Lives on Earth

ancestors

  • Pilgrimage to the Ancestors

    One day, every kind of living thing on our planet decided to travel back in time to find its first and original ancestor. Humans, ferns, lobsters, sparrows, porpoises, roses, earthworms, bacteria, redwood trees, kangaroos, to name only a few, started… Continue reading

  • Size Matters

    Small things are difficult to see. The smallest things are difficult even to imagine. We are missing life at its smallest, overlooking living things that came before us and make us possible. We need to look inside the box more… Continue reading

  • Dawkins: Not One of Our Ancestors Was a Failure

    Richard Dawkins’s theme is upbeat: All organisms that have ever lived—every animal and plant, all bacteria and all fungi, every creeping thing, and all readers of this book—can look back at their ancestors and make the following proud claim: Not… Continue reading

  • Who Were Homo Sapiens’ Parents?

    Let’s imagine that you don’t know who your parents were. No records of them have been found yet. And because you don’t know your parents, you also don’t know for sure who your grandparents, great-grandparents or other direct ancestors were.… Continue reading

  • Your Inner Fish

    Most people accept the idea that we are descended from earlier primates. But descended from fish? That might seem to be a stretch. In Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body (2008), Neil Shubin makes a… Continue reading

  • Human Evolution, Backward and Forward

    From Dutch graphic designer Jurian Möller, here’s a striking one-minute video that shows the evolution of humans from the present backwards and then forward again. At the bottom, the video tracks the number of years in the past along with… Continue reading

  • Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything

    Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything is an ideal read for those who are curious about science but shy away from the  details. Bryson’s signature style—humorous and friendly—is easy on the comprehension and even evocative in its imagery.… Continue reading