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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.

Overview

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.

About

Stuart Sutherland

I love investigating life's story and how major geological events have colored that story. I am also passionate about helping people 'read the rocks' so they can peel back the pages of Earth's history for themselves.

INSTITUTION

The University of British Columbia

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.

By This Professor

A New History of Life
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Introduction to Paleontology
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A New History of Life

Trailer

The Interconnected Earth

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
The Vast Depths of Earth Time

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
Fossil Clocks

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
Paleontologists as Detectives

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
The Shifting Surface of Planet Earth

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
Earliest Origins-Formation of the Planet

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
Origins of Land, Ocean, and Air

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
The Early Chemical Evolution of Life

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
Hints of the First Life Forms

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
How Life Transformed the Early Earth

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
Snowball Earth-Another Crisis

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
Metazoans-Life Grows Up

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
Incredible Variety-The Cambrian Explosion

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
Window to a Lost World-The Burgess Shale

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
The Forgotten Fossils in Earth's Story

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
Introduction to the Great Mass Extinctions

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
The Collapse of Earth's First Eden

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
Making the Break for Land

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
Getting a Backbone-The Story of Vertebrates

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
The Evolution of Jaws

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
These Limbs Were Made for Walking?

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
Tiktaalik-The Search for a Fishapod

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
Carboniferous Giants and Coal

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
Amniotes-The Shape of Things to Come

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
Permian Extinction-Life's Worst Catastrophe

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
Finding the Killer-The Greenhouse Earth

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
The Dinosaurs Take Over

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
Letting the Dinosaurs Speak-Paleobehavior

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
Conquering the Air-The Evolution of Flight

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
Monsters of the Deep-Mesozoic Oceans

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
The Cretaceous Earth-A Tropical Planet

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
The Sky Is Falling-End of the Dinosaurs

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
The Collision of North and South America

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
The Rise of Mammals and the Last Ice Age

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
The Humble Origins of Human Beings

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
The Conscious Earth

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