Could our planet have been seeded with life from elsewhere? How have natural forces conspired to remove most traces of life from the planet? And how has life itself responded with determination to survive and thrive in a multitude of astonishing forms? Learn about the amazing story of our world- its origins, extinctions, and evolutions-in the 36 lavishly illustrated lectures of A New History of Life. This is a gripping presentation that assumes no background in science.
A New History of Life
Learn the history of life in a dramatic new way with this fascinating course that draws upon biology, earth science, and other disciplines to explain life's mysterious origins.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Rilla from
Informative and interesting.
Even though his jokes is not that good, the lectures are, he present it in a manner that make it easy to follow and remember, and makes you study the subject further. And a nice level when BBC, NOVA etc gets too easy.
Date published: 2024-03-30
Rated 5 out of
5
by
WaltAS from
Fascinating
This course is fascinating and I learned a lot.
The professor and course materials are excellent.
Highly recommend this course in video format.
Also suggest you clip the page in book that provides time lines for various periods.
Date published: 2023-10-09
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Dr Barry from
Preaching
As I enter the 4th disc our speaker becomes a bit of a preacher.
We have to be careful of what we say about people from the past and name-calling. As individuals if we were in that time we may have been as or more bigoted. Our deductions from gathered knowledge leads to theories which are our best guesses. Hope he gets back on track for the remaining lectures.
Date published: 2023-02-27
Rated 5 out of
5
by
AngloWelsh47 from
Thoroughly enjoyed this presentation. It gave me not only a lot of information on the history of the earth from geological and life form perspectives, but also the process of scientific hypotheses and how they are tried, tested and altered over time,
Date published: 2022-12-01
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Hoatzin from
Watched "Paleontology?" This is still wonderful!
Seven months ago, I gave a strong recommendation for Dr. Sutherland’s course on Paleontology. That course was released in 2016. I was a bit hesitant to spend time watching this longer course as the two seem to have the same trajectory and sometimes similar lecture titles. However, a helpful reviewer, dpil003, noted that the there was “very little overlap of subjects.” What I enjoyed was that this course, released in 2013, explored each time period more in depth, and the two courses seem to complement each other. This course interweaves the geosphere (volcanoes and rocks), the hydrosphere (the waters – oceans, rivers, etc.), the atmosphere, and the biosphere (living organisms) and explains how they have interacted with each other over eons. Lots of amazing life forms, wild temperature swings, theories for major extinctions, and enough information that should leave you in awe of volcanoes.
It’s enriched with lots of graphics (ranging from videos and photos, paintings and murals, to a crayon drawing) and rock and fossil samples.
GoodByeCaffeine made an excellent point, the spiral timeline was not really useful. This graphic should be static and have readable labels. Fortunately, a good table is on page 249 of the guidebook. I did have one other criticism, and I finally realized it was so petty that I should not dim a star on an otherwise outstanding course. It appears that Dr. Sutherland refers to a teleprompter and occasionally erroneously anticipates what the next word is going to be causing him to do a quick correction. This was more common in this series than in the Paleontology course.
The guidebook is an excellent digest of the lectures. Dr. Sutherland does supplement the information with plenty of additional examples, but the core elements of the lectures are in the guidebook.
Date published: 2022-11-28
Rated 5 out of
5
by
PT 74 from
Exceptional
This is one of the best courses I have ever taken on Wondrium. It has truly changed my view of the world. I will be taking this course again.
Date published: 2022-07-12
Rated 5 out of
5
by
jannym2 from
new knowledge
I just finished watching all the episodes and love it all so much I want to watch it all over again wonderful!
Date published: 2022-05-19
Rated 5 out of
5
by
janny 2 m from
new knowledge
I love all the new knowledge that this course has giving me and all explained in a format that is easy to follow and always interesting
Date published: 2022-04-30
Overview
About
Dr. Stuart Sutherland is a Professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at The University of British Columbia (UBC). Raised in the United Kingdom, he earned an undergraduate degree in geology from the University of Plymouth and a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from the University of Leicester for his studies on Silurian microfossils called chitinozoa. Professor Sutherland discovered his passion for teaching during an appointment at Brunel University in London. He went on to postdoctoral research at the Natural History Museum in London, working with other paleontologists to understand the Devonian organic-walled microfossils of the Cantabrian Mountains of northern Spain. During this time, he completed a postgraduate teaching degree at Sheffield Hallam University. Since 2000, Professor Sutherland has been on the faculty at UBC's Vancouver campus, where his interests center on Earth history and paleontology. He is a three-time winner of the UBC Earth and Ocean Sciences Teaching Award. He also received the Faculty of Science Teaching Award and the Killam Teaching Prize, and he was named a "popular professor" in two editions of Maclean's Guide to Canadian Universities.
Trailer
01: The Interconnected Earth
Begin the story of life on Earth with an overview of the unifying idea that will govern your exploration. Called Earth system science, this approach views Earth as an integrated network comprising the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. Sample the complex interactions between these realms.
30 min
02: The Vast Depths of Earth Time
How was the great antiquity of Earth discovered? Survey the observations that led to the concept of deep time and, in the process, developed the tools that can read the story in rocks. End with a striking analogy that puts human time into perspective.
31 min
03: Fossil Clocks
Delve into biostratigraphy, the study of fossil sequences in rock strata. The discovery that different layers of rock are characterized by distinctive fossils solved the problem of correlating sedimentary strata from different regions. This led to the geological time scale, initiating a revolution in Earth science.
29 min
04: Paleontologists as Detectives
Learn how paleontologists interpret fossils to reconstruct the traits and environments of extinct life forms. Examine some of the pitfalls of the field, including cultural biases that can lead to doubtful conclusions, such as that Tyrannosaurus rex was as terrible as depicted in the movies.
30 min
05: The Shifting Surface of Planet Earth
The history of science is marked by ideas that were before their time. One of the most important was Alfred Wegener's concept of continental drift, which was revived in the theory of plate tectonics. Explore the role that fossils played in this original grand unifying theory of geology.
29 min
06: Earliest Origins-Formation of the Planet
Turn back the clock to Earth's earliest epoch, focusing on these questions: How did the solar system form and why do we live on a layered, differentiated planet? What do these events and the formation of the moon have to do with the evolution and development of life on Earth?
29 min
07: Origins of Land, Ocean, and Air
Investigate the origin of Earth's ocean. Then track down the oldest rocks on the planet, which shed light on the first continents. Also explore the nature of Earth's primordial atmosphere and why we are surrounded by a thick blanket of air despite periodic blasts of charged particles from the sun.
29 min
08: The Early Chemical Evolution of Life
Probe possible scenarios for the origin of life, from the "warm little pond" filled with organic compounds that Charles Darwin envisioned, to deep ocean environments energized by volcanic vents. Sharpen the search by defining the properties that the earliest life must have had.
28 min
09: Hints of the First Life Forms
Did Martian meteorites seed the young Earth with simple life forms? Investigate this intriguing hypothesis. Then embark on a quest for Earth's oldest fossils, exploring their connection to organisms still found on the planet today, some of them hidden deep within the crust.
31 min
10: How Life Transformed the Early Earth
Trace the perils of life on the early Earth. Having survived a seething period of volcanism and a withering bombardment by asteroids, bacteria-like organisms flourished and began to transform the planet. Learn how their success was almost their undoing.
29 min
11: Snowball Earth-Another Crisis
Follow the clues that suggest Earth went through a snowball phase around 635 million years ago, nearly ending life's story. How did it happen? How was it reversed? And above all, how did photosynthetic life survive if it was trapped beneath the ice for millions of years?
29 min
12: Metazoans-Life Grows Up
Make the transition to multicellular life, which grew in complexity as oxygen levels increased in the atmosphere, supporting creatures with more intricate metabolisms. This portion of the fossil record long eluded paleontologists, partly because few expected to find signs of life in ancient Precambrian rock.
29 min
13: Incredible Variety-The Cambrian Explosion
The Cambrian period is notable for its immense variety of animals with many different body plans. In an explosion of diversification, shells, teeth, eyes, and other innovations emerged as creatures competed in an evolutionary arms race. Investigate the key factors driving this transformation.
28 min
14: Window to a Lost World-The Burgess Shale
In 1909, paleontologist Charles Walcott chanced on one of the most remarkable fossil finds in history: the Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rockies. Tour some of this quarry's astonishing specimens, which brought the world of the Cambrian explosion to vivid life.
30 min
15: The Forgotten Fossils in Earth's Story
Survey fossils that are often neglected in popular accounts of the history of life. Begin with corals and the reefs they build, which were teeming with invertebrates hundreds of millions of years ago. Then turn to micropaleontology, which is one of Professor Sutherland's research areas.
31 min
16: Introduction to the Great Mass Extinctions
Earth's fossil record is punctuated with episodes when large fractions of all species abruptly disappeared. Examine the distinction between background extinction and mass extinction. Then look for factors that lead to these periodic catastrophes, and search beyond Earth for a possible explanation.
29 min
17: The Collapse of Earth's First Eden
Five mass extinctions have occurred in the last 500 million years. Focus on the first of these, which extinguished the tropical paradise that flourished in the Ordovician period. Did plate tectonics initiate this radical transformation? Or could the cause have been extraterrestrial?
29 min
18: Making the Break for Land
Consider the adaptations needed to make the transition from the buoyant, nourishing realm of water onto the perilous dry land, with its temperature extremes and relentless pull of gravity. Plants and animals each evolved unique adaptations to make this daring leap.
29 min
19: Getting a Backbone-The Story of Vertebrates
Search for the earliest vertebrates, which arose from chordates-animals with a rod-shaped notochord. Also probe the mystery of an extinct chordate called the conodont, which is valuable in oil exploration. Finally, discover why we have calcium phosphate skeletons.
30 min
20: The Evolution of Jaws
The first vertebrates were easy targets for killer arthropods and other marine predators. What eventually gave them the upper hand? Trace the circuitous evolution of jaws and the rapid development of fish that followed. Also crucial was the internal skeleton, which has some surprising advantages.
28 min
21: These Limbs Were Made for Walking?
How did vertebrates make the leap from water to land? Follow the quest for evolutionary transitional forms for land-dwelling vertebrates, focusing on the competing theories of gradualism and punctuated equilibrium. The answer to the puzzle may lie in a transitional environment between water and land.
30 min
22: Tiktaalik-The Search for a Fishapod
Hunt for the fishapod-the missing link between fish and four-limbed vertebrates, or tetrapods. Begin by investigating some "living fossils," including the celebrated Coelacanth. Then join the expedition led by paleontologist Neil Shubin that discovered Tiktaalik, a fossil fishapod that made worldwide headlines.
30 min
23: Carboniferous Giants and Coal
Most of the world's coal deposits were laid down in the Carboniferous period, about 300 million years ago. Tour the global environment that created this unique formation and spawned many evolutionary innovations, including the amniotic egg. Also, discover why insects were much larger then than today.
30 min
24: Amniotes-The Shape of Things to Come
Search for the origin of amniotes, which are egg-laying tetrapods, such as reptiles. Delve into the history of classification systems for life. The Linnaean system is based on resemblances between organisms. Learn why the more recent cladistic system, based on shared characteristics, implies that there is no such thing as a reptile.
30 min
25: Permian Extinction-Life's Worst Catastrophe
Examine the full extent of the cataclysm that swept Earth 251 million years ago. Called the End-Permian extinction, the event left a chilling fossil record. Survey the clues that show land and ocean ecosystems collapsing, wiping out 95% of all plants and animal species.
30 min
26: Finding the Killer-The Greenhouse Earth
Track down the smoking gun for the End-Permian extinction. Whatever was behind it plunged Earth into an intense greenhouse effect, turning the land into desert and throwing marine ecosystems into a death spiral. Probe a diverse range of theories before settling on the probable cause.
30 min
27: The Dinosaurs Take Over
From the reptile populations that struggled through the End-Permian extinction, the dinosaurs ultimately emerged. What conditions promoted their evolution and eventual domination of the biosphere? And what other living things shared the planet with these paleontological celebrities?
29 min
28: Letting the Dinosaurs Speak-Paleobehavior
How accurate are portrayals of dinosaurs in today's media? Learn what the fossil record says about how dinosaurs actually looked and lived. Also, probe the theory that dinosaurs were warm- rather than cold-blooded, which has important implications for their behavior.
31 min
29: Conquering the Air-The Evolution of Flight
Take to the air to discover how creatures evolved the ability to fly. Insects made the leap first, aided by their small size. Feathered dinosaurs are thought to be the progenitors of birds. Unravel the avian link to dinosaur species such as Archaeopteryx and Microraptor.
29 min
30: Monsters of the Deep-Mesozoic Oceans
Plunge into the oceans of the Mesozoic era, 251-65.5 million years ago, discovering that some creatures look familiar, while others are incredibly alien. The descendants of one monster of the Mesozoic, the plesiosaur, supposedly survive today in Scotland's Loch Ness. Weigh the evidence for and against these reports.
30 min
31: The Cretaceous Earth-A Tropical Planet
Conditions in the mid- to late-Cretaceous were unusually tropical worldwide, with very high sea levels. As a test case in modeling ancient climates, study factors that may explain this remarkable episode in Earth's history. Also explore what it meant for life to exist in a global hothouse.
30 min
32: The Sky Is Falling-End of the Dinosaurs
Study the most famous mass extinction of all: the disappearance of more than half of all species, including the dinosaurs, at the end of the Cretaceous period, 65.5 million years ago. Follow the clues that suggest an extraterrestrial impact caused a cascade of catastrophes.
30 min
33: The Collision of North and South America
By the extinction of the dinosaurs, the continents were closing in on the configuration they have today-except North and South America had not yet joined. Tour the distinct flora and fauna of South America before its isolation ended with the land bridge to the north.
29 min
34: The Rise of Mammals and the Last Ice Age
Mammals evolved at the same time as the dinosaurs but did not come into their own until well after their much larger competitors went extinct. Trace the rise of mammals and their domination through a series of glacial cycles, including the present interglacial period.
29 min
35: The Humble Origins of Human Beings
Bearing in mind that humans are a transitional species, not the climax of creation, chart our humble origins and the source of our most distinctive feature: a large brain. Study the fossil record to learn which came first: a big brain or bipedal posture.
30 min
36: The Conscious Earth
Close your exploration of the history of life on Earth by charting the evolution of consciousness. When did our progenitors first become self-aware, and what were the implications for the success of humans as a species? Finally, what are our prospects for spreading the biosphere beyond Earth itself?
37 min
