Eyewitness - Life [VHS]
This entertaining documentary skims along the surface of what is  arguably the most compelling question known to humankind: What is life? In an effort to answer this question, the simple, kid-friendly graphics move the narrative quickly along from the first stirrings in the primordial soup through reproduction, natural selection, and the eventual inevitability of death. Complicated concepts such as hereditary genetics and how DNA is structured are explained using clever, eye-catching graphics in a way that even an 8-year-old should have no trouble understanding.  Religious and mythical explanations for life's origins are given a cursory mention, but in this film, science is god. If you are looking for an introduction to set a future scientist's mind spinning, this video may be just the thing to help fuel a further quest for knowledge.--Michelle Riggen