Scientists have found this same layer all around the world. Below it fossils from countless species, above it 70% of them are gone including the dinosaurs. ibid.
The iridium suggested that sixty-five million years ago a massive asteroid hit the planet. At the exact same time as the death of the dinosaurs. ibid.
Sudden and dramatic climate change: dust and ash blocked out the sun; temperatures dropped like a stone and kept on dropping thanks to the impact’s location; the blast generated incredible heat; it vaporised the rock and blasted tons of sulphur dioxide into the air; it mixed with water in the atmosphere to form sulphuric acid droplets: and that was a disaster. ibid.
Carbon dioxide choked the planet. Temperatures increased by around 20 degrees Celsius over the next hundred years. It was global warming on a fast track. ibid.
It was the meek – the burrowers and the scavengers – who inherited the Earth. ibid.
The world has suffered from a series of global catastrophes. Disasters that have wiped out 99% of all the species that have ever lived. But the forces that wiped out many of our ancestors are still at work today. All we have to protect us is a wisp of atmosphere, and all we have to stand on is a thin crust. Mankind could be the next dominant species to face extinction. This is the story of how vulnerable we really are. Tony Robinson, Catastrophe V: Survival Earth
Finally, and under a minute to midnight, a tough new species marched toward world domination. They spread rapidly adapting to every challenge. This new species was homo sapiens – us. ibid.
In India genetic diversity is much much lower than it should be. [Dr Stephen] Oppenheimer believes some kind of disaster must have struck India’s early settlers. ibid.
Toba is an Indonesian super-volcano. Its last eruption is described by volcanologists as mega-colossal – that’s as big as it gets. The date 74,000 years ago. ibid.
The Ring of Fire is the chain of volcanoes that surrounds the Pacific Ocean. It’s the world’s most volcanically active region. ibid.
The Toba eruption was the biggest on Earth for two million years. ibid.
The bigger the magma chamber the bigger the eruption. ibid.
The real killer would be volcanic ash. It’s thought that Toba’s eruption column reached the very edge of space. ibid.
The Montreal Ice Storm exposed our society’s Achilles heel. Our reliance on near-perfect conditions. ibid.
Asteroids have struck Earth throughout history. ibid.
An ice sheet could have masked the impact of a powerful impact 13,000 years ago. ibid.
Another force has helped create the planet we live on – plants. Professor Iain Stewart, How to Grow a Planet I: Life From Light, BBC 2012
Sequoias are the single largest life-form on Earth. ibid.
South Vietnam ... A rainforest inside a cave. ibid.
Oxygen changed our planet ... Geologists call it the Great Oxidation Event. ibid.
Most of the world’s oceans were purple too. ibid.
Roots and the soil they created were unstoppable ... Plants create oxygen as a waste product ... Leaves were the answer to all plants’ breathing problems. ibid.
Dinosaurs – it’s the meat-eaters that get all the press. But recent research has revealed that out of the seven hundred species discovered over two thirds were herbivores. Vegetarians ruled. ibid.
Plants and their ancestors have revolutionised our planet. ibid.
Flowers are central to culture throughout the world. Professor Iain Stewart, How to Grow a Planet II: The Power of Flowers
The emergence of flowers is one of the biggest turning points in Earth’s history. ibid.
Some of these trees chuck out five tons of water every day. ibid.
Where there is water and light, flowers have produced life. ibid.
Flowers use animals to help them distribute their seeds. ibid.
Fruit is one of the most remarkable transformations in Nature. ibid.
Colour helped give primates the advantage. ibid.
Flowers drive the evolution of animals, especially primates. ibid.
But the dinosaurs days of grazing were about to end abruptly. Sixty five million years ago an asteroid ten kilometres wide across killed them off. The grasses survived. But they in turn would face their own crisis. ibid.
This is the oldest forest in Africa. A relic really of a time when trees dominated the planet. So this really has a feeling descended into that lost world. Professor Iain Stewart, How to Grow a Planet III: The Challenger, BBC 2012
Evolution often comes up with our cleverest solutions during desperate times. And one group of plants, the grasses, turned this crisis into an opportunity. ibid.
The forests started breaking up. The grasses were on a land grab. Conquering the territory once held by the trees ... The world was ablaze ... Grasses were dominating the land. ibid.
They really are the lungs of the ocean. It’s remarkable what the humble grasses had achieved by five million years ago – a once forested planet was now dominated by open plains. Eight different species of grasses covering a quarter of all land. They’d selected which animals would live or die. And they’d fundamentally altered the oceans, playing a crucial role in our make-up of our atmosphere. ibid.
All of us every day of our lives are on the move ... A journey of epic proportions. Orbit: Earth’s Extraordinary Journey I, BBC 2012
You’re hurtling through space at a hundred thousand kilometres an hour. Every year our planet the Earth travels around the sun and we go with it. ibid.
It spins on an axis that’s tilted just over twenty-three degrees. ibid.
The further away from the equator you go the slower you move. ibid.
Corals record how many days there are in a year. ibid.
Proximity to the sun doesn’t guarantee warmth. Orbit: Earth’s Extraordinary Journey II
There are thousands of objects circling the sun trapped by its immense gravitational field. ibid.
Sea levels across the world have risen and fallen over time. ibid.
20,000 years ago our planet was in the middle of an ice age. ibid.
Our orbit isn’t exactly the same every time. ibid.
The Maya recognised the Equinox as a pivotal moment in the year. Orbit: Earth’s Extraordinary Journey III
If the Earth wasn’t tilted, every day would be like the Equinox. ibid.
Massive dust storms called haboobs ... Haboobs are produced in normally arid regions when the leading edge of a storm collapses. ibid.
The Monsoon is actually a consequence of the rising seasonal temperatures that precede it. ibid.
We are Innovators. Inventors. We transformed the resources of our planet into new powers. Mankind conquers Nature. But as Life accelerates, new perils and our greatest triumphs. On an unforgiving planet. One species learns to harness its bounty. To survive thrive and conquer. This is our story. The story of all of us. Mankind: The Story of All of Us XI, History 2012
This is our home … We’ve made a few changes. We’re redesigning our world. Supersized Earth I, BBC 2012
For thousands of years we’ve had a passion to build high. ibid.
Dubai: the world’s first mega-tower has risen. ibid.
Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. ibid.
Mexico City: the entire city is slowly sinking downwards. ibid.
Since my birth the population has doubled. ibid.
The world’s highest bridge … the Siduhe Bridge. Supersized Earth II: The Way We Move
China now has half of the world’s top one hundred highest bridges. ibid.
The Hoover Dam … Two hundred and twenty metres tall and a staggering three hundred and seventy metres wide. Supersized Earth III: Food, Fire and Water
Nearly 40% of the Earth’s land surface is devoted to producing food for us. ibid.
It’s copper that brings the small screen to life … this miracle metal connects the modern world. ibid.
The Earth has existed for more than four thousand million years. Through all this time it has been shaped and changed by two kinds of action: the hidden forces within the Earth ... And on the surface the erosion of snow and rain and storm and stream and ocean and sun and wind have carved out a natural architecture. Jacob Bronowski, The Ascent of Man 3/13: The Grain in the Stone, BBC 1973