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Eons

Why Does Caffeine Exist?

Season 4 Episode 37

Today, billions of people around the world start their day with caffeine. But how and why did the ability to produce this molecule independently evolve in multiple, distantly-related lineages of flowering plants, again and again?

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When Penguins Went From The Sky To The Sea
10:33
They evolved from a flying ancestor.
When the Sahara Was Green
7:50
The climate of the Sahara was completely different thousands of years ago.
How a Hot Planet Created the World's Biggest Snake
7:45
The greatest snake that the world ever saw was made possible by a warming planet.
When the Rainforests Collapsed
7:40
If it weren't for the collapse, our ancestors might never have made it out of the swamps.
A Short Tale About Diplodocus' Long Neck
9:18
Long necks gave sauropods an advantage when it came to food, but not in the way you think.
How South America Made the Marsupials
9:51
Throughout the Cenozoic Era marsupials flourished all over South America.
The Giant Dinosaur That Was Missing a Body
12:00
Other than its bizarre arms, very little material from this dinosaur had been found.
The Neanderthals That Taught Us About Humanity
9:09
Neanderthals actually behaved -- and likely thought and felt -- a lot like we do.
That Time the Mediterranean Sea Disappeared
11:10
How could a body of water as big as the Mediterranean just...disappear?
The Fuzzy Origins of the Giant Panda
8:20
The Fuzzy Origins of the Giant Panda
The Forgotten Story of the Beardogs
9:37
Beardogs are key to understanding an important branch of the mammal family tree.
Why Male Mammoths Lost the Game (w/ TierZoo!)
11:02
Why do most remains of mammoths found in the fossil record turn out to be male?
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