From Microbes To Mammoths: How Life Transformed The Planet
26:52 minutes
When you think about Earth, you might think of a giant rock, floating around in space, making laps around the sun. A rock that just happens to have critters, plants, and people crawling around its surface.
A new book by Ferris Jabr called Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life argues otherwise: Life doesn’t just exist on Earth, but life is Earth, and the Earth itself is alive.
That idea might sound radical, and it is. There’s a shift happening in how we understand the planet, and what it’ll take to save it, and ourselves, from the future humans are creating.
Becoming Earth takes readers on adventures across the world to learn how life has transformed the Earth, from changing the color of the sky to reshaping the continents.
Guest host Anna Rothschild talks with author Ferris Jabr, a science writer based in Portland, Oregon.
Read an excerpt of Becoming Earth.
Further Reading
- Read Jabr’s article about how wildfires have changed life on Earth in The Atlantic.
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Segment Guests
Ferris Jabr
Ferris Jabr is a science writer and author of Becoming Earth. He’s based in Portland, Oregon.
Segment Transcript
The transcript of this segment is being processed. It will be available within one week after the show airs.
Meet the Producers and Host
About Rasha Aridi
@RashaAridiRasha Aridi is a producer for Science Friday. She loves stories about weird critters, science adventures, and the intersection of science and history.