an evolutionary link -- a DNA progression that is no longer available to observe -- or if the whole thing is just an unusual case study. In the course of this "Nova" episode, a British geneticist suggests that Tan's theory of reverse evolution is not only scientifically unsound but "irresponsible and insulting."

View: Full Article | Source: SF Gate