Exoskeleton fragments may have allowed microbes to sail the ocean and change the world.

How Ancient Microbes Rode Bug Bits Out to Sea Eons

Premiered January 09, 2024
How Ancient Microbes Rode Bug Bits Out to Sea

Between 535 and 520 million years ago, a new kind of biological litter began collecting in the ancient oceans of the Cambrian period. Exoskeletons helped early arthropods expand in huge numbers throughout the world’s oceans. And tiny exoskeleton fragments may have allowed some of the most important microbes in the planet’s history to set sail out into the open ocean and change the world forever.

About the Program

Eons

Join hosts Michelle Barboza-Ramirez, Kallie Moore, and Blake de Pastino as they take you on a journey through the history of life on Earth. From the dawn of life in the Archaean Eon through the Mesozoic Era — the so-called “Age of Dinosaurs” -- right up to the end of the most recent Ice Age.

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