$4.46
Details
The Paleozoic Era: The History of the Geologic and Evolutionary Changes that Began Over 500 Million Years Ago
Author: Charles River Editors
Narrator: Michelle Humphries
Unabridged: 2 hr 46 min
Format: Digital Audiobook
Publisher: Findaway Voices
Published: 02/05/2023
Genre: Science
Synopsis
The current view of science is that Earth is around 4.6 billion years old, and the first 4 billion years of its development are known as the Precambrian period. For the first billion years or so, there was no life in Earth. Then the first single-celled life-forms, early bacteria and algae, began to emerge. It’s unclear where they came from or even if they originated on this planet at all, but this gradual development continued until around four billion years ago when suddenly (in geological terms) more complex forms of life began to emerge.
Scientists call this time of an explosion of new forms of life the Paleozoic Era, and it stretched from around 541 to 250 million years ago. In the oceans and then on land, new creatures and plants began to appear in bewildering variety, and by the end of this period, life on Earth had diversified into a myriad of complex forms that filled virtually every habitat and niche available in the seas and on the planet’s only continent, Pangea.
The Precambrian Period is divided into three eons: the Hadean, the Archaean, and the Proterozoic. One layer of carbon in rocks that date to the Archaean Eon, found on islands west of Greenland, seems to have fossilized tracks that may have been left by some form of organic life, but scientists simply are not certain. The oldest confirmed remains of life date from the same eon and were found in rocks in Western Australia, which were found to contain fossilized bacteria estimated to be 3.46 billion years old. It seems likely that there were thousands, perhaps even millions of forms of life in these early periods, and most seem to have been microscopic in size and very simple in developmental terms.
by Kevin Corcoran
Named one of America's top 300 professors by Princeton Review, Kevin Corcoran is an expert on consciousness and the philosophy of the mind. Translating complex topics into 12 accessible audio lectures, he’ll help you unlock the secrets of ...
Published: 09/03/2019
by Alicia Simmons
Across the nation, Americans are undergoing an intense period of self-examination. How are our identities and behaviors shaped by the groups to which we belong? How can we reach past our own biases to better understand others? The study of sociology...
Published: 07/06/2020
by Gerald D. Griffin, Ph.D.
How does your brain work?This 15-lecture audio course will increase your excitement and wonder about the mysterious organ responsible for so many of the invisible but important things (like love, personality, and emotion) that make us who we are.The...
Published: 07/01/2019
by Neil deGrasse Tyson
What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? Theres no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and bestselling author Neil deGrasse Tyson. Bu...
Published: 05/02/2017
by Louann Brizendine, M.D.
From the author of the groundbreaking New York Times bestseller The Female Brain, here is the eagerly awaited follow-up book that demystifies the puzzling male brain.Dr. Louann Brizendine, the founder of the first clinic in the country to study gend...
Published: 03/23/2010
by Nathan DeWall
Why do we connect with some people and not others? What makes great teams flourish? How does culture shape our attitudes? How does influence work? Join the co-author of the world’s bestselling psychology textbooks to find out how small changes...
Published: 11/04/2020
by Myrna Sheldon
What does the history of science reveal about sex and sexuality? Explore the relationship between body and sexual identity with a Harvard-educated expert. Prior to the seventeenth century, Western attitudes toward sexuality came primarily from ...
Published: 10/06/2021
by Guy Consolmagno
What can Galileo’s extraordinary life and profound legacy teach us today?Galileo's story is a touchstone in debates about science and religion, but our preconceptions inevitably color the way we see the issues. To understand who Galileo was, w...
Published: 04/02/2015
by Alex Rogers
There's so much we don't know about what lies deep beneath the ocean's surface - and the time to find out is growing increasingly precious . . .Professor Alex Rogers is one of the world's leading experts in marine biology and oceanology, and has sp...
Published: 04/18/2019