There was a time in Earth’s history that was so stable, geologists once called it the Boring Billion. But the fact is, this period was anything but boring. In fact, it set the stage for our modern version of plate tectonics - and probably for the rise of life as we know it.
The first era of our current eon, the Paleozoic Era, is probably the most deceptively fascinating time in Earth’s history. With near constant revolutions in life, punctuated by catastrophic extinctions, it is also one of the most chaotic.
After taking you on a journey through geologic time, we've arrived at the Cenozoic Era. Most of the mammals and birds that you can think of appeared during this era but perhaps more importantly, the Cenozoic marks the rise of organisms that look a lot like us.
This documentary harnesses the latest research from the world’s leading experts in presenting blow-by-blow revelations of what happened 65 million years ago. A planet-shaking impact that ‘rings the Earth like a bell’ triggers a fireball big enough to break through the atmosphere, followed by seismic waves deep enough to wrap around the globe. In a captivating account of the timetable of destruction, here is a portrayal of the red-hot cloud that grills animals on every continent, here’s a taste of the ‘nuclear winter’ that leads to a collapse in food chains and here is the A - Z explanation of why today there aren’t any dinosaurs in your back yard.
What happens when you discover a dinosaur? Paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara details his unearthing of Dreadnoughtus — a 77-million-year-old sauropod that was as tall as a house and as heavy as a jumbo jet — and considers how amazingly improbable it is that a tiny mammal living in the cracks of the dinosaur world could evolve into a sentient being capable of understanding these magnificent creatures. Join him in a celebration of the Earth's geological history and contemplate our place in deep time.
