Up Next
Back to Show
Eons
How We Identified One of Earth’s Earliest Animals
Season 3
Episode 8
Scientists had no idea what type of organisms the life forms of the Ediacaran were—lichen, colonies of bacteria, fungi or something else. It turns out, the key to solving the puzzle of Precambrian life was a tiny bit of fossilized fat.
Support Provided By
11:45
What did ancient people once know about these bizarre megafauna that we’ve since forgotten?
7:44
5,700 years ago, woolly mammoths crossed a remote tundra island off Alaska.
9:48
Why did vertebrates conquer both the land and the air before the depths of the sea?
8:27
Long-extinct dinosaurs may still haunt us—possibly driving us to age faster than any vertebrate.
9:34
Only twice in Earth's history have supermountains risen, and both times reshaped life forever.
10:05
500+ pterosaur fossils found at Solnhofen may be hiding a dark secret distorting our view of them.
11:08
Why are our teeth so sensitive? The answer originates in the armored skin of ancient fish.
10:45
For flowering plants to take over, they first helped burn the old world—and then put the fires out.
11:37
Ancient weeds mimicked crops, tricking farmers into domesticating friends—and enemies—by mistake.
12:14
Brains and brawn aren’t opposites—they’ve been linked far longer than we might think.
