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Our universe was born some
15 billion years ago-
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-in a great eruption
we call "The Big Bang".
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00:00:41,833 --> 00:00:47,046
Space dilated and billions
of galaxies formed in the cosmos.
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00:00:47,505 --> 00:00:51,967
Each galaxy contains
billions of stars.
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00:00:54,721 --> 00:00:59,058
Black holes too,
made their appearance.
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00:02:18,012 --> 00:02:21,056
In one of the vast
spirals of our own galaxy-
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00:02:21,141 --> 00:02:24,184
-the Milky Way -
the Sun and the Earth-
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00:02:24,227 --> 00:02:29,148
-five billion years ago,
first took the cosmic stage.
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00:02:31,067 --> 00:02:36,029
This film tells the story of life's
beginnings and its evolution.
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00:02:36,072 --> 00:02:38,615
We will see
as the tale unfolds.
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00:02:38,658 --> 00:02:43,120
Forms of life, much like
the earliest to exist on Earth.
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00:02:43,163 --> 00:02:46,957
Most of which
have been long extinct.
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00:02:52,172 --> 00:02:54,173
The Sun,
with its immense corona,-
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00:02:54,215 --> 00:02:57,551
-was the energy source
that fueled our corner of the universe-
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00:02:57,594 --> 00:03:00,220
-when the Earth
was but a gigantic furnace.
16
00:04:31,062 --> 00:04:33,939
The first rocks
began to crystallize.
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00:04:38,945 --> 00:04:41,863
Slowly, the Earth cooled.
18
00:04:52,292 --> 00:04:54,543
This Earth was a desert...
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00:04:54,585 --> 00:04:58,797
No animals, no plants, no life.
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00:04:58,840 --> 00:05:00,507
And no blue skies-
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00:05:00,550 --> 00:05:04,261
-for the atmosphere
contained no oxygen.
22
00:05:12,979 --> 00:05:15,939
There was no water
on the Earth's surface.
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00:05:15,982 --> 00:05:22,321
Cast forth by volcanic eruptions,
it collected all of it in the skies above.
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00:05:45,511 --> 00:05:47,971
The first rain...
25
00:05:59,484 --> 00:06:03,570
Boiling hot, it poured down
for millions of years.
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00:06:18,586 --> 00:06:23,590
Because of the Earth's mass
and its position relative to the Sun-
27
00:06:23,633 --> 00:06:28,011
-its atmosphere did not drift of
into the cosmic void.
28
00:06:30,598 --> 00:06:34,267
Water was helled
to the Earth's surface-
29
00:06:34,310 --> 00:06:37,979
-as a liquid, as a solid,
and as a gas.
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00:06:50,118 --> 00:06:52,327
The oceans formed.
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00:06:58,876 --> 00:07:01,420
It was in water that life began-
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00:07:01,462 --> 00:07:04,005
-almost 4 billion years ago.
33
00:07:04,882 --> 00:07:06,633
But how?
34
00:07:07,552 --> 00:07:11,972
It could have been in the dark depths
were sulphureous springs bubbled up-
35
00:07:12,014 --> 00:07:14,599
-heated by the Earth's magma.
36
00:07:31,784 --> 00:07:34,578
Or it could have been in pools
of organic matter-
37
00:07:34,620 --> 00:07:37,456
-where space dust
had come to rest.
38
00:07:55,725 --> 00:07:59,102
Or it maybe that minerals
provided a scaffolding-
39
00:07:59,145 --> 00:08:02,481
-around which living matter
organized itself.
40
00:08:28,090 --> 00:08:30,509
What was this life?
41
00:08:30,551 --> 00:08:34,095
At first just a group of molecules
enclosed in a membrane-
42
00:08:34,138 --> 00:08:37,390
-drawing energy from beyond itself
and reproducing-
43
00:08:37,433 --> 00:08:41,228
-whether by duplication or in forms
that alter and diversify.
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00:09:07,922 --> 00:09:09,673
All species
are thought to descend-
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-from a common forerunner that
appeared almost 4 billion years ago.
46
00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:20,433
We call it: "The Luca".
The last universal common ancestor.
47
00:09:29,151 --> 00:09:32,112
The first living beings
were bacteria.
48
00:09:32,154 --> 00:09:36,950
They drew their energy from a chemical
reaction called chemosynthesis.
49
00:09:40,079 --> 00:09:43,039
Some unicellular creatures,
cyan bacteria,-
50
00:09:43,082 --> 00:09:47,377
-used the Sun's luminous energy
to produce oxygen.
51
00:09:47,420 --> 00:09:50,213
This was the first
photosynthesis.
52
00:09:50,256 --> 00:09:53,883
A process later to be adopted
by chlorophylling plants.
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00:10:21,787 --> 00:10:26,625
Oxygen was still a rare gas
and a danger to living things.
54
00:10:26,667 --> 00:10:28,543
Expelled into the air,-
55
00:10:28,586 --> 00:10:33,506
-slowly it altered the atmospheres
character and its properties.
56
00:10:37,595 --> 00:10:40,138
About one and a half
billion years ago-
57
00:10:40,181 --> 00:10:41,848
-the cell developed a nucleus-
58
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-enabling it to protect its genes
with a surrounding membrane.
59
00:10:45,978 --> 00:10:48,980
Life will have remained
microscopic and unicellular-
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00:10:49,023 --> 00:10:51,858
-for almost three billion years.
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00:10:51,901 --> 00:10:55,278
Every drop of water
contained a world.
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00:10:55,321 --> 00:10:58,782
700 million years after
the nucleolus emerged-
63
00:10:58,824 --> 00:11:03,203
-the first multi cellular
organisms began to appear.
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00:11:08,751 --> 00:11:13,755
In time, life's basic behavior patterns
began to assert themselves.
65
00:11:13,798 --> 00:11:17,092
Movement...and feeling.
66
00:11:20,137 --> 00:11:22,222
Now we had a food chain.
67
00:11:22,264 --> 00:11:25,475
A balance evolved
between plant and animal life,-
68
00:11:25,518 --> 00:11:28,687
-with the latter most often
consuming the former.
69
00:12:21,323 --> 00:12:24,117
Cell division
took care of reproduction.
70
00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:28,496
The simple principle
of one cell splitting to become two.
71
00:12:28,998 --> 00:12:32,876
Asexual replication,
life on the assembly line.
72
00:12:32,918 --> 00:12:36,755
Efficient, but rather
lacking in innovation.
73
00:12:36,839 --> 00:12:40,675
Some unicellular creatures
began to join forces.
74
00:12:40,718 --> 00:12:44,512
Enhancing the size and complexity
of living beings.
75
00:12:44,555 --> 00:12:47,098
The sponge,
long thought to be a plant,-
76
00:12:47,141 --> 00:12:50,351
-was one of the first animals
to live in a colony.
77
00:12:52,146 --> 00:12:54,606
Life had been
exclusively unicellular-
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00:12:54,648 --> 00:12:57,692
-for almost
three billion years.
79
00:12:57,777 --> 00:13:00,695
But then,
for 670 million years,-
80
00:13:00,738 --> 00:13:05,658
-invertebrate multi-cellular marine
animals were to have their day.
81
00:13:08,204 --> 00:13:11,372
Tiny animals
together with micro algae-
82
00:13:11,415 --> 00:13:14,209
-formed enormous coral reefs.
83
00:13:28,849 --> 00:13:32,894
The coral was constructed
for the most part by colonies of polyps.
84
00:13:32,937 --> 00:13:35,980
Minute tubular creatures
topped with tentacles-
85
00:13:36,023 --> 00:13:38,900
-that reeled in
microscopic plankton.
86
00:13:40,569 --> 00:13:43,279
These tiny strangely-
shaped invertebrates-
87
00:13:43,322 --> 00:13:46,616
-provided most of the
nourishment for the coral reef.
88
00:14:12,852 --> 00:14:15,812
Eventually these
multi cellular animals-
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00:14:15,855 --> 00:14:18,857
-sprouted organs
with specific attributes.
90
00:14:19,859 --> 00:14:23,403
The sea urchin's ambulacra
moved it along...
91
00:14:23,946 --> 00:14:26,739
...while its spines protected it.
92
00:14:43,632 --> 00:14:48,011
The sea urchin's mouth and teeth
were set on an axis.
93
00:14:57,104 --> 00:15:00,732
This axial symmetry
showed up also in starfish,-
94
00:15:00,774 --> 00:15:04,027
-brittie stars
and feather stars.
95
00:15:39,104 --> 00:15:43,608
This spiral tube worm
deploys its branchiae.
96
00:15:55,329 --> 00:16:00,583
Oxygen given of by algae monopolized
more and more of the atmosphere.
97
00:16:00,626 --> 00:16:03,378
The sky took on
the hue we know today.
98
00:16:03,420 --> 00:16:05,964
While there was
still no life on dry land,-
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00:16:06,006 --> 00:16:08,925
-it was burgeoning
beneath the sea.
100
00:16:19,561 --> 00:16:21,646
A little over one billion
years ago-
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00:16:21,689 --> 00:16:25,024
-life on Earth
made an quantum leap.
102
00:16:25,067 --> 00:16:28,403
Life forms began
to reproduce sexually.
103
00:16:32,157 --> 00:16:34,951
Starfish undertook
countless fertilizations-
104
00:16:34,994 --> 00:16:37,495
-without ever touching.
105
00:16:46,213 --> 00:16:48,631
Sea urchins,
male and female,-
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00:16:48,674 --> 00:16:52,802
-released their seed into
the water at the same time.
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00:17:52,404 --> 00:17:57,116
Clouds of sperm intermingled
with clouds of ovules.
108
00:18:01,622 --> 00:18:03,414
What seems
wasteful to us-
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00:18:03,457 --> 00:18:07,960
-helped compensate for the dangers
future larva would face.
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00:18:12,382 --> 00:18:14,926
A sperm cell could now merge
with an ovule-
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00:18:14,968 --> 00:18:16,761
-and produce a fertilized egg-
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00:18:16,804 --> 00:18:21,516
-who's genes came half from one parent
and half from the other.
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00:18:23,060 --> 00:18:25,728
Fertilization
brought with it diversity,-
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-each organism unique.
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00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:31,109
And with new
genetic horizons opening up-
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00:18:31,151 --> 00:18:34,362
-evolution moved into high gear.
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Dividing, the egg transformed
it self into a larvae.
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00:19:02,683 --> 00:19:05,184
These larvae,
mixed with the plankton,-
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00:19:05,227 --> 00:19:07,937
-disseminated the species.
120
00:19:11,692 --> 00:19:14,485
The larvae of the sea urchin.
121
00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:21,159
The larvae of the scallop.
122
00:19:31,879 --> 00:19:33,921
The larvae of the starfish...
123
00:19:33,964 --> 00:19:38,593
...all swept away by the prevailing
currents to mature and grow to adulthood-
124
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-far from their origins.
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00:19:48,145 --> 00:19:50,980
To give fertilization
more of an edge-
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00:19:51,023 --> 00:19:53,816
-some species
began to meet in the flesh.
127
00:20:31,104 --> 00:20:34,774
Sea slugs,
being both male and female,-
128
00:20:34,816 --> 00:20:37,860
-formed a mating chain.
129
00:21:15,274 --> 00:21:19,694
Sexual reproduction
was a resounding success.
130
00:21:21,154 --> 00:21:23,656
It was 600 million years ago,-
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00:21:23,699 --> 00:21:28,035
-and life in its infinite variety
had come into its own.
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00:21:28,078 --> 00:21:31,080
Diversity had won the day.
133
00:22:04,156 --> 00:22:06,741
One of the great success
stories of evolution-
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00:22:06,783 --> 00:22:08,075
-was the copepoda.
135
00:22:08,118 --> 00:22:12,496
Which were more numerous then
any other animal group on the planet.
136
00:22:14,333 --> 00:22:18,836
These tiny crustaceans
were an important link in the food chain.
137
00:22:19,463 --> 00:22:21,881
Carried along
by the ocean currents-
138
00:22:21,923 --> 00:22:25,092
-they were a major
constituent of plankton.
139
00:22:48,367 --> 00:22:52,661
Many plankton were
translucent and gelatinous.
140
00:24:09,072 --> 00:24:14,994
Like some of these creatures
the Venu's Girdle was quite large.
141
00:24:32,971 --> 00:24:37,641
10.000 feet down,
in the vicinity of hot springs-
142
00:24:37,684 --> 00:24:43,355
-and under extreme conditions
life continued to flourish.
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00:25:31,530 --> 00:25:36,909
Minerals in the water made possible
the development of shells and bony plates.
144
00:25:50,799 --> 00:25:52,591
The shell of
the horseshoe crab-
145
00:25:52,676 --> 00:25:56,554
-has warded of its enemies
for millions of centuries.
146
00:26:37,345 --> 00:26:39,346
Mollusks,
such as the nautilus,-
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00:26:39,389 --> 00:26:44,310
-have survived virtually unchanged
for 500 million years.
148
00:26:45,687 --> 00:26:50,691
Now came the eye, a huge leap
forward in evolutionary terms.
149
00:26:50,734 --> 00:26:55,696
The first photosensitive cells
began to produce an actual image.
150
00:26:58,992 --> 00:27:02,244
The eye of the cuttlefish
was already highly developed.
151
00:27:04,122 --> 00:27:07,583
Capturing prey was no longer
a hit and miss affair.
152
00:27:07,626 --> 00:27:10,919
The eye allowed
for a sure and steady aim.
153
00:27:16,843 --> 00:27:19,595
The more efficient
the eye became,-
154
00:27:19,638 --> 00:27:22,348
-the more invisible
you had to be.
155
00:28:00,679 --> 00:28:06,016
The octopus learned to camouflage
it self by mimicking its surroundings.
156
00:28:14,859 --> 00:28:20,364
This six-foot-long sea cucumber
assumed the color of the seabed.
157
00:28:29,708 --> 00:28:35,337
While another species of sea cucumber
used gluey filaments to defend it self.
158
00:28:56,484 --> 00:28:58,902
Weapons became
more sophisticated.
159
00:28:58,945 --> 00:29:01,780
Stingers, darts and
venom-tipped tentacles,-
160
00:29:01,823 --> 00:29:05,200
-like those of this
formidable sea anemone.
161
00:30:59,983 --> 00:31:03,694
Evolution did not
always proceed smoothly.
162
00:31:04,487 --> 00:31:06,864
There were several
massive extinctions-
163
00:31:06,906 --> 00:31:09,700
-due most often
to climate change.
164
00:31:09,742 --> 00:31:15,789
530 million years ago, 80% of
the existing species died off.
165
00:31:15,832 --> 00:31:21,128
Much of this fauna, in fossil form,
has been found in Burgess, Canada.
166
00:31:22,046 --> 00:31:25,424
Fortunately, pikaia, the forerunner
of all vertebrates,-
167
00:31:25,466 --> 00:31:28,552
-is among the 20% that survived.
168
00:31:32,098 --> 00:31:34,391
The lancelet,
which resembles the pikaia,-
169
00:31:34,434 --> 00:31:38,729
-is thought to be the
evolutionary precursor of the fish.
170
00:31:56,456 --> 00:32:00,250
Despite its plant-like appearance,
the ascidian was an animal,-
171
00:32:00,293 --> 00:32:03,337
-a close relative
of the vertebrates.
172
00:32:10,762 --> 00:32:13,221
Among the plankton
there were many animals,-
173
00:32:13,264 --> 00:32:15,682
-such as the salpa
and the appendicularia,-
174
00:32:15,725 --> 00:32:18,894
-both ancestors
of the vertebrates.
175
00:33:20,331 --> 00:33:26,211
About 400 million years ago the first
shell-free animals began to appear.
176
00:33:26,254 --> 00:33:30,966
They had solid flesh and
an internal skeleton.
177
00:33:31,009 --> 00:33:36,513
First came the cartilaginous fish
like the ray and the shark.
178
00:33:42,770 --> 00:33:45,522
Then...fish with bones.
179
00:33:54,198 --> 00:33:56,491
All these extravagantly
formed animals-
180
00:33:56,534 --> 00:34:00,662
-testify to the richness
of the evolutionary process.
181
00:34:01,748 --> 00:34:04,416
The sea horse.
182
00:34:07,170 --> 00:34:10,047
The crocodile fish.
183
00:35:33,047 --> 00:35:35,298
The lung fish was one
of the first creatures-
184
00:35:35,341 --> 00:35:38,176
-to emerge from the sea
and to breathe in the air,-
185
00:35:38,219 --> 00:35:41,263
-now abundant in oxygen.
186
00:35:44,642 --> 00:35:48,353
Enjoying the plants and the insects
that have proceeded it-
187
00:35:48,396 --> 00:35:51,314
-and inaugurated
a whole new saga-
188
00:35:51,357 --> 00:35:55,402
-as the vertebrates began their
conquest of the continents.
189
00:35:56,028 --> 00:35:58,113
One chapter was over...
190
00:35:58,156 --> 00:36:00,740
...another was ready to begin.
191
00:36:05,163 --> 00:36:09,374
Life began in water
four billion years ago.
192
00:36:09,417 --> 00:36:14,838
It has existed on dry land
for only 400 million years.
16169
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