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Earth
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00:00:16,548 --> 00:00:21,348
As far as we know it's the only home to
life in the universe.
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00:00:22,839 --> 00:00:28,119
Why? What is it that makes
our planet so special?
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00:00:29,339 --> 00:00:32,228
The answers are hidden
deep in the earth's past.
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00:00:34,538 --> 00:00:39,569
To find them we must travel back in time
to see the first humans walk the earth.
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00:00:40,959 --> 00:00:46,869
To ride continents on a collision course,
face killer dinosaurs.
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00:00:50,149 --> 00:00:53,739
Dive into oceans full
of bizarre life-forms.
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00:00:56,500 --> 00:01:00,120
Feel the bitter chill
of global ice ages
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00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:07,139
and experience the fury
of cosmic missile attacks.
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00:01:07,779 --> 00:01:13,859
We must travel back in time until
we reach the birth of the earth itself.
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00:01:14,709 --> 00:01:19,259
Then we can piece together
our planets incredible story
12
00:01:19,329 --> 00:01:24,810
and discover why all of
this all of us are here.
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00:01:41,780 --> 00:01:45,549
Our journey starts almost
5 billion years ago.
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00:01:47,559 --> 00:01:49,200
But this can't be right.
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00:01:49,610 --> 00:01:52,529
There's no sign of our
beautiful blue planet.
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00:01:54,209 --> 00:02:00,869
Just a newborn star, our sun
surrounded by all this dust.
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00:02:03,430 --> 00:02:08,988
We've arrived too early before
the earth has even formed.
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00:02:21,129 --> 00:02:26,459
Speed up time and we can see gravity
pull the dust into tiny rocks.
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00:02:29,149 --> 00:02:34,539
It hardly seems possible but something
as complex as a planet
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00:02:34,619 --> 00:02:38,200
is made from nothing more
than dust and rocks.
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00:02:43,830 --> 00:02:49,209
Over millions of years gravity pulls these
rocks together to form the earth.
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00:02:51,819 --> 00:02:56,159
One of at least a hundred
planets circling the sun.
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00:03:30,739 --> 00:03:37,880
But 4.54 billion years ago our planet
looks more like hell than home.
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00:03:42,810 --> 00:03:46,670
Up close the temperature is
over 1'200 degrees Celsius.
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00:03:49,620 --> 00:03:56,890
There's no air just carbon dioxide,
nitrogen and water vapor.
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00:04:00,100 --> 00:04:04,489
It's so hot, so toxic that
if we got any closer
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we'd be incinerated and
suffocated in seconds.
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00:04:12,860 --> 00:04:17,030
The newborn planet is a
boiling ball of liquid rock.
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00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:22,960
There are virtually no solid surfaces,
just an endless ocean of lava.
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00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:42,080
A young planet called Theia
is heading straight for us.
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00:04:45,070 --> 00:04:49,638
It's the size of Mars and it's traveling
at nearly 15 kilometers a second.
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00:04:50,648 --> 00:04:53,079
20 times faster than a bullet.
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00:05:04,169 --> 00:05:08,289
The intruder's gravity is
distorting the earth's surface.
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00:05:33,269 --> 00:05:37,219
The blast wave races out
around the planet.
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00:05:39,860 --> 00:05:43,788
It's as though both young
planets turn to liquid.
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00:05:45,418 --> 00:05:49,060
Trillions of tons of debris
blast out into space.
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00:06:12,079 --> 00:06:15,350
But over the course of
just a thousand years
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00:06:15,350 --> 00:06:20,840
gravity works its magic and turns
the rubble into a ring of red-hot dust
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00:06:20,839 --> 00:06:23,899
and rock that circles the earth.
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00:06:28,369 --> 00:06:35,360
And now from this ring a ball
forms over 3'000 kilometers wide.
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00:06:42,309 --> 00:06:45,559
We're watching the birth of our moon.
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00:06:47,630 --> 00:06:50,700
It's much closer than
the moon we recognize.
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00:06:51,300 --> 00:06:54,100
Just 22'000 kilometers away.
44
00:06:54,250 --> 00:06:57,548
Instead of about 400'000 kilometers.
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00:07:20,060 --> 00:07:23,780
The Sun rises over a cooling earth.
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00:07:31,130 --> 00:07:35,080
And sets just three hours after it rises.
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00:07:38,180 --> 00:07:41,180
The impact has set
the earth spinning so fast
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00:07:41,290 --> 00:07:44,659
that an entire day
lasts just six hours.
49
00:07:46,359 --> 00:07:50,649
The days may pass quickly but
the earth changes slowly.
50
00:07:51,299 --> 00:07:54,179
To understand the
making of our planet
51
00:07:54,179 --> 00:07:57,170
we need to fast forward
through millions of years.
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00:08:21,569 --> 00:08:23,879
A hail of meteors.
53
00:08:37,380 --> 00:08:41,770
3.9 billion years ago
and we're under attack
54
00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:45,420
from debris leftover from
the solar system's formation.
55
00:08:57,310 --> 00:09:00,919
Look at these strange
crystals inside the meteors.
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00:09:00,999 --> 00:09:02,798
They look like grains of salt.
57
00:09:03,428 --> 00:09:06,438
The same salt you pour
on your french fries.
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00:09:06,478 --> 00:09:11,108
And inside these minute
droplets of water.
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00:09:17,940 --> 00:09:20,508
It seems these deadly
missiles could contain
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the vital ingredient
for life on Earth.
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00:09:37,580 --> 00:09:41,280
There's only a small amount of
water inside each meteorite.
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00:09:41,950 --> 00:09:45,579
But as they bombard the earth
for over 20 million years
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00:09:46,899 --> 00:09:48,908
pools of water grow.
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00:09:50,299 --> 00:09:53,351
The water collects on solid ground
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00:09:54,031 --> 00:09:58,550
The earth's core remains
molten but its surface is cool
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00:09:58,550 --> 00:10:01,010
to around 70 or 80 degrees.
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00:10:01,860 --> 00:10:04,140
Just enough to form a crust.
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00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:08,199
In the future we could swallow
this water when we take a drink.
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00:10:09,999 --> 00:10:14,959
Every sip, every puddle, every
drop of water in every ocean
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00:10:16,139 --> 00:10:18,490
is billions of years old.
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00:10:20,340 --> 00:10:23,470
And it may have traveled millions
of kilometers to reach us
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00:10:23,470 --> 00:10:25,760
carried inside a meteor.
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00:10:31,739 --> 00:10:36,869
The earth looks more familiar, but
this is still a dangerous place.
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00:10:41,929 --> 00:10:46,839
This wind is as fast, perhaps faster
than the most destructive hurricane.
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00:10:51,780 --> 00:10:56,179
It's a mega storm ripped up
by the planets rapid rotation.
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00:10:58,069 --> 00:11:02,019
The moon is so close to Earth that
its gravity is overwhelming.
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00:11:02,989 --> 00:11:06,738
It creates huge tides that race
across the planet's surface.
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00:11:37,059 --> 00:11:40,199
But over time the
moon moves away.
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00:11:41,539 --> 00:11:46,060
The waves calm and
the planet spins slower.
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00:11:52,799 --> 00:12:00,648
700 million years after the planet's birth
life-giving water covers its surface.
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00:12:04,620 --> 00:12:06,270
But not just water.
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00:12:08,290 --> 00:12:10,280
There's something
else down there.
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00:12:11,390 --> 00:12:16,220
Tiny islands they seem to have
appeared from nowhere.
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00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:22,099
Until
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00:12:25,070 --> 00:12:30,210
molten rock bursts through the earth's
crust and rises up through the ocean.
86
00:12:32,550 --> 00:12:37,258
Over time the lava cools and
forms a volcanic island.
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00:12:40,229 --> 00:12:42,440
This is how these islands formed.
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00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:48,369
In the future they will join together
to form the first continents.
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00:12:54,068 --> 00:12:57,829
The infant earth has water and land.
90
00:12:58,659 --> 00:13:01,768
It's beginning to look like
the planet we call home.
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00:13:02,488 --> 00:13:08,159
But the atmosphere is toxic and
the temperature is scorching.
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00:13:09,529 --> 00:13:12,019
Nothing could live here.
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00:13:22,450 --> 00:13:23,430
Meteors.
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00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:26,990
They've been raining down
since the planets formation.
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00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:34,060
But now 3.8 billion years ago the assault
has entered a violent new phase.
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00:13:36,709 --> 00:13:40,359
Something has disturbed
the orbits of these meteorites.
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00:13:43,620 --> 00:13:50,239
They already brought water to the planet
but they're carrying something else too.
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00:13:57,599 --> 00:14:01,339
As the meteorites dissolve
they release their minerals
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00:14:01,649 --> 00:14:06,459
and transport carbon and primitive
proteins, amino acids
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00:14:06,990 --> 00:14:10,420
from outer space to the
bottom of the ocean.
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00:14:14,609 --> 00:14:19,799
It's dark, the sun's rays can't
reach beyond 300 meters .
102
00:14:20,999 --> 00:14:23,508
And it's close to freezing.
103
00:14:33,949 --> 00:14:36,440
This must be a mirage.
104
00:14:40,910 --> 00:14:43,420
A city of underwater chimneys.
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It's not smoke, it's some
kind of hot liquid.
106
00:14:54,819 --> 00:14:58,900
Seawater has seeped down into the earth
through cracks in the crust.
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00:14:59,020 --> 00:15:03,010
Getting hotter, collecting
minerals and gases on the way.
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00:15:04,580 --> 00:15:08,168
It's this potent mixture that's spewing
back out into the ocean,
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00:15:09,268 --> 00:15:11,869
building these towers.
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00:15:14,379 --> 00:15:18,549
Add to this all those minerals and
chemicals from the meteorites
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00:15:18,739 --> 00:15:21,738
and the water has
become a chemical soup.
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00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:27,539
It's impossible to know
how or when,
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00:15:27,819 --> 00:15:32,790
but somehow these chemicals have
come together to create life .
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00:15:34,330 --> 00:15:37,730
The water is now full of
microscopic organisms.
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00:15:38,820 --> 00:15:44,219
These single-celled bacteria are
the earliest forms of life on Earth.
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00:15:49,930 --> 00:15:53,500
This is a defining moment in
the making of the planet.
117
00:15:56,659 --> 00:15:59,969
Microscopic life is on the way.
118
00:16:03,268 --> 00:16:08,030
To find more complex life we need
to travel forwards through time
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00:16:08,340 --> 00:16:13,658
to 3.5 billion years ago
and a shallow ocean.
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00:16:32,299 --> 00:16:37,099
These look like rocks or even plants.
121
00:16:39,209 --> 00:16:42,299
They seem to grow out of the seabed.
122
00:16:47,759 --> 00:16:50,829
Each is a mountain of living bacteria.
123
00:16:51,579 --> 00:16:54,840
A colony called a stromatolite.
124
00:17:00,911 --> 00:17:06,100
As if by magic these bacteria turns
sunlight into food.
125
00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:12,869
This process called photosynthesis
uses the power of sunlight
126
00:17:12,869 --> 00:17:17,419
to transform carbon dioxide
and water into glucose,
127
00:17:18,449 --> 00:17:24,858
a simple form of sugar and similar
to the stuff we put in our coffee.
128
00:17:32,399 --> 00:17:40,249
And this magical transformation releases
a byproduct, a gas called oxygen.
129
00:17:43,359 --> 00:17:47,989
Underwater the stromatolites slowly
fill the oceans with oxygen.
130
00:17:53,259 --> 00:17:57,770
The oxygen turns traces of iron
in the water into rust.
131
00:18:01,109 --> 00:18:05,778
This falls to the ocean floor to form
deposits of iron rich rock.
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00:18:07,620 --> 00:18:13,589
One day we'll use this mineral to build
bridges, ships and skyscrapers.
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00:18:27,759 --> 00:18:31,809
Above the waves the oxygen
transforms the atmosphere.
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00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:37,011
These stromatolites are creating the
single most important element
135
00:18:37,111 --> 00:18:38,900
for life on Earth.
136
00:18:41,070 --> 00:18:44,960
Without them virtually every
living thing wouldn't exist.
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00:18:47,220 --> 00:18:50,100
When we take our next
breath we're doing it
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00:18:50,100 --> 00:18:53,169
thanks to these colonies
of ancient bacteria.
139
00:18:57,039 --> 00:19:02,010
Over the next two billion years oxygen
levels continue to rise.
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00:19:03,360 --> 00:19:08,429
And as the planet's spin
slows the days get longer.
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00:19:13,829 --> 00:19:16,530
Now they last at least 16 hours.
142
00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:20,640
We're discovering it takes a
long time to make a planet.
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00:19:21,620 --> 00:19:25,149
1.5 billion years ago,
three billion years
144
00:19:25,149 --> 00:19:29,079
after the planets birth and
there's no complex life.
145
00:19:29,859 --> 00:19:34,469
No plants, no dinosaurs, no humans.
146
00:19:35,409 --> 00:19:38,870
But the earth has something
that no other planet has.
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00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:43,889
A force with the power
to change everything.
148
00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:55,950
Our planet, a beautiful blue ball
dotted with volcanic islands
149
00:19:57,370 --> 00:20:02,150
One and a half billion years ago
it's home to primitive life.
150
00:20:08,830 --> 00:20:13,540
Over millions of years we can see
something is rearranging the islands.
151
00:20:14,399 --> 00:20:19,420
Hidden beneath the ocean the earth's
crust has broken into vast plates.
152
00:20:20,500 --> 00:20:23,979
Deeper still the Earth's core is at work.
153
00:20:24,369 --> 00:20:26,879
It's hotter than the surface of the Sun.
154
00:20:27,559 --> 00:20:32,080
So hot it generates movement in
the rock beneath the crust.
155
00:20:33,420 --> 00:20:37,009
These movements push and
pull the plates around the globe
156
00:20:37,549 --> 00:20:41,199
and carry the oceans and
the islands with them.
157
00:20:42,299 --> 00:20:44,400
Millions of years raced by.
158
00:20:44,790 --> 00:20:51,580
Seeing it like this our planet
seems active, changing, alive.
159
00:20:53,340 --> 00:21:00,329
Over 400 million years a vast new super-
continent takes shape called Rodinia.
160
00:21:05,069 --> 00:21:09,469
In the shallow waters around Rodinia
stromatolites have been working
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00:21:09,469 --> 00:21:11,949
their magic for over two billion years.
162
00:21:12,070 --> 00:21:14,499
Pumping oxygen into the atmosphere.
163
00:21:15,879 --> 00:21:21,209
The temperature is 30 degrees Celsius and
the days are 18 hours long.
164
00:21:33,650 --> 00:21:38,410
But this looks more like Mars than Earth.
165
00:21:39,439 --> 00:21:43,329
To find life here we need
to move on through time.
166
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The state of Washington.
167
00:22:08,019 --> 00:22:13,869
715 million years ago some force
168
00:22:13,869 --> 00:22:18,049
from deep inside the planet itself
is ripping the crust to pieces.
169
00:22:18,849 --> 00:22:21,650
It's as though the world
is tearing apart.
170
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:27,010
And there's only one force
powerful enough to do this.
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00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:28,760
Heat.
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00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:31,720
It escapes from the earth's
molten core
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00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:36,240
stretching and weakening the crust.
174
00:22:38,049 --> 00:22:42,349
Centimeter by centimeter,
year by year
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00:22:42,349 --> 00:22:46,190
the great supercontinent
is splitting in two.
176
00:23:19,819 --> 00:23:24,019
The intense geological activity has
spawned a mass of volcanoes.
177
00:23:28,839 --> 00:23:32,199
These pump carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere.
178
00:23:33,539 --> 00:23:37,030
There's smoke and gas everywhere.
179
00:23:48,980 --> 00:23:53,870
All that carbon dioxide mixes
with water to make acid rain.
180
00:23:56,429 --> 00:24:01,280
The rocks absorb the acid rain
including its carbon dioxide.
181
00:24:02,420 --> 00:24:05,529
And there are a lot of rocks
on the earth right now.
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00:24:06,119 --> 00:24:08,490
Exposed when the
continent tore apart.
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00:24:11,580 --> 00:24:16,100
So many that vast quantities of carbon
dioxide are absorbed
184
00:24:16,100 --> 00:24:19,940
out of the atmosphere and locked up
in the earth's rocks.
185
00:24:30,050 --> 00:24:33,460
There's not enough carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere to trap
186
00:24:33,540 --> 00:24:36,240
the sun's heat around the planet.
187
00:24:40,339 --> 00:24:44,290
In just a few thousand years the
temperature plummets
188
00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:48,009
to around minus 50 degrees.
189
00:25:06,309 --> 00:25:09,890
This frozen wasteland is
Southern Australia.
190
00:25:11,210 --> 00:25:13,169
650 million years ago.
191
00:25:15,929 --> 00:25:19,849
It's the start of what some
scientists call Snowball Earth.
192
00:25:20,939 --> 00:25:24,489
A period they believe to be
the longest, coldest ice age
193
00:25:24,489 --> 00:25:26,369
ever to grip the planet.
194
00:25:27,979 --> 00:25:32,039
A vast wall of ice, thousands
of meters high.
195
00:25:33,910 --> 00:25:35,889
The ice is unstoppable.
196
00:25:37,599 --> 00:25:41,549
The more ice there is, the more
sunlight it reflects away
197
00:25:41,549 --> 00:25:45,288
from the planet and the
faster the ice spreads.
198
00:25:47,470 --> 00:25:51,490
And there's a second
ice sheet just as high.
199
00:25:52,329 --> 00:25:56,129
The two sheets spread away
from the poles towards each other
200
00:25:56,559 --> 00:25:59,289
to meet at the equator.
201
00:26:22,929 --> 00:26:25,810
Now an ice sheet up to three
kilometers thick
202
00:26:26,910 --> 00:26:29,340
untunes the entire planet.
203
00:26:33,179 --> 00:26:35,950
First the planet was
a molten ball of fire
204
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:40,049
now it's a frozen ball of ice.
205
00:26:43,869 --> 00:26:49,238
Virtually all the sun's light and warmth
reflects back into space.
206
00:26:55,397 --> 00:26:57,579
But it can't last forever.
207
00:26:57,739 --> 00:27:01,290
Something must release the earth
from this frozen prison
208
00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:04,019
and when it does who knows
209
00:27:04,019 --> 00:27:05,919
whether life will have survived
beneath the ice.
210
00:27:07,969 --> 00:27:11,398
The surface is frozen but
the core is still hotter
211
00:27:11,398 --> 00:27:13,669
than the sun's surface.
212
00:27:20,339 --> 00:27:23,859
Volcanoes have been erupting
since the world began to freeze.
213
00:27:24,929 --> 00:27:27,479
But up until now even
their heat and power
214
00:27:27,479 --> 00:27:29,719
made no impact on the ice.
215
00:27:35,140 --> 00:27:39,239
Volcanoes pump out billions
of tons of carbon dioxide
216
00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:45,120
before the big freeze the Earth's rocks
absorb most of the co2
217
00:27:47,230 --> 00:27:50,089
But now with the rocks
smothered in ice
218
00:27:50,699 --> 00:27:55,639
there's nothing to absorb the gas
so it fills the atmosphere.
219
00:28:04,309 --> 00:28:08,219
Like a blanket it traps the sun's warmth
around the planet.
220
00:28:09,979 --> 00:28:16,770
Temperatures rise until now after
15 million years the ice begins to melt.
221
00:28:43,170 --> 00:28:48,068
It's thought that during Snowball Earth
the ice pushed the crust down.
222
00:28:48,528 --> 00:28:52,309
Now as it melts the crust bounces up.
223
00:28:53,490 --> 00:28:58,390
This creates fissures and weak spots
and more and more volcanoes.
224
00:29:03,230 --> 00:29:06,220
These volcanoes release
more carbon dioxide
225
00:29:06,220 --> 00:29:09,220
and push the temperature up even higher.
226
00:29:10,420 --> 00:29:13,920
The melt gathers momentum.
227
00:29:15,609 --> 00:29:17,460
Oxygen levels rocket.
228
00:29:20,620 --> 00:29:25,660
Through a series of chemical reactions
the ice has created oxygen.
229
00:29:29,099 --> 00:29:33,470
While the planet was frozen the sun's
ultraviolet rays reacted
230
00:29:33,470 --> 00:29:38,658
with water molecules in the ice
to produce a chemical rich in oxygen.
231
00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:44,299
Hydrogen peroxide the same
chemical that bleaches head.
232
00:29:50,420 --> 00:29:56,360
Now as the ice melts the hydrogen
peroxide breaks down and releases
233
00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:59,320
massive amounts of oxygen.
234
00:30:16,919 --> 00:30:21,450
The earth is waking up and
it's a very different place.
235
00:30:58,759 --> 00:31:05,990
Now 600 million years ago the atmosphere
is warmer, it feels like a summers day
236
00:31:07,430 --> 00:31:10,310
and the days are about 22 hours long.
237
00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:23,669
Add all this water and it's
the perfect recipe for life.
238
00:31:27,808 --> 00:31:32,728
Before Snowball Earth primitive bacteria
had emerged in the oceans
239
00:31:34,188 --> 00:31:36,519
but surely they couldn't have
survived an ice age
240
00:31:36,519 --> 00:31:40,598
75 times longer than the entire
span of human history.
241
00:31:43,868 --> 00:31:47,788
If something has survived then
our best chance of finding it
242
00:31:47,788 --> 00:31:52,738
is where we last saw life,
in the ocean.
243
00:32:09,519 --> 00:32:15,220
Now 540 million years ago
in an ocean full of oxygen
244
00:32:15,220 --> 00:32:19,330
those primitive bacteria
have evolved.
245
00:32:22,030 --> 00:32:24,750
A handful must have clung
on through the big freeze
246
00:32:25,660 --> 00:32:30,699
there are plants everywhere
and something else.
247
00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:36,489
It looks like some kind
of armored slug.
248
00:32:37,359 --> 00:32:39,589
It's called Wiwaxia.
249
00:32:40,359 --> 00:32:44,380
It's one of a new generation of
complex multi-celled organisms.
250
00:32:50,060 --> 00:32:53,710
We're entering one of the most dynamic
periods in the earth story.
251
00:32:54,568 --> 00:32:57,318
The Cambrian explosion.
252
00:32:57,888 --> 00:33:03,809
Increased oxygen levels allow creatures
to grow larger and develop bony skeletons.
253
00:33:07,460 --> 00:33:15,730
There are worms, sponges and these.
254
00:33:17,519 --> 00:33:25,119
They're trilobites distant relatives of
insects, lobsters even scorpions.
255
00:33:32,079 --> 00:33:35,399
Life in the oceans is blossoming.
256
00:33:38,540 --> 00:33:45,318
From microscopic bacteria to
a monster like this.
257
00:33:50,588 --> 00:33:53,138
This is an Anomalocaris.
258
00:33:53,848 --> 00:33:55,698
It's about 60 centimeters long.
259
00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:06,710
Look at its large eyes, its razor-sharp
teeth and grasping limbs.
260
00:34:24,340 --> 00:34:29,100
All Anomalocaris has to
do is take its pick.
261
00:34:39,578 --> 00:34:44,998
The trilobite caught right itself ,
its soft belly is exposed.
262
00:35:02,099 --> 00:35:09,390
these are pic aiya they're just five or
263
00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:14,728
so centimetres long but they've got what
264
00:35:09,389 --> 00:35:16,920
may be the first ever spine over
265
00:35:14,728 --> 00:35:19,798
millions of years this simple structure
266
00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:24,690
will evolve into the spine that keeps us
267
00:35:19,798 --> 00:35:28,639
standing erect and creatures are
268
00:35:24,690 --> 00:35:28,639
beginning to take on familiar forms
269
00:35:33,159 --> 00:35:40,078
beneath the waves there are already tens
270
00:35:36,278 --> 00:35:46,380
of thousands of plant and animal species
271
00:35:40,079 --> 00:35:46,380
the advance of life seems unstoppable
272
00:35:51,670 --> 00:35:55,170
we're looking to life on land
273
00:35:55,800 --> 00:36:02,380
460 million years ago and the plates
274
00:35:58,780 --> 00:36:06,780
have moved again below lies a new
275
00:36:02,380 --> 00:36:06,780
continent Gondwana
276
00:36:07,599 --> 00:36:13,569
it's a warm 30 degrees Celsius oxygen
277
00:36:11,860 --> 00:36:18,910
levels are close to those in which we
278
00:36:13,570 --> 00:36:23,700
live the land should be covered with
279
00:36:18,909 --> 00:36:23,699
plants crawling with creatures
280
00:36:24,500 --> 00:36:30,608
but there's not much here beside a few
281
00:36:27,739 --> 00:36:30,608
patches of algae
282
00:36:38,610 --> 00:36:41,960
there's only one explanation
283
00:36:44,150 --> 00:36:46,960
the son
284
00:36:49,349 --> 00:36:54,109
it blasts the surface with deadly
285
00:36:51,748 --> 00:36:54,108
radiation
286
00:36:55,940 --> 00:37:03,400
the complex life we've seen in the ocean
287
00:36:59,108 --> 00:37:03,400
doesn't stand a chance on land
288
00:37:05,659 --> 00:37:10,538
but 50 kilometers are where the rays
289
00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:14,480
enter the Earth's atmosphere
290
00:37:10,539 --> 00:37:17,480
something strange is happening when
291
00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:19,750
oxygen meets the sun's radiation the
292
00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:24,588
oxygen turns into another kind of gas
293
00:37:19,750 --> 00:37:27,949
called ozone this gas forms a blanket
294
00:37:24,588 --> 00:37:31,719
around the planet this ozone layer
295
00:37:27,949 --> 00:37:31,719
absorbs the lethal radiation
296
00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:40,160
over 120 million years the ozone layer
297
00:37:37,219 --> 00:37:41,779
gets thicker and stops more and more
298
00:37:40,159 --> 00:37:46,879
radiation from reaching the Earth's
299
00:37:41,780 --> 00:37:50,380
surface without this layer life on land
300
00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:50,380
simply wouldn't exist
301
00:37:52,880 --> 00:38:00,380
now shielded from radiation life
302
00:37:57,750 --> 00:38:00,380
blossoms
303
00:38:00,630 --> 00:38:08,430
those small mossy lumps are the first
304
00:38:04,110 --> 00:38:13,789
land plants and they're pumping out even
305
00:38:08,429 --> 00:38:13,789
more oxygen levels saw
306
00:38:18,900 --> 00:38:22,829
375 million years ago
307
00:38:34,909 --> 00:38:44,288
there's something down there in the
308
00:38:37,759 --> 00:38:44,289
water it's moving swimming
309
00:39:01,340 --> 00:39:06,820
it's a strange fish called a Tiktaalik
310
00:39:07,420 --> 00:39:09,480
you
311
00:39:17,949 --> 00:39:23,199
it's neck allows it to raise itself up
312
00:39:36,929 --> 00:39:42,108
it uses its fins as if their legs
313
00:39:50,900 --> 00:39:58,130
and moves out of the water where Clarke
314
00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:58,130
life is exploding
315
00:39:59,039 --> 00:40:05,309
over 15 million years these creatures
316
00:40:02,010 --> 00:40:07,860
call tetrapods evolve they grow stronger
317
00:40:05,309 --> 00:40:12,960
limbs and spend more time out of the
318
00:40:07,860 --> 00:40:16,880
water until 360 million years ago they
319
00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:16,880
make the land their home
320
00:40:18,170 --> 00:40:23,860
it's from a creature like this that all
321
00:40:21,139 --> 00:40:29,179
four-legged vertebrates will evolve
322
00:40:23,860 --> 00:40:31,720
dinosaurs birds mammals and eventually
323
00:40:29,179 --> 00:40:31,719
you need
324
00:40:40,369 --> 00:40:47,150
we've come a long way from a lump of
325
00:40:43,909 --> 00:40:50,768
burning rock and dust to a Bluegreen
326
00:40:47,150 --> 00:40:50,769
planet bursting with life
327
00:40:54,860 --> 00:41:03,880
there are still no humans but there are
328
00:40:58,190 --> 00:41:03,880
fish plants and this
329
00:41:06,420 --> 00:41:12,980
it's a dragonfly a dragonfly the size of
330
00:41:10,469 --> 00:41:12,980
an eagle
331
00:41:13,300 --> 00:41:17,910
this giant is called meganula
332
00:41:20,349 --> 00:41:25,659
what were once legs have evolved into
333
00:41:22,719 --> 00:41:29,369
wings extending the dragonflies hunting
334
00:41:25,659 --> 00:41:29,369
territory over a vast area
335
00:41:33,280 --> 00:41:40,510
there are millipedes spiders all sorts
336
00:41:37,550 --> 00:41:40,510
of bugs down there
337
00:41:40,539 --> 00:41:46,389
these creatures called arthropods were
338
00:41:43,699 --> 00:41:49,069
among the very first to set foot on land
339
00:41:46,389 --> 00:41:52,069
they've already been around for hundreds
340
00:41:49,070 --> 00:41:54,350
of millions of years they look almost
341
00:41:52,070 --> 00:41:57,769
identical to the bugs that invade our
342
00:41:54,349 --> 00:42:01,549
homes today except for one big
343
00:41:57,769 --> 00:42:04,030
difference like mega Noura they're
344
00:42:01,550 --> 00:42:04,030
monsters
345
00:42:05,690 --> 00:42:12,300
we've stumbled into a lost world of
346
00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:17,180
giants where millipedes are two meters
347
00:42:12,300 --> 00:42:19,980
long and scorpions the size of wolves
348
00:42:17,179 --> 00:42:21,690
all the oxygen in the atmosphere allows
349
00:42:19,980 --> 00:42:24,659
their respiratory systems to be more
350
00:42:21,690 --> 00:42:27,340
efficient and frees up space for their
351
00:42:24,659 --> 00:42:34,469
bodies to grow
352
00:42:27,340 --> 00:42:34,470
a lizard-like creature called anonymous
353
00:42:34,829 --> 00:42:40,409
the creatures we've seen so far laid
354
00:42:37,449 --> 00:42:40,409
their eggs in the water
355
00:42:43,329 --> 00:42:48,380
but these eggs contain all the water and
356
00:42:46,579 --> 00:42:52,069
nutrients the developing Heil anima
357
00:42:48,380 --> 00:42:56,050
Sneed's the babies are growing in their
358
00:42:52,070 --> 00:42:56,050
own self-contained pond
359
00:43:00,130 --> 00:43:05,490
the egg is a major evolutionary
360
00:43:03,130 --> 00:43:05,490
breakthrough
361
00:43:08,389 --> 00:43:15,500
now animals can leave the water behind
362
00:43:11,190 --> 00:43:15,500
and conquer the land
363
00:43:21,510 --> 00:43:26,850
this baby hi Lana mas will lead the
364
00:43:24,760 --> 00:43:26,850
advance
365
00:43:27,119 --> 00:43:33,710
it's a new kind of creature a reptile
366
00:43:48,309 --> 00:43:55,579
inevitably with life comes death there's
367
00:43:53,150 --> 00:43:59,980
so much dead plant matter it builds up
368
00:43:55,579 --> 00:43:59,980
and decays into dense soggy layers
369
00:44:01,380 --> 00:44:08,769
over hundreds of millions of years rocks
370
00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:10,539
will cover these layers heat from the
371
00:44:08,769 --> 00:44:13,150
Earth's core and pressure from the
372
00:44:10,539 --> 00:44:18,119
overlying rocks will transform the
373
00:44:13,150 --> 00:44:18,119
layers of dead plants into seams of coal
374
00:44:18,380 --> 00:44:24,320
each lump of coal we burn today to warm
375
00:44:21,289 --> 00:44:27,349
our homes and fire our power stations is
376
00:44:24,320 --> 00:44:29,860
made of flowers that died 300 million
377
00:44:27,349 --> 00:44:29,860
years ago
378
00:44:35,469 --> 00:44:41,459
amidst the decay hidden from sight life
379
00:44:39,820 --> 00:44:45,250
is stirring
380
00:44:41,460 --> 00:44:50,429
soon seeds will germinate plants will
381
00:44:45,250 --> 00:44:56,039
grow and this wasteland will live again
382
00:44:50,429 --> 00:44:56,039
life seems to have conquered the planet
383
00:45:20,239 --> 00:45:26,479
a herd of creatures graze the Siberian
384
00:45:23,210 --> 00:45:28,519
Plains they're not dinosaurs
385
00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:32,960
they won't set foot on earth for at
386
00:45:28,519 --> 00:45:36,440
least another 20 million years but
387
00:45:32,960 --> 00:45:39,710
they're big evolution has taken a huge
388
00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:44,349
leap forwards the small lizards we saw
389
00:45:39,710 --> 00:45:48,170
earlier and now giant reptiles
390
00:45:44,349 --> 00:45:54,410
these are scooter soars the distant
391
00:45:48,170 --> 00:45:57,380
relatives of turtles they're plant
392
00:45:54,409 --> 00:46:00,379
eaters and if the plant eaters look this
393
00:45:57,380 --> 00:46:08,340
tough the karlik wars must be seriously
394
00:46:00,380 --> 00:46:11,700
mean it's a Gorgon awesome
395
00:46:08,340 --> 00:46:14,390
a perfectly engineered prehistoric
396
00:46:11,699 --> 00:46:14,389
killing machine
397
00:46:22,909 --> 00:46:28,389
the gorgonopsids saber teeth have
398
00:46:25,219 --> 00:46:28,389
wounded the scooter sir
399
00:46:41,880 --> 00:46:57,660
the predator is watching as its prey
400
00:46:45,550 --> 00:47:01,230
grows weak from blood loss until hold on
401
00:46:57,659 --> 00:47:03,259
it's backing off something strange is
402
00:47:01,230 --> 00:47:03,259
happening
403
00:47:03,349 --> 00:47:08,299
the ground is getting hot
404
00:47:06,239 --> 00:47:08,299
you
405
00:47:12,519 --> 00:47:17,610
there must be enormous pressure beneath
406
00:47:15,070 --> 00:47:17,610
the surface
407
00:47:43,588 --> 00:47:52,969
there's larvae but this isn't one single
408
00:47:47,068 --> 00:47:52,969
volcano the entire landscape is erupting
409
00:47:54,980 --> 00:48:01,460
it's a flood basalt eruption a massive
410
00:47:59,239 --> 00:48:04,578
plume of mantle is rising up from deep
411
00:48:01,460 --> 00:48:08,230
inside the earth pushing molten rock out
412
00:48:04,579 --> 00:48:08,230
through fissures in the Earth's crust
413
00:48:15,150 --> 00:48:23,599
the lush paradise is now a lifeless hell
414
00:48:20,088 --> 00:48:27,420
the SCOOTER sores and the gorgonopsids a
415
00:48:23,599 --> 00:48:29,730
debt they're the first casualties in the
416
00:48:27,420 --> 00:48:34,970
greatest mass extinction the world has
417
00:48:29,730 --> 00:48:34,969
ever seen the Permian extinction
418
00:48:43,798 --> 00:48:51,000
on the other side of the continent of
419
00:48:46,480 --> 00:48:51,000
Gondwana it's as if nothing happened
420
00:48:59,170 --> 00:49:01,980
snow
421
00:49:02,579 --> 00:49:07,279
but the temperature is about 20 degrees
422
00:49:04,860 --> 00:49:11,840
Celsius
423
00:49:07,280 --> 00:49:16,269
it's not snow it's ash fallout from the
424
00:49:11,840 --> 00:49:16,269
eruption some 16,000 kilometers away
425
00:49:19,380 --> 00:49:27,239
the ash burns suffocates and kills
426
00:49:23,588 --> 00:49:27,239
animals around the world
427
00:49:36,000 --> 00:49:42,929
the atmosphere is full of sulfur dioxide
428
00:49:38,280 --> 00:49:45,510
from the eruptions and it rains the gas
429
00:49:42,929 --> 00:49:48,980
turns to sulfuric acid and burns
430
00:49:45,510 --> 00:49:48,980
everything it falls on
431
00:49:52,739 --> 00:50:01,039
at first it seemed like this was a local
432
00:49:55,889 --> 00:50:01,039
disaster but now it's gone global
433
00:50:02,690 --> 00:50:08,889
the Siberian eruptions increase the
434
00:50:05,210 --> 00:50:08,889
Earth's carbon dioxide levels
435
00:50:12,579 --> 00:50:18,869
the atmosphere gets hotter
436
00:50:15,818 --> 00:50:18,869
water evaporates
437
00:50:19,719 --> 00:50:27,859
the vegetation dies
438
00:50:23,070 --> 00:50:27,860
we saw life had finally found a foothold
439
00:50:32,679 --> 00:50:36,239
now it looks like we were wrong
440
00:50:45,019 --> 00:50:52,009
there are no signs of life on land but
441
00:50:49,349 --> 00:50:52,009
in the oceans
442
00:50:52,800 --> 00:50:58,700
this can't be right the oceans are
443
00:50:56,190 --> 00:50:58,700
turning pink
444
00:51:04,099 --> 00:51:10,420
and the plants the trilobites
445
00:51:07,159 --> 00:51:10,420
the Predators everything's gone
446
00:51:10,510 --> 00:51:17,150
everything except for this pink algae
447
00:51:14,500 --> 00:51:18,889
the new hotter atmosphere must have
448
00:51:17,150 --> 00:51:21,039
heated the oceans and stripped them of
449
00:51:18,889 --> 00:51:21,039
oxygen
450
00:51:21,670 --> 00:51:27,909
now nothing except algae can survive in
451
00:51:25,010 --> 00:51:27,910
the stagnant water
452
00:51:29,340 --> 00:51:34,960
the Siberian eruptions are transforming
453
00:51:32,010 --> 00:51:38,680
the entire planet
454
00:51:34,960 --> 00:51:41,880
nothing not even the deepest ocean floor
455
00:51:38,679 --> 00:51:41,879
is beyond their reach
456
00:51:42,769 --> 00:51:46,300
look bubbles
457
00:51:49,079 --> 00:51:54,989
but it's not oxygen it's methane
458
00:51:52,489 --> 00:51:59,459
escaping from vast pockets of methane
459
00:51:54,989 --> 00:52:02,279
gas beneath the seabed methane is a
460
00:51:59,460 --> 00:52:05,449
greenhouse gas at least 20 times
461
00:52:02,280 --> 00:52:05,450
deadlier than carbon dioxide
462
00:52:06,139 --> 00:52:12,889
until now the gas has been frozen but as
463
00:52:09,798 --> 00:52:15,219
the sea temperature rises the gas begins
464
00:52:12,889 --> 00:52:15,219
to melt
465
00:52:28,130 --> 00:52:32,990
released into the atmosphere this
466
00:52:30,710 --> 00:52:35,380
powerful gas pushes up temperatures even
467
00:52:32,989 --> 00:52:35,379
further
468
00:52:35,480 --> 00:52:41,480
up to almost 40 degrees six degrees
469
00:52:39,349 --> 00:52:43,960
hotter than before the Siberian
470
00:52:41,480 --> 00:52:43,960
eruptions
471
00:52:47,329 --> 00:52:54,289
now even the creatures that have made it
472
00:52:50,519 --> 00:52:54,289
this far are tuned
473
00:52:56,108 --> 00:53:03,978
it's 500,000 years since the eruptions
474
00:52:59,778 --> 00:53:06,708
first began and all this time for half a
475
00:53:03,978 --> 00:53:10,608
million years the lava has been pouring
476
00:53:06,708 --> 00:53:13,608
out by now it covers an area the size of
477
00:53:10,608 --> 00:53:20,268
the United States with a layer of molten
478
00:53:13,608 --> 00:53:22,608
rock nearly six kilometers deep 250
479
00:53:20,268 --> 00:53:27,189
million years ago we're back where we
480
00:53:22,608 --> 00:53:27,190
started on a lifeless planet
481
00:53:27,460 --> 00:53:40,088
almost it's 50 million years since
482
00:53:37,568 --> 00:53:45,929
virtually all life on Earth was wiped
483
00:53:40,088 --> 00:53:45,929
out and the planet has been transformed
484
00:53:48,208 --> 00:53:55,538
it's now 200 million years ago and
485
00:53:52,588 --> 00:54:00,900
there's just one supercontinent called
486
00:53:55,539 --> 00:54:00,900
Pangea stretching from pole to pole
487
00:54:13,789 --> 00:54:20,028
after the trauma of the mass extinction
488
00:54:16,528 --> 00:54:20,028
the planet is healing
489
00:54:20,539 --> 00:54:25,940
temperatures are stabilizing the acid
490
00:54:23,989 --> 00:54:28,659
rain is neutralizing and vegetation
491
00:54:25,940 --> 00:54:28,659
returning
492
00:54:39,568 --> 00:54:46,440
and with 95% of all life on Earth wiped
493
00:54:43,048 --> 00:54:50,338
out the field is open for a new species
494
00:54:46,440 --> 00:54:54,858
to emerge one that will dominate the
495
00:54:50,338 --> 00:54:54,858
planet like no other before or since
496
00:54:59,449 --> 00:55:02,828
the dinosaurs
497
00:55:05,269 --> 00:55:11,239
these dinosaurs are called Amazon's like
498
00:55:09,349 --> 00:55:13,368
all dinosaurs they've evolved from the
499
00:55:11,239 --> 00:55:16,269
handful of reptiles that survived the
500
00:55:13,369 --> 00:55:16,269
Permian extinction
501
00:55:18,090 --> 00:55:26,750
at four and a half meters tall their
502
00:55:21,000 --> 00:55:26,750
size makes them slow and vulnerable I
503
00:55:28,789 --> 00:55:44,480
don't offer Soros two of them they're
504
00:55:40,710 --> 00:55:44,480
small and fast
505
00:55:45,440 --> 00:55:47,500
you
506
00:56:10,840 --> 00:56:19,000
the Allosaurus is too big a meal for one
507
00:56:13,969 --> 00:56:19,000
Dilophosaurus but not for too
508
00:56:31,969 --> 00:56:39,019
the dinosaurs have repopulated the earth
509
00:56:35,530 --> 00:56:42,490
but no species contain this Restless
510
00:56:39,019 --> 00:56:42,489
volatile planet
511
00:56:47,039 --> 00:56:53,108
the Earth's crust is thinning here it's
512
00:56:50,739 --> 00:56:55,989
releasing lava shaking with earthquakes
513
00:56:53,108 --> 00:56:59,130
as though it's been stretched by some
514
00:56:55,989 --> 00:56:59,129
unseen force
515
00:57:02,010 --> 00:57:06,270
and the same thing is happening all the
516
00:57:04,139 --> 00:57:09,440
way down what will be North America's
517
00:57:06,269 --> 00:57:09,440
eastern seaboard
518
00:57:16,610 --> 00:57:23,599
the Earth's plates are on the move again
519
00:57:20,710 --> 00:57:28,480
190 million years ago the great
520
00:57:23,599 --> 00:57:28,480
supercontinent of Pangaea breaks up
521
00:57:31,949 --> 00:57:38,879
a vast slab of land has broken away you
522
00:57:35,760 --> 00:57:41,579
creates a chasm and this fills with a
523
00:57:38,880 --> 00:57:44,990
new ocean called the Texas over what
524
00:57:41,579 --> 00:57:44,990
will one day be the Middle East
525
00:57:45,179 --> 00:57:49,528
currents are pushing nutrients up into
526
00:57:47,608 --> 00:57:54,440
the coastal waters running along what
527
00:57:49,528 --> 00:57:54,440
will be Saudi Arabia Iraq and Iran
528
00:57:56,130 --> 00:58:02,300
and the nutrients attract fish in their
529
00:57:59,880 --> 00:58:02,300
Millions
530
00:58:04,809 --> 00:58:13,969
and with so much life also comes death
531
00:58:11,239 --> 00:58:16,239
dead fish and plankton carpet the ocean
532
00:58:13,969 --> 00:58:16,239
floor
533
00:58:20,909 --> 00:58:26,829
over the next 10 million years layers of
534
00:58:24,699 --> 00:58:32,710
rock will bury and heat the dead
535
00:58:26,829 --> 00:58:35,400
creatures ancient fish and plankton will
536
00:58:32,710 --> 00:58:35,400
become oil
537
00:58:42,679 --> 00:58:51,469
every litre of fuel in our cars every
538
00:58:48,019 --> 00:58:54,429
piece of plastic on the planet the paint
539
00:58:51,469 --> 00:58:58,089
on our walls the carpet under our feet
540
00:58:54,429 --> 00:59:01,569
even the soap you wash with almost all
541
00:58:58,090 --> 00:59:01,570
originated in this way
542
00:59:19,139 --> 00:59:25,298
180 million years ago and further west
543
00:59:23,048 --> 00:59:29,699
the North American plate is still moving
544
00:59:25,298 --> 00:59:29,699
away from the European and Asian plate
545
00:59:31,769 --> 00:59:37,860
it happens slowly at about two and a
546
00:59:35,010 --> 00:59:41,239
half centimeters each year the same
547
00:59:37,860 --> 00:59:44,880
speed as our fingernails grow
548
00:59:41,239 --> 00:59:48,659
but hit fast-forward and a new ocean
549
00:59:44,880 --> 00:59:51,140
forms right beneath us and new
550
00:59:48,659 --> 00:59:54,858
continents
551
00:59:51,139 --> 00:59:57,759
Montreal moves away from Marrakesh New
552
00:59:54,858 --> 01:00:00,659
York from West Africa
553
00:59:57,760 --> 01:00:03,490
the world as we know it is taking shape
554
01:00:00,659 --> 01:00:07,649
the chasm between the two continents
555
01:00:03,489 --> 01:00:07,649
fills to create a vast ocean
556
01:00:07,869 --> 01:00:10,949
the Atlantic
557
01:00:16,068 --> 01:00:20,739
and they're in the middle a volcano
558
01:00:21,730 --> 01:00:27,409
we've seen plates move before we know
559
01:00:25,340 --> 01:00:30,590
it's caused by currents deep beneath the
560
01:00:27,409 --> 01:00:34,599
earth's crust this process is happening
561
01:00:30,590 --> 01:00:34,600
down there right now
562
01:00:47,460 --> 01:00:53,170
the entire seafloor has been torn in two
563
01:00:50,920 --> 01:00:57,460
and pushed up into a ridge of mountains
564
01:00:53,170 --> 01:00:59,829
and volcanoes it's growing higher than
565
01:00:57,460 --> 01:01:02,220
the Himalayas and longer than the
566
01:00:59,829 --> 01:01:02,219
Rockies
567
01:01:02,449 --> 01:01:08,629
the waters hot here molten lava is
568
01:01:06,469 --> 01:01:10,929
forcing its way out from deep inside the
569
01:01:08,630 --> 01:01:10,930
earth
570
01:01:13,650 --> 01:01:19,499
as the lava cools it's creating a new
571
01:01:16,259 --> 01:01:22,429
range of volcanic mountains and new
572
01:01:19,498 --> 01:01:22,429
ocean floor
573
01:01:22,739 --> 01:01:27,989
this is what's pushing the plates and
574
01:01:24,980 --> 01:01:31,730
Pangaea apart
575
01:01:27,989 --> 01:01:31,729
and rearranging our world
576
01:01:45,228 --> 01:01:55,098
it's this geological activity that makes
577
01:01:48,989 --> 01:01:55,099
the earth Restless creative unique
578
01:01:56,170 --> 01:02:01,539
and every time the planet reinvents
579
01:01:58,389 --> 01:02:04,949
itself the things that live on it must
580
01:02:01,539 --> 01:02:04,949
adapt and evolve
581
01:02:11,590 --> 01:02:17,440
things like these there akia sores
582
01:02:18,818 --> 01:02:24,268
they're reptile ancestors lived on land
583
01:02:21,298 --> 01:02:27,759
but as the planet changed so did they
584
01:02:24,268 --> 01:02:30,988
they grew fins and moved into the newly
585
01:02:27,759 --> 01:02:30,989
formed Atlantic Ocean
586
01:02:34,469 --> 01:02:39,959
this one is six meters long and fast it
587
01:02:38,159 --> 01:02:42,049
travels at about forty kilometres an
588
01:02:39,960 --> 01:02:42,050
hour
589
01:02:46,989 --> 01:02:53,209
it's the oceans fastest creature the
590
01:02:50,690 --> 01:02:57,820
most efficient predator and it's ruled
591
01:02:53,210 --> 01:02:57,820
the Earth's oceans for 50 million years
592
01:03:11,519 --> 01:03:16,289
but now there's a new contender for the
593
01:03:14,260 --> 01:03:16,290
crown
594
01:03:29,980 --> 01:03:33,190
appliance or
595
01:03:33,789 --> 01:03:41,058
longer than a bus as heavy as a truck
596
01:03:37,300 --> 01:03:43,339
its jaws are immense over eight times
597
01:03:41,059 --> 01:03:50,140
more powerful than a great white sharks
598
01:03:43,338 --> 01:03:50,139
and its teeth a 30 centimeters long
599
01:04:01,039 --> 01:04:07,329
the earth and the creatures that live on
600
01:04:03,800 --> 01:04:11,330
it has changed beyond recognition
601
01:04:07,329 --> 01:04:13,710
this was once solid ground now it's the
602
01:04:11,329 --> 01:04:16,529
Atlantic Ocean
603
01:04:13,710 --> 01:04:17,039
it was on this very spot that we stood
604
01:04:16,530 --> 01:04:20,190
and watched
605
01:04:17,039 --> 01:04:24,599
Amazon's graze and I'll office or stalk
606
01:04:20,190 --> 01:04:28,250
their prey the dinosaurs world may be
607
01:04:24,599 --> 01:04:33,619
different but there is dominant as ever
608
01:04:28,250 --> 01:04:33,619
they appear invincible
609
01:04:46,849 --> 01:04:52,319
it's a shrew-like mammal and it's
610
01:04:50,280 --> 01:04:54,960
evolved from the small number of mammals
611
01:04:52,320 --> 01:04:58,740
that survived the mass extinction 185
612
01:04:54,960 --> 01:05:02,670
million years ago it's also prey for the
613
01:04:58,739 --> 01:05:05,549
dinosaurs this is why most mammals live
614
01:05:02,670 --> 01:05:08,400
in the trees or underground and venture
615
01:05:05,550 --> 01:05:11,210
out at night mammals are no threat to
616
01:05:08,400 --> 01:05:11,210
the dinosaurs
617
01:05:16,900 --> 01:05:21,329
nothing on earth can challenge their
618
01:05:18,880 --> 01:05:21,329
dominance
619
01:05:25,289 --> 01:05:30,150
nothing on earth
620
01:05:38,059 --> 01:05:44,210
it's a lump of space rock a large one
621
01:05:49,170 --> 01:05:58,670
this asteroid is about ten kilometers
622
01:05:51,659 --> 01:05:58,670
across bigger than Mount Everest
623
01:06:03,960 --> 01:06:09,480
and it's traveling at over 70,000
624
01:06:06,539 --> 01:06:11,599
kilometers an hour straight towards the
625
01:06:09,480 --> 01:06:11,599
earth
626
01:06:20,750 --> 01:06:27,469
it's heading for the Gulf of Mexico just
627
01:06:24,599 --> 01:06:27,470
off the Yucatan Peninsula
628
01:06:35,239 --> 01:06:46,219
it travels so fast blink and we'd miss
629
01:06:38,960 --> 01:06:48,050
the impact unless we slow down time it's
630
01:06:46,219 --> 01:06:50,679
a split second that will change the
631
01:06:48,050 --> 01:06:50,680
world forever
632
01:06:56,650 --> 01:07:03,349
at the moment of impact the asteroids
633
01:06:59,929 --> 01:07:05,838
back edge is still nearly 11,000 meters
634
01:07:03,349 --> 01:07:08,410
the same height as a commercial aircraft
635
01:07:05,838 --> 01:07:08,409
flies
636
01:07:21,929 --> 01:07:30,259
the asteroid strikes with such immense
637
01:07:25,048 --> 01:07:30,259
force it destroys everything it hits
638
01:07:30,300 --> 01:07:36,110
even the asteroid itself instantly
639
01:07:33,300 --> 01:07:36,110
vaporizes
640
01:07:43,199 --> 01:07:49,098
the impact unleashes the energy of
641
01:07:45,510 --> 01:07:49,099
millions of nuclear weapons
642
01:07:59,798 --> 01:08:05,498
nowhere is safe not even way up here
643
01:08:06,989 --> 01:08:12,319
some of these boulders are as big as
644
01:08:09,090 --> 01:08:12,320
entire city blocks
645
01:08:29,519 --> 01:08:34,559
the blastwave races out from the impact
646
01:08:32,037 --> 01:08:36,798
zone like shrapnel from an exploding
647
01:08:34,559 --> 01:08:36,798
bomb
648
01:09:12,298 --> 01:09:16,439
I mean it's after impact thousands of
649
01:09:14,939 --> 01:09:19,649
kilometers from where the asteroid
650
01:09:16,439 --> 01:09:22,250
struck the earth is under attack from
651
01:09:19,649 --> 01:09:22,250
every direction
652
01:09:24,279 --> 01:09:27,600
boulders rained down
653
01:09:31,609 --> 01:09:35,630
earthquakes shake the ground
654
01:09:38,720 --> 01:09:44,868
and tsunamis batter the coasts
655
01:09:54,578 --> 01:10:01,460
but the onslaught has only just begun
656
01:09:58,599 --> 01:10:05,949
the plume of molten rock and dust
657
01:10:01,460 --> 01:10:05,948
spreads out and engulfs the planet
658
01:10:06,090 --> 01:10:11,989
the entire sky is acting like a giant
659
01:10:09,180 --> 01:10:11,990
sunlit
660
01:10:17,569 --> 01:10:26,840
the Earth's surface heats up to 275
661
01:10:21,170 --> 01:10:29,828
degrees vegetation begins to
662
01:10:26,840 --> 01:10:29,828
spontaneously ignite
663
01:10:36,010 --> 01:10:43,680
even months after the impact smoke and
664
01:10:39,550 --> 01:10:43,680
ash still block out the sun's rays
665
01:10:43,960 --> 01:10:51,329
with less sunlight plants died and the
666
01:10:47,710 --> 01:10:51,329
animals that eat them starve
667
01:10:52,430 --> 01:11:01,180
against this onslaught it's hard to see
668
01:10:55,729 --> 01:11:06,699
how anything can survive the dinosaurs
669
01:11:01,180 --> 01:11:06,700
165 million year reign is over
670
01:11:13,998 --> 01:11:22,788
but the dinosaurs demise is an
671
01:11:17,158 --> 01:11:25,198
opportunity for another species mammals
672
01:11:22,788 --> 01:11:28,498
by living underground they've avoided
673
01:11:25,198 --> 01:11:31,259
the heat in the fires and by eating
674
01:11:28,498 --> 01:11:35,269
anything and everything they thrive
675
01:11:31,260 --> 01:11:35,269
while more selective eaters die
676
01:11:42,448 --> 01:11:48,899
these are the unlikely inheritors of the
677
01:11:45,939 --> 01:11:48,899
dinosaurs crown
678
01:11:54,720 --> 01:12:01,530
and as one story ends another begins
679
01:12:02,289 --> 01:12:14,199
with the dinosaurs out of the way this
680
01:12:06,430 --> 01:12:17,860
could be our ancestors chance the
681
01:12:14,199 --> 01:12:20,279
dinosaurs are long dead the planet is
682
01:12:17,859 --> 01:12:20,279
peaceful
683
01:12:24,019 --> 01:12:29,498
in this new world our mammal ancestors
684
01:12:26,658 --> 01:12:29,498
are evolving
685
01:12:39,368 --> 01:12:45,368
this lake 47 million years ago in what
686
01:12:43,060 --> 01:12:48,840
will one day be Germany should be the
687
01:12:45,368 --> 01:12:48,839
perfect place to spot them
688
01:13:04,559 --> 01:13:10,309
this isn't like the mammals we saw
689
01:13:06,510 --> 01:13:17,460
earlier its eyes and brain are bigger
690
01:13:10,309 --> 01:13:19,829
this is Darwinian massive a or EDA she
691
01:13:17,460 --> 01:13:21,750
looks nothing like us but fossil
692
01:13:19,828 --> 01:13:23,549
evidence from our own time tells us
693
01:13:21,750 --> 01:13:29,420
these creatures could evolve into
694
01:13:23,550 --> 01:13:29,420
monkeys apes and eventually humans
695
01:13:31,078 --> 01:13:37,198
we're looking back through 47 million
696
01:13:33,960 --> 01:13:41,090
years of evolution to what may be one of
697
01:13:37,198 --> 01:13:41,089
our earliest known ancestors
698
01:13:43,430 --> 01:13:51,020
the lake sits on a volcanic crater it
699
01:13:47,579 --> 01:13:51,019
belches out noxious gas
700
01:13:58,738 --> 01:14:04,000
now the lake that killed her will
701
01:14:01,689 --> 01:14:06,509
preserve her in its oxygen-depleted
702
01:14:04,000 --> 01:14:06,510
deaths
703
01:14:15,270 --> 01:14:25,180
one day when the water has gone an EDA
704
01:14:19,750 --> 01:14:28,239
is fossilized in stone we will discover
705
01:14:25,180 --> 01:14:31,329
her and recognize in this primitive
706
01:14:28,239 --> 01:14:37,260
primate what could be the very beginning
707
01:14:31,329 --> 01:14:37,260
of our own story the story of human life
708
01:14:51,179 --> 01:14:55,690
we're closer to understanding how
709
01:14:53,590 --> 01:14:58,350
everything we've seen from ocean
710
01:14:55,689 --> 01:15:03,339
bacteria through walking fish and
711
01:14:58,350 --> 01:15:07,440
subterranean rodents leads to us and to
712
01:15:03,340 --> 01:15:07,440
understanding how our planet was made
713
01:15:14,770 --> 01:15:21,460
47 million years ago and the atmosphere
714
01:15:18,470 --> 01:15:21,460
is much like our own
715
01:15:23,868 --> 01:15:33,469
the temperature is 24 degrees Celsius
716
01:15:27,010 --> 01:15:35,210
and a day lasts just under 24 hours the
717
01:15:33,469 --> 01:15:38,859
earth we're looking at now is almost
718
01:15:35,210 --> 01:15:41,760
identical to the planet we call home
719
01:15:38,859 --> 01:15:41,760
almost
720
01:16:00,079 --> 01:16:06,029
the Earth's plates have been on the move
721
01:16:01,909 --> 01:16:10,699
again with the continents on their backs
722
01:16:06,029 --> 01:16:10,699
India moves north towards Asia
723
01:16:18,340 --> 01:16:24,409
the Indian and Asian plates are locked
724
01:16:21,250 --> 01:16:26,470
in a titanic struggle
725
01:16:24,409 --> 01:16:26,470
you
726
01:16:31,750 --> 01:16:38,658
neither plate is winning both plates
727
01:16:35,840 --> 01:16:41,480
begin to buckle
728
01:16:38,658 --> 01:16:43,789
what was once oh she and floor contorts
729
01:16:41,479 --> 01:16:46,509
upwards along a two and a half thousand
730
01:16:43,789 --> 01:16:46,510
kilometer line
731
01:16:52,269 --> 01:17:02,640
a vast mountain range rises up
732
01:16:56,369 --> 01:17:02,640
1,500 meters 4,500 meters
733
01:17:06,078 --> 01:17:10,208
now over 8,000 meters
734
01:17:13,118 --> 01:17:15,179
you
735
01:17:17,109 --> 01:17:21,389
these are the Himalayas
736
01:17:29,868 --> 01:17:34,839
and there it is the highest mountain of
737
01:17:33,408 --> 01:17:37,710
all
738
01:17:34,840 --> 01:17:37,710
Mount Everest
739
01:17:41,149 --> 01:17:49,719
when the snow on the peaks melts it
740
01:17:44,210 --> 01:17:54,640
feeds great rivers the Ganges Indus
741
01:17:49,720 --> 01:17:54,640
Yangtze and yellow rivers
742
01:17:57,510 --> 01:18:03,329
the Himalayas are like a vast water
743
01:17:59,880 --> 01:18:05,789
tower one day their rivers will supply
744
01:18:03,329 --> 01:18:07,909
water for almost half the world's
745
01:18:05,789 --> 01:18:07,909
population
746
01:18:22,090 --> 01:18:32,020
20 million years ago this is our planet
747
01:18:27,420 --> 01:18:34,399
with every continent every ocean just as
748
01:18:32,020 --> 01:18:39,410
we know it
749
01:18:34,399 --> 01:18:42,039
except there's one thing missing us the
750
01:18:39,409 --> 01:18:42,039
human race
751
01:18:42,328 --> 01:18:49,939
for humans to evolve something somewhere
752
01:18:46,020 --> 01:18:49,940
down there has to change
753
01:19:08,840 --> 01:19:13,760
along Africa's East Coast between the
754
01:19:11,720 --> 01:19:17,860
plates that make up the Earth's crust a
755
01:19:13,760 --> 01:19:17,860
great rift opens up
756
01:19:21,779 --> 01:19:27,170
the rift stretches nearly 6,000
757
01:19:24,630 --> 01:19:27,170
kilometers
758
01:19:30,868 --> 01:19:35,208
along its edge mountains grow
759
01:19:41,390 --> 01:19:44,020
there
760
01:19:44,729 --> 01:19:51,809
it looks like a name not a human it
761
01:19:48,510 --> 01:19:55,039
might stay in these trees forever but
762
01:19:51,809 --> 01:19:55,038
its world is changing
763
01:19:59,639 --> 01:20:05,349
the growing mountains act like a wall
764
01:20:02,698 --> 01:20:09,250
they stop moisture from the Indian Ocean
765
01:20:05,349 --> 01:20:13,420
passing over the land it's getting
766
01:20:09,250 --> 01:20:16,829
hotter and drier the lush rainforest is
767
01:20:13,420 --> 01:20:16,829
becoming arid savanna
768
01:20:18,149 --> 01:20:23,389
the new hotter climate destroys the
769
01:20:20,550 --> 01:20:23,390
creatures habitat
770
01:20:27,319 --> 01:20:33,599
it forces them to search further afield
771
01:20:30,300 --> 01:20:40,199
for food to stop dragging their knuckles
772
01:20:33,600 --> 01:20:43,590
on the floor like Apes to stand and walk
773
01:20:40,199 --> 01:20:46,880
on two feet it's the most important step
774
01:20:43,590 --> 01:20:46,880
in the human story
775
01:20:48,550 --> 01:20:54,159
this mountain range along Africa's East
776
01:20:51,100 --> 01:20:58,750
Coast could be the reason we walk on two
777
01:20:54,159 --> 01:21:00,880
feet it seems incredible the random
778
01:20:58,750 --> 01:21:03,579
movement of two plates may have
779
01:21:00,880 --> 01:21:07,140
kick-started a chain of events that will
780
01:21:03,579 --> 01:21:07,140
lead to the first humans
781
01:21:32,809 --> 01:21:41,010
the man and child it could be a scene
782
01:21:37,260 --> 01:21:44,849
from our own time but it's one and a
783
01:21:41,010 --> 01:21:47,789
half million years ago these are an
784
01:21:44,849 --> 01:21:49,939
early species of human called Homo
785
01:21:47,788 --> 01:21:49,938
erectus
786
01:21:51,289 --> 01:21:58,300
and these are the first footprints like
787
01:21:53,479 --> 01:22:01,909
our own civilizations past and present
788
01:21:58,300 --> 01:22:04,900
everyone that's ever lived the greatest
789
01:22:01,909 --> 01:22:08,689
inventions the most brilliant ideas
790
01:22:04,899 --> 01:22:14,619
human history in all its complexity and
791
01:22:08,689 --> 01:22:14,619
splendour begins here and now
792
01:22:31,538 --> 01:22:40,779
the climate changes again 70,000 years
793
01:22:37,300 --> 01:22:43,420
ago sea levels fall the gap between
794
01:22:40,779 --> 01:22:49,538
Africa and Arabia shrinks down to just
795
01:22:43,420 --> 01:22:52,149
13 kilometers the Red Sea is narrow and
796
01:22:49,538 --> 01:22:56,189
shallow enough for this small group to
797
01:22:52,149 --> 01:22:56,189
cross out of Africa
798
01:22:57,899 --> 01:23:05,119
they're another later species of human
799
01:23:01,128 --> 01:23:05,118
called Homo sapiens
800
01:23:16,889 --> 01:23:22,650
they've made it across scientists
801
01:23:21,090 --> 01:23:25,500
believe every man woman and child
802
01:23:22,649 --> 01:23:32,039
outside of Africa is descended from
803
01:23:25,500 --> 01:23:35,250
these 200 or so individuals over time
804
01:23:32,039 --> 01:23:40,310
our ancestors multiply and spread out to
805
01:23:35,250 --> 01:23:40,310
India on to Asia and into Europe
806
01:23:47,319 --> 01:23:54,719
but while humans head north a giant wall
807
01:23:50,949 --> 01:23:54,720
of ice travels south
808
01:24:04,510 --> 01:24:14,690
Europe 40,000 years ago our Homo sapiens
809
01:24:11,389 --> 01:24:18,440
ancestors are arriving only to find a
810
01:24:14,689 --> 01:24:20,988
world that's changing fast it's getting
811
01:24:18,439 --> 01:24:24,259
colder it should be the height of summer
812
01:24:20,988 --> 01:24:27,698
but the plants are frostbitten the
813
01:24:24,260 --> 01:24:27,699
rivers are frozen
814
01:24:32,579 --> 01:24:39,850
natural changes in the Earth's orbit co2
815
01:24:37,118 --> 01:24:42,639
levels and the flow of warm water around
816
01:24:39,850 --> 01:24:44,479
the planet conspire to lower the earth's
817
01:24:42,639 --> 01:24:48,288
temperature
818
01:24:44,479 --> 01:24:50,349
the earth and its inhabitants enter an
819
01:24:48,288 --> 01:24:53,050
ice age
820
01:24:50,349 --> 01:24:54,909
Glacia is as high as skyscrapers creep
821
01:24:53,050 --> 01:24:57,110
over the northern hemisphere at 30
822
01:24:54,908 --> 01:25:00,679
centimeters a day
823
01:24:57,109 --> 01:25:02,649
slow and powerful they sculpt the
824
01:25:00,679 --> 01:25:06,929
landscape as they move over it
825
01:25:02,649 --> 01:25:08,698
gouging out great depressions
826
01:25:06,929 --> 01:25:10,939
the planet will never look the same
827
01:25:08,698 --> 01:25:10,938
again
828
01:25:16,828 --> 01:25:22,759
now around 20,000 years ago they grind
829
01:25:20,908 --> 01:25:24,769
to a halt
830
01:25:22,760 --> 01:25:26,690
much of the Northern Hemisphere is
831
01:25:24,770 --> 01:25:30,770
covered by ice sheets up to two and a
832
01:25:26,689 --> 01:25:33,559
half kilometers thick with trillions of
833
01:25:30,770 --> 01:25:36,220
gallons of water locked up as ice sea
834
01:25:33,560 --> 01:25:36,220
levels fall
835
01:25:45,498 --> 01:25:50,748
twenty thousand years ago a strip of
836
01:25:48,889 --> 01:25:54,489
land emerges from the ocean between
837
01:25:50,748 --> 01:25:54,488
Siberia and Alaska
838
01:25:56,960 --> 01:26:03,380
it's a bridge between two vast
839
01:25:59,359 --> 01:26:09,199
continents a gateway that takes humans
840
01:26:03,380 --> 01:26:11,619
from Asia to a new world America it's
841
01:26:09,199 --> 01:26:15,550
the last great continent to be colonized
842
01:26:11,619 --> 01:26:18,739
the last great human migration and
843
01:26:15,550 --> 01:26:21,369
somewhere down there are the first
844
01:26:18,739 --> 01:26:21,369
Americans
845
01:26:33,010 --> 01:26:41,989
now 14,000 years ago the changes that
846
01:26:37,849 --> 01:26:43,849
triggered the ice age go into reverse as
847
01:26:41,988 --> 01:26:47,148
the ice retreats it reveals a very
848
01:26:43,849 --> 01:26:50,748
different northern hemisphere the
849
01:26:47,149 --> 01:26:53,569
glaciers gouged out huge depressions now
850
01:26:50,748 --> 01:26:56,948
they fill with water to become North
851
01:26:53,569 --> 01:26:56,949
America's Great Lakes
852
01:27:08,958 --> 01:27:18,019
6,000 years ago the ice retreats back to
853
01:27:13,139 --> 01:27:18,019
the poles to the Arctic and Antarctic
854
01:27:40,210 --> 01:27:49,989
after a four and a half billion year
855
01:27:43,210 --> 01:27:55,359
dirty we've made it we're back home this
856
01:27:49,988 --> 01:27:57,549
is our world our time now for the first
857
01:27:55,359 --> 01:28:01,210
time we can piece together our planet's
858
01:27:57,550 --> 01:28:04,180
incredible story we can understand how
859
01:28:01,210 --> 01:28:13,779
and why everything we see around us is
860
01:28:04,180 --> 01:28:18,869
here today from the skies above us to
861
01:28:13,779 --> 01:28:18,869
water the essential ingredient for life
862
01:28:20,199 --> 01:28:23,970
the ground beneath our feet
863
01:28:27,158 --> 01:28:31,559
and finally life
864
01:28:32,260 --> 01:28:39,850
the spectacular result of a chain of
865
01:28:35,449 --> 01:28:39,849
catastrophes and coincidences
866
01:28:42,380 --> 01:28:51,699
each triumph each disaster is a step on
867
01:28:47,329 --> 01:28:51,699
the trail that leads to here
868
01:28:51,890 --> 01:28:57,850
to each and every one of us right now
869
01:28:57,948 --> 01:29:02,259
the earth story doesn't end here
870
01:29:03,158 --> 01:29:09,448
a lot has happened but there's more to
871
01:29:07,300 --> 01:29:09,449
come
872
01:29:10,159 --> 01:29:18,289
the earth will live for at least another
873
01:29:12,560 --> 01:29:20,960
four and a half billion years everything
874
01:29:18,289 --> 01:29:23,289
we've seen on our journey is only half
875
01:29:20,960 --> 01:29:23,289
the story
876
01:29:25,689 --> 01:29:32,679
just imagine what wonders what terrors
877
01:29:29,340 --> 01:29:36,900
what strange creatures lie ahead for our
878
01:29:32,680 --> 01:29:36,900
Restless creative planet
879
01:29:40,989 --> 01:29:47,789
the next chapter of Earth's story is
880
01:29:44,859 --> 01:29:47,789
still to be written
881
01:29:49,109 --> 01:29:53,339
take another epic voyage in journey
882
01:29:51,359 --> 01:29:54,329
through the Milky Way brand-new next
883
01:29:53,340 --> 01:29:59,300
Sunday at 7:00
884
01:29:54,329 --> 01:29:59,300
stay tuned for 2012 the final prophecy
67636
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