Included in the “Short Takes” section is this brief: Is there really such a thing as “backward evolution”? Could that explain the mystery of five adult siblings in modern Turkey who seem incapable of walking upright?
Respectful but revealing, the “Nova” hour “The Family That Walks on All Fours” (7 p.m. Tuesday, Milwaukee’s Channel 10 and other PBS stations) explores the scientific controversy over these five individuals, whose condition causes them no end of grief in their rural village. Among the experts who contribute pieces to the puzzle is Sean Carroll, a University of Wisconsin-Madison geneticist.