♪ geoff: good evening. >> on the newshour tonight, iowans face freezing temperatures to caucus in the first electoral contest. geoff: the actions of iranian

backed groups in the middle east raise the threat of drawing the united states into a wider regional conflict. eddie: the politics of immigration turned deadly. a women -- a woman and two children drown. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour including leonard and norma and judy and peter bloomberg foundation. the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world at hewlett.org.

and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to the newshour. the presidential election officially kicks off tonight. amna: some republicans are in doering frigid weather. lisa desjardins is there with the latest. >> we are in west des moines,

one of over 700 caucus sites across the stage. temperature is dropping. iowans know how to handle these temperatures. they are rarely seen weather like this. this is not normal. the 2020 four iowa caucuses probably won't be remembered for any speech, debate or slogan. but instead for this. a week long arctic blast with record-setting snowfall, powerful gusts and windchill readings in the 40 below zero. it all choked campaigns to a near halt and when candidates did return the storm still to center stage. >> everyone is talking about the weather. >> are you ready to brave the cold? >> my southern skin has struggled but you are taking it to a whole new level. >> and the weather is just one

piece of an extra mired cycle. one candidate, the former president named donald trump leads in iowa polls by roughly 30 points. >> who does the radical left and the washington swamp fear more? nikki haley, ron sent timoney s word donald j. trump? >> if this is a competitive contest there is only one question -- donald trump or not trump. >> donald trump, if he is the nominee, the whole election will be about legal issues, criminal trials. >> i agree with a lot of his policies. but rightly or wrongly, chaos follows him. you know i am right. chaos follows him. >> but so does deep support.

>> he is the one as far as i am concerned. >> he is a man that stands behind his word and he will get the job done. >> i think i one's favor trump. he is the leader and in my opinion the greatest president of all time. >> this working mom believes that she is the latest generation to run her family's greenhouse west of des moines. donald trump's america first pushed to her made the world safer and the economy stronger. his main challengers are falling short. >> what i think about nikki haley and ron desantis is that they are politicians. that is another thing i like about donald trump. he is a businessman. i think the government needs to be run like a business. >> her business is in dallas county.

one of the fastest-growing places in the country, donald trump won the 2016 general election hereby 10 points but in 2020 his margin was just two points. a national harbinger. and if either desantis or haley have any chance to make gains in iowa, it will be in a county like dallas. and that is happening with this former naval officer and his wife. they are both republicans for nikki haley. >> the first thing that caught my attention was her position on ukraine. i'm deeply concerned about that conflict. and i definitely think we need to support ukraine. >> i like her position on abortion which is more liberal than our governors. >> they each voted for president trump in 2020 and they know he leads the gop race now.

>> i would not vote for him again. >> why a third-party candidate now? >> i don't like his attitude. how he always has to degrade people. he is always calling people names. as a teacher you teach your students not to do that. >>ven supporters of his opponents ask about donald trump? >> why haven't we gone directly after? >> what do you mean? >> this second generation mexican-american has lived in and around dallas county his whole life and plans to caucus for desantis. >> he does what he tells you he is going to do. >> garcia voted for president trump in 2020 and would support him again if he wins the nomination but he has reservations. >> he says some things that i don't know where he gets them

from. i think he talks out of the side of his mouth before he realizes what he says. >> desantis bed it all in -- bet it all in iowa in terms of money and time. >> his canvasers came out to my house. they made an effort to call on me. i told them i would give him a chance. >> but haley has risen with some help from trump republicans. >> if he was not so divisive, i would be a donald trump guy again. >> and also from some never trump-ers who like her. >> i wanted to caucus for her. >> that is the strange political landscape of iowa in 2020 four. a few candidates hustling to shake as many hands as possible

but still cannot match the draw of a single donald trump event. her purple county is still trump county. >> i think a lot of people were naïve -- that the maga grip was so deep. as we marched closer to caucus, there has been a rise up. one by one you see these candidates not pulling or gaining traction and they leave. i think they underestimated the maga grip. >> iowa likes surprises including huckabee and santorum. this year the weather has shocked with donald trump clearly aware of turnout risks. >> you cannot sit at home. if you are sick as a dog, even if you vote and then pass away, it is worth it, remember? >> indeed some like this prompt

supporter may not vote. >> i'm thinking about it. millions of dollars and a year of campaigning but it is the air above iowa that could determine if the republicans have a real race for president. if the temperatures drop a few more degrees this will be the coldest iowa caucuses on record. amna: the big questions tonight in these frigid temperatures are turnout and expectations. what is your reporting telling you? >> ron desantis has the biggest ground game here and he is counting on that to get his voters out. but when i go to his events i have seen many undecided voters. or they were handing out yard signs at his events and people were not picking them up. nikki haley has the smallest operation but she has momentum. czar turning her way. the question is if she has

another -- enough people. president trump is counting on the enthusiasm, the passion of his supporters. one thing he needs to watch out for is he is more at risk for a factor that affects rural voters. they are more likely to be away from their caucus site and more apprehensive about going out in the cold weather. and it is a big football night. would you like to go out in this cold or watch a football game tonight? there is a real sense of apathy in iowa. we rarely see any yard signs. one in our travels acrosshe stage. i spoke with one voter who says there is a thick s -- thickness in the air. not as much excitement as we have seen in the past. amna: there are 9 counties. our audience follows along. if you were them, what are good

counties to zero in on? >> i love talking about the county by county map. pottawattamie county is a rural county. donald trump had a big night there in 2016. he lost the state overall to ted cruz but he did well and has to have a big night tonight. i would watch their early to see how donald trump does in rural areas. ron desantis was there today hoping to make up ground in that conservative area. river county is -- the river counties are places where if someone breaks out we could see that in those mississippi river counties in the east and where i am outside of the one you have polled county and dallas county. -- polk county and dallas county. amna: lisa desjardins and team outside for us in des moines, iowa. thank you.

we will check in with you. you can follow the live caucus results on our website and during our special coverage later tonight here on pbs. ♪ geoff: the same deep freeze that has put iowa on ice has millions of other americans in its grip as well. most of the country shivered through a long day of flight cancellations and power outages and deaths blamed on the weather. >> snow removal crews are braving bitter arctic temperatures to clear the way to the iowa caucuses tonight. and they are not alone. across the country at least 150 million people faced windchill or dangerous cold advisories over the weekend and into today. apart from the coasts, every region of the country is dealing with temperatures below

freezing. in great falls, montana, the windchill dipped below -- dipped below 40. the mayor knows how dangerous these temperatures can be. >> it is deadly if people stay out in this weather too long. >> the risk is especially high for vulnerable groups. >> almost every neighborhood has elderly people. it is imperative that we be good neighbors and make sure they have the supplies they need, that they have heat. >> in oregon, high winds, snow and ice left close to 100,000 customers without power in the port one -- in the portland metro area. lake effect snow in buffalo this weekend. the nfl playoff game is postponed from sunday to this afternoon. and with high marks stadium still under more than two feet of snow, the bills hired fans to

help shovel out the stands. and some even got a free ride. >> we are going all the way. >> further south the intensity of the blast took many by surprise. states like tennessee and arkansas are facing snowy roads and freezing temperatures. frigid air stretched down into texas prompting fears of a repeat of 2021 when millions lost power and hundreds died. the texas grid appears to be holding up so far but when shows are not expected to let up anytime soon. for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham. geoff: in other headlines, hamas released a video that purportedly showed the bodies of two israeli hostages. they have been identified. they were seen sunday in an earlier hamas video pleading for a cease-fire. the israeli defense minister

said today that the option is off the table. >> the release of hostages will only happen as a result of military pressure. hamas is severely beaten by israeli forces. all that is left to them is lashing out through psychological abuse. geoff: a third hostage was seen alive in today's video. she says the others were killed by airstrikes. the israelis denied it. it is unclear what conditions the videos were recorded in. and the palestinian death toll to date has stopped what has topped 24,000. u.s. agencies are warning of more famine and disease. they blame continued fighting, few border crossings. the mounting desperation was evident on sunday where thousands of palestinians swarmed trucks that managed to get to a beach. >> this massive amount of people

has come here for flour. everyone is focused on feeding his family. each one is ready to die as long as they get a bag. geoff: you an official say less than a quarter of aid convoys have reached gaza this month. one person was killed and 12 others injured in tel aviv. two palestinians drove into pedestrians and stabbed several people. the suspects are arrested and believed to be from the occupied west bank. houthi rebels have fired on a ship in nearby waters. a missile hit u.s. vessel in the gulf of aden. no injuries were reported. an american destroyer was targeted on sunday despite last week's u.s. airstrikes on houthi sites. ukraine's military says it has struck a key blow on russian

forces. it comes as a key out of his laboring to keep the world's focus on the war. in geneva, you an official say there is severe competition for humanitarian help for ukraine. >> we are deliberately reducing the amount of money we are asking for not because we think the needs are diminishing or the war is getting better for the people of ukraine because we need to prioritize. geoff: more than 6 million people have fled ukraine during nearly two years of war. 4 million are internally displaced. unicef reports nearly 100,000 children in afghanistan are in dire need three months after a powerful earthquake there. when officials estimate 21 thousand homes were destroyed leaving families to indoor harsh winters in temporary shelters. and in guatemala progressive

bernardo has officially been sworn in as the new president. the ceremony took place shortly after midnight after opponents had delayed his oath taking by 10 hours. he endured a month-long effort to derail his presidentcy. >> it fills me with deep honor to assume this high responsibility demonstrating our democracy has the -- has the strength to resist. geoff: he has promised to tackle bottom wallahs rampant corruption and poverty. at home lloyd austin was released from a washington area hospital today. he has been treated for two weeks after complications from prostate cancer surgery. doctors say his medical prognosis is excellent. communities across the country

celebrated the martin luther king jr. holiday with parades and service. president biden volunteered in warehouse -- volunteered at a warehouse today in philadelphia and the vice president spoke at an event in south carolina. dr. king would have been 90 five today. still to come,, we weigh in on the iowa caucuses. why it 100 million dollar donation is a game changer for historically black colleges and universities. and a new book dispelling myths about human evolution in the female body's role in it. >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: the u.s. consulate in northern iraq came under fire tonight and iran's revolutionary guard corps claimed responsibility. it is the latest in a series of attacks by iranian and iranian

backed militia across the region dense hamas attacked israel october 7 and israel launched a response in gaza. barrages have been traded while the houthi in yemen have launched missiles to israel. for more on iran's objectives and influence we turn to the senior fellow at the carnegie endowment for international peace. before we get into the details of some of these groups and their relationship with iran, broadly speaking, what is the strategy of iran? >> it is an important question. i would argue since the 1979 as la mike revolution, there have been few governments in the world that of had a more consistent grand strategy. there are three pillars to their strategy. number one, it is intent on you big the united states from the

middle east. number two, they are intent on replacing israel with palestine. number three they want to help defeat the u.s. led world order. i would argue that iran and its regional proxies share these three objectives. amna: using the militias give them some degree of deniability. the fact that they claimed responsibility on the u.s. consulate as quickly as they did -- what does that say tio? >> iran is off and a good judge of u.s. resolve. the fact that they are publicly claiming credit for attacks on u.s. outpost in the region probably means they don't fear conflict with the united states because they know this is a biden administration intent on trying to de-escalate and of her conflicts in the region. amna: we know it backs hezbollah

in lebanon and the houthis in yemen. how is their relationship with each of those groups different or the same? >> hezbollah is the crown jewel of the iranian revolution and is the most powerful of iran's proxies. it is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the iranian state. the houthis are being trained and the relationship has grown closer. iran does not micromanage these proxies. it does not call up hezbollah or the houthis or the year militias in iraq and tell them what to do on a day to day basis but it micromanages those groups. the groups share the strategic objectives of trying to evict america from the middle east and replace israel with palestine. amna: the fact that we have seen

the ramping up of the attacks in the red sea and the hezbollah attacks across the border, is that being coordinated through iran in any way and could they call them off if they needed to? >> i think there is no doubt it is being coordinated with the iranian government. the leader of hezbollah has said that all of its funding comes from iran. we know a giant chunk of houthi funding comes from iran. this is not simply charity iran is offering its proxies. this type of aid and military support comes with major strings attached. if iran ordered its proxies to cease attacks on u.s. interest, on israel, i would expect them to do so. amna: tell me about the domestic pressure that iranian leadership is under? >> the iranian regime is deeply

unpopular. it is socially an authoritarian police state with a failing economy. few iranians want to continue to live under the as la mike republic. the reality is as long as this iranian regime means in power, there is never going to be real meaningful stability in the middle east. this is a regime which threatens regional instability. the countries we have been talking about today including yemen, gaza, they are all feeling states. iran is more effectively figuring out how to fill power vacuums more than any other actor in the region. it thrives on this instability as does its proxies. amna: thank you. good to speak with you. ♪

♪ geoff: let's dive back into the political story, the iowa caucuses and the official start of the republican nominating process. we are joined by amy walter and tamera keith and kay henderson of radio iowa and iowa pbs. what has this final day of campaigning and tailed for the candidates on what has been the impact of the snow and these bone chilling temperatures? >> that is the big question. the caucuses begin in a couple of hours. we don't yet know if it will be a determining factor in dampening turnout. i spoke with some republican party officials today. they expect turnout to still be robust primarily because of the organizing that has been going on on the ground by the donald

trump campaign and the santos campaign -- and the desantis campaign and the late deciders jumping on the nikki haley bandwagon. a poll came out this weekend showing her in second place among likely caucus-goers. the question is if the likely caucus-goers will become caucus-goers. geoff: the pole that kay mentioned raised a lot of eyebrows. nikki haley is now according to the poll in second to donald trump but above ron desantis. >> it is likely -- likely does not always mean going to show up. the one thing that really popped in that pole when they asked voters how enthusiastic are you when it comes to your candidate, 49% of donald trump voters said i am very enthusiastic. for nikki haley voters only 9% said they are extremely

enthusiastic. a vote is a vote enthusiastic or not. but usually the more enthusiastic you are about your candidate the more likely you are to want to brave the weather. and kay also made the point that when it comes to organizing, the trump campaign was there early and is much different than it was in 2016. much better organized on the ground. and ron desantis and his super pac have spent months and millions of dollars organizing there. when it comes two will get the people out, sometimes having that organization is going to be the difference between a few points on one end of the final number or not. geoff: that is an interesting point. enthusiasm is one thing but ground game is something different. do traditional models of campaigning especially for

republicans, does it have the same utility in the trump era? >> 2016 donald trump campaign by bringing a helicopter to the iowa state fair. he did not follow the rules and he came in second and became president. he has only become more popular. his campaign has built an organization. they are doing the ground game thanks. these rallies he has been having are not just called rallies but commit to caucus events. they have videos on the screen showing people how to caucus and imploring them. he you saw -- you saw him out there saying go caucus before you die. he is playing the game. though he is a dominant force. and in part because his campaign

knows they need him to dominate the caucuses. they need him to dominate the early primaries and caucuses so the race is over before his court issues become bigger. geoff: the iowa governor cooper is backing ron desantis is trying to raise expectations for donald trump. she says i think it will be bad for donald trump if he does not come in over 50. it is clear why she is doing it but does she have a point? is there a bar that donald trump needs to meet? >> we can go back to bob dole who won these caucuses by 12% or 13%. but the trump campaign is aiming for something a little more generous and that the poll showed his lead was 28%. the governor is trying to make a case that if he does not have the support of a little more than a plurality, at least half

of iowa republicans, what kind of signal does that send to the rest of the country? maybe iowa republicans were open to a different kind of candidate than donald trump and that should send a message, she argues to the rest of the country, to take a look at the other candidates. geoff: what about nikki haley and ron desantis -- how strong a showing do they have to put up tonight? >> ron desantis who has put everything into this race, money and infrastructure, not coming in second place would be a death knell his campaign. it would be hard for him to make the case to go on. if he comes in a close second and it is closer than the polls suggest, he could make the case that it should be the two of us going one on one rather than nikki haley versus donald trump. for nikki haley, a close third

is enough of a story. she is pulling so well in new hampshire. at this point even ron desantis is not polling very well in new hampshire. he is not spending money there. he is not polling well in south carolina which is the next state up. nevada has a primary. the bottom line is even in south carolina at this point donald trump is dominating. geoff: the republicans have spent $123 million in ads alone in iowa. >> what stands out to me is ron desantis is the one that that it all in -- that bet it all in iowa but in terms of ad spending, he has not spend the most money. nikki haley and her super pac have spent more than ron

desantis. and a lot of that has come in the last few months as she has surged and got more money through fundraising. donald trump has spent about $18 million. haley has spent already seven. ron desantis at 35. donald trump at 18. he can have a rally and 1000 people will show up while ron desantis is going county by county by county. the machine shed and pizza ranch and they are getting 150 people at a time. geoff: what will you be watching for tonight? >> results in a county where donald trump barely won in 2016. and ron desantis and nikki haley have both spent a lot of time there in recent weeks.

if you look at 2022, kim reynolds victory as governor was fueled by an overwhelming majority of wins in rural iowa. those are areas where ted cruz did well in in 2016. if donald trump starts rolling out numbers early in some of those small counties, that will be a good sign for his campaign. geoff: thank you, all and have a good night. ♪ amna: following the death of three migrants including two children in the rio grande along the southern border, a dispute between texas and u.s. federal officials have intensified. >> the children and a woman drowned while attempting to cross into eagle pass, texas at

a section of the border recently seized by the texas governor. texas officials physically barred the federal agents from entering shelby park where they try to respond to a distress call. the texas military department said the migrants had already drowned by the time border patrol agents requested access calling claims that agents were estopped from saving the lives of the migrant holy inaccurate. joining me to discuss is henry cuellar who represents a nearby texas border district. i should note your colleague, tony gonzalez, declined an invitation for an interview tonight but your district neighbors his. what have you heard from state and federal officials about these deaths? >> if the state would have not taken the action they did last week and that is cake out the border patrol agents and remove equipment like a truck they have

which is a key element that they use to make sure they survey the border, the river and i think that scope truck would've played an important role when they got this distress call. now because of the actions of the state and the governor, the state is defending and dill flecked ink on what happened. and if they would have allowed the border patrol to do its work we would not be talking about this story except maybe a mother and an eight-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy would have drowned like others have. amna: homeland security is threatening legal action if border patrol is not granted access to shelby park in eagle pass. i wanted to get your reaction to the governors tweet last night. he pushed back on what you accounted as the incident and he

blamed president biden for the drownings specifically saying -- the fact is the deaths are because of the president open border magnet. what is your response? >> we heard the same type of defense and deflection previously and we saw that something else happened contrary to what the state said. and we see the same thing here. we would not be here if the governor was not given that instruction last week it kicked out border patrol agents, remove their equipment to monitor the river. we would not be talking about that. he is doing everything in a lone ranger tactical way. instead of coordinating with the border patrol, he is kicking out the agency empowered under federal law to stop illegal migration to provide humanitarian relief like in this situation.

and here we are. we would not be talking about this if the governor had not taken this action. i feel bad for the men and women that are there. they have two bosses. the governor and the president. the president can federalize the guard. i don't know if the president will do that. we are now playing a spinoff game where we should be working together with the state of texas. amna: you are talking about national guard troops stationed at shelby park. migrant crossings surged in december and they dropped again this month specifically in eagle pass. you are sometimes at odds with your own party on immigration. is there more you think the president could be doing to mitigate crossings at the border? >> yes. absolutely. hi have been able to talk about

-- i have been able to talk about what the president is doing and they have to get his cofactor out of the way. the numbers have gone down not because of the governor's actions or because we added a wall. the mexican officials are doing their part in the southern part. there is always a correlation -- if mexico does its job and slows numbers, we now have 3100 people a day. that is what is happening. a combination of things. we have to take this factor where people think they can take a dangerous track and come to the border and ask for asylum. the bottom line is this -- the migrants need to realize they cannot take this dangerous route. when you put your kids in a

dangerous situation like this mother did, and i understand that people get desperate but you cannot do this. you can see people die when they take this dangerous route. amna: senate negotiators are working on a potential border deal that would be attached of funding for israel and ukraine and it would include more money for border patrol as well as significantly positively change asylum law. if the senate passes this, do you have any hope that the house gop will take it up considering republican leadership said they would likely reject it. >> i don't think they have read the text. i have not read thtext. i saw what the republican leadership said including speaker johnson where he said they would reject it and wait for donald trump to be elected. seriously? if there is a crisis you are going to wait until a person gets elected?

if there is a crisis we should be voting on this. the last two years we have added 2.4 billion dollars, a 50% increase except for two republicans that are still at the house, every single republican voted adding money the last two appropriations bills. now they say this is not good enough for us. either it is a crisis or it is not but you cannot be against a bill they have not seen. amna: congressman henry cuellar from texas, thank you for your time tonight. geoff: how the united need grow college fund has received a $100 million grant to increase endowments for historically black colleges and universities. the donation is the single

largest unrestricted grant the organization has ever received in its history and its sole purpose is to increase funding for each of its 37 member institutions. we are joined by the president and ceo of unc f. thank you for being here. you have called this grant a game changer for hbcus because until now historically black colleges and universities have not had shared endowments. how will you leverage the funding? >> there is a big issue here. hcb use endowments are lower then its peers. if you add up the endowments you get up to about $4 billion. harvard has a $50 billion endowment. we have to close the gap. we have to close the wealth gap for these institutions. a handful of them keep getting

all the money because they are the well-known brands. there are 90 some odd others that really need support. one way we felt we could break the cycle and help everybody was by creating a pool endowment for the 37 members. we are going out and raising the money. we just got this $100 million from lily which will become the foundation for a $370 million pooled endowment. if you have a $10 million endowment you cannot make good investments but if you have $370 million to invest, you can get professionals. the endowment will grow. we won't let anyone take the money out. only spend a certain percent --

percentage of it. geoff: they punch above their weight representing 3% of all institutions of higher education and produce nearly 20% of all black graduates, 50% of all black doctors, 80% of all black judges. these are beacons of opportunity. what do you see is the added value of hcb use these days? >> these institutions have been doing the hard work for over a century and a half. long overdue they should get the recognition they are getting today. yes, they are getting more attention and more young people want to attend these institutions. we have to realize the students that come most are low income first-generation students.

they really have to have additional financial support in order to cover the cost of attending a private institution or even a public one. we are trying to say to this country, black colleges and their students don't want a handout. they want a hand up. they want someone to help them by investing in them and there will be a tremendous return on investment. you your used -- you used a term , punching above their weight. geoff: the higher enrollment presents challenges. many are dealing with housing shortages. others are trying to improve their infrastructure to stay competitive and keep pace with the demand. what are you hearing from college leaders? >> the hardest thing about being a college president is you have to spend a lot of time doing what i do, raising money.

at the same time they have to ensure they are doing their primary purpose and that is to provide a competitive education for young people. and to do it in a supportive environment. we so recently in the issues around october 7 that this is not just something that affects black students. it affects jewish students on predominantly white campuses. a sense that these institutions are not there for them. that they are there on sufferance as opposed to merit. that is a challenge for a lot of american higher education. they have become so exclusive that the people they are therefore to serve don't feel a sense of connection. what we know is that they do create warm and supportive and nurturing environments.

and those first-generation students that do not have a tradition of sending kids to college. given that, there is a challenge for us to raise more dollars, to support more students. and that is why endowments are so important. we have a $1 billion capital underway. geoff: where are you in that pursuit? >> we are moving more rapidly than we thought. there is a greater understanding of the value of the work that we do. the $100 million from lily endowment is a good housekeeping seal of approval. i just need to raise another for $50 million and i will meet my floor. geoff: i wish you all the best in that endeavor. dr. michael lomax, thank you for

being here. ♪ amna: we often talk about human origins as the evolution of man but what if we saw it as the evolution of woman. a new book argues for a better understanding of our beginnings with critical implications for our present. jeffrey brown explains. >> where do we come from and how did we evolve into the bodies we are today? it is a story that continues to fascinate at the american museum of natural history in new york. human origins. she first came here as a child and now with a call with a new way of looking at human development. >> we have a lot of stories about the development of humanity and its possible past. in so many of these stories, the

female is at best a side character. increasingly in many disciplines, anthropology or biology, we are putting the female back into the picture and it changes how we tell the story. >> she tells the story in eve. the female body drove evolution. scientific data and personal whimsy she writes of many e ves. >> it is delightful the reason that someone like me might have breasts's because of a little creature living under the feet of dinosaurs and she starts lactating. >> and she gives us others that bring tools and language and more into the tail of the human species as a whole. >> it is really rewarding to remember how deeply ancient these things are. the body is in many ways a unit

of time with different things that arrive at different points in time. the human brain is incredibly recent. and my digestive system is ancient. these eves are a way to see how these features of our bodies came. >> the research was in cognitive psychology and literature. an example of how homonyms and early humans learned how to problem solve was at childbirth. you say we are one of the worst, we are terrible at it, and yet we populate the globe. >> we do that by having behavioral workarounds. we are always finding workarounds because of the limitations of our bodies. how are you doing? >> to lucy, a version of her on

display. the actual lucy was discovered in present-day ethiopia in 1967. the focus was her pelvis. >> the pelvic opening has narrowed which allows us to be up here instead of down here. scientists determined that she had a obstetric dilemma. she had big navies and had trouble getting them out of a small pelvic opening. the thing is that means that story starts 3.2 million years ago and the current. is that lucy probably had a midwife. lucy had a midwife. she was small, furry and she had a midwife. she had difficult births that needed help and in that moment

of vulnerability, to get them out. and that is a big part of our success story which we don't normally talk about. >> she loves the famous first scene of stanley cooper ask space odyssey. she wants us to focus less on conflict and more on gynecology. and how a focus on evolution of the female body can change how we think of the development of other traits such as language. >> we assume these grand moments where language arrived usually about hunting, shouting directions. it is a common story. remember that all of these are language users. all of these mixed sect members of a group communicate. when you look at the evolution of language in terms of its developmental path it becomes a childhood story quickly. and that is primarily happening with the mother in part because of breast-feeding.

this is where you are literally connected many hours a day two face communicating with you at critical moments of brain development. >> her book which synthesizes the work of many scientists raises numerous examples. it also raises critical implications for women's health today and addresses the so-called male nor which has traditionally guided medical science. >> for a long time in biomedical research we are mostly studying male subjects. that is how we control for the messiness of the hormonal cycle. taking them out of the equation and we are only just starting to rectify that. this is a paradigm shift. we don't entirely know how the eye logical sex differences will matter but we will know more the more we study it. >> excellent scientists around the world are doing that work

right now which is why this book can exist. >> she talks about the growing awareness of men and women to opioids and the need for better guidelines to distinguish between them. >> to have this deep evolutionary time, our health is affected by how well we understand that history. our medicine is shaped by how well we are able to incorporate better knowledge about literally what these things are and what we are is made of where we came from because that is how evolution works. >> deep timed out to the present day. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in new york. geoff: remember to stay with us

for live coverage of the iowa caucus results starting tonight at 11:00 eastern. amna: and that is the newshour for tonight. geoff: we will see you later tonight. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- ♪ >> architect, beekeeper, mentor. a raymondjames advisor taylor's advice to help you live your -- your life. >> a proud supporter of public television on a voyage with q non-, the world arete -- awaits. a world of flavor. diverse destinations and immersive experiences. a world of leisure. and british style. all with the all-star service.

>> the kendeda fund committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendeda fund.org. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at mac found.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

♪ ♪ ♪ hello, everyone. welcome to amanpour and company. here's what's coming up. the u.s. and the uk strike houthis in yemen. could it sparked a larger conflict? i asked retired colonel peter mansoor. and israel defends itself against genocide at the u.n.'s