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purchase, again,

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on top of everyday discounts. At

1:20

the far end of town, where

1:22

the back roads wind past the little

1:25

diners and campgrounds closed for the season.

1:28

Into the woods we go. I

1:32

feel like it's just starting to be spring.

1:35

I can feel it. Thank God. Just

1:38

when you think you've missed it, turn

1:40

left into an unmarked driveway, past

1:43

the fences and the no trespassing signs.

1:47

Alright, ah, another chain link fence.

1:51

And a much more

1:54

secure padlock. And

1:57

you'll finally arrive. Add

2:01

a huge empty gravel lot. It's

2:05

definitely nothing living

2:07

inside that area. An

2:10

old quarry long out of use. A

2:15

lot of gravel. Birds

2:20

too. But

2:22

look carefully at the dusty ground. You

2:26

might just see the rocks that transported

2:28

chucks into the past. Just

2:31

thinking about time. Like

2:33

geologists think about time in millions of

2:35

years, hundreds of millions of years, by

2:38

looking in the sedimentary rocks. All

2:41

this stuff is big scale. Only

2:44

astronomers think in a

2:46

much bigger scale. I

2:48

love this. They're

2:51

not the oldest rocks in the world

2:53

at all, but they are mighty old.

2:56

Mighty old. We're

3:01

walking across this quarry floor, and

3:06

my eye just unconsciously picked

3:08

up on an odd pattern in

3:10

the quarry floor. It looks like a shallow

3:13

little gutter that kind of meandered

3:16

back and forth a little bit while it went out

3:18

mostly in one direction. It's

3:20

like, what is that? We

3:24

started looking around and followed them,

3:26

and three of these all

3:29

met at one place, along

3:31

with eight more

3:34

of these gutter things that

3:36

had gotten wider as we walked

3:38

towards where they met. It

3:42

didn't take too long before

3:44

we realized, all of us

3:47

individually realized, wow. That

3:51

is where it's restud, 385 million years ago.

3:56

Holy shit. Unbelievable.

4:02

So this was one tree. Are

4:05

You saying that This. Is literally to

4:08

treat like the the star

4:10

formations are like the basis

4:12

of these two trees. The

4:15

impressions of the roots well

4:18

preserved, Like the like.

4:20

the footprints amongst. yeah it'd be like

4:22

footprints, but impressions of the roots are

4:24

they were in the ground. Pelvic

4:27

that telus. Seen.

4:30

It I am not I mean litter. I

4:32

think it looks like the tree and that

4:34

the on the other side of the fan

4:36

three sized tree sized. We

4:38

could stand. Where a free

4:40

stood. Three. Hundred and

4:42

eighty five million years ago and

4:45

sci fi. The impressions of the

4:47

Roots were all we have is

4:49

freeze in. This for us stood.

4:53

It looks so magical is

4:55

it says he I still

4:57

hard to wrap your head

4:59

around especially when that. Anna

5:02

when you're looking at what it is now. I

5:05

mean. So.

5:08

Many individual lives

5:10

have lived on

5:12

this planet. Everything

5:16

dies. Left behind

5:18

something but most of

5:20

everything to case is

5:22

broken down dissolved. It's

5:27

all about first life.

5:30

And a lot of time. Such

5:35

an awesome awesome awesome thing

5:37

to imagine Force. From

5:40

that long ago. The

6:02

back. Way way.

6:04

Back when these trees

6:06

stood, tall forests like

6:08

this one exploded across

6:10

the planet. Radically

6:13

transforming. The earth beneath

6:15

their roots. The air rippling through

6:18

their leave. He

6:20

can see the aftermath of this

6:22

explosion in the world all around

6:25

us. But nowhere more

6:27

clearly attendees go to sleep.

6:29

The prince. Este into the

6:31

dusty grounds. I

6:34

married is hop in. This is

6:36

unexplainable. So

6:45

this is Paleontology collection at the New

6:47

York State Museum. We're

6:52

watching through a room that looks like

6:54

so warehouse at the end of freighters

6:57

the last at. The

6:59

fafsa selection as the lots of

7:02

stuff sitting in the aisles. Tables

7:04

carts are full of. Lisa.

7:06

Mahdi cares for hundreds of

7:09

thousands. Of fossils here in. Her

7:11

job as the state Palaeontologist.

7:14

Lisa and geologists like. Chuck

7:16

for Stratton piece together fragments

7:18

of an ancient past that

7:20

they can't ever studied directly.

7:23

whenever. I'm working with the fossils. I'm picturing

7:25

where they lived. And. Place and

7:27

how they lived and is like

7:29

not just thinking about. Iraq

7:32

and his character, not just thinking

7:34

about. The fossils and what

7:36

they tell me. Is. Is a

7:38

mystery novel. It's lead censor novel. It's A.

7:40

it's a puzzle, words everything all and one.

7:43

We don't have the answers which is what

7:45

makes it fun. Our

7:49

story starts in a time

7:51

before trees about. Four hundred and

7:53

twenty million years ago. At

7:56

the beginning of the. Devonian period.

8:00

The continent's were been stabbed in

8:02

the Southern Hemisphere. And no

8:04

land. They carried what has

8:06

been unrecognizable. There really

8:08

wasn't much of anything on land

8:11

at all. If. There is

8:13

nothing lived on land. It's

8:15

successor tiny plants and the

8:17

ancestors is like insects. They.

8:20

Were very few signs a

8:22

slice. Of them

8:24

Weird. This is

8:26

sophie to So what to

8:28

the possibly be Fine. The

8:31

animal turns out it's a

8:33

fungus. Whoa! This is a fungus.

8:35

Oh, Anyhow, it until. This

8:39

was a landscape of the here in. Rock

8:41

and gravel. Buffeted,

8:43

By. Wins and rains. The.

8:46

Loneliest alien planet.

8:49

But. Underwater was a different

8:51

worlds. So

8:56

much flies in the oceans.

8:58

The Devonian is known as

9:00

the age as this is

9:02

because they were so many

9:04

times assists All of the

9:06

major groups of fish were

9:08

alive during the Devonian period.

9:10

There were solid. Says that

9:13

looks like doing. Worms crossed

9:15

with horseshoe crabs they were

9:17

plateau terms since pleaded and

9:19

armor with season Siberian Tiger

9:22

fangs sack spread to the

9:24

oceans of this time as

9:26

well as lobes censuses with

9:29

only little limbs. And.

9:32

The abundance of nice in the ocean, Was

9:34

just beginning to make it's way onto

9:36

the land. Plant

9:40

started to evolve from algae to be able

9:42

to survive in a wet a viral met

9:44

the out of the water. At. The

9:47

beginning of the Devonian your tallest plants.

9:49

Were only about the reached between your thumb

9:52

as the end of your family and of

9:54

your index finger. Him for five

9:56

may six inches. And

9:58

sprint some moons. A foothold.

10:01

They started evolving faster. And

10:03

faster. by thirty five million

10:05

years later, we're talking about

10:07

the Cairo core. Everything

10:10

It evolve through stages of of

10:12

simple little plans to things that

10:15

we tend to become more complex

10:17

began to. Grow

10:19

into shrubbery size plants and then

10:22

by the middle of the devonian

10:24

your head truth. He

10:26

had freeze. Big.

10:30

Forces of New York where

10:33

underwater and the Appalachian Mountains

10:35

were just forming and they

10:37

were skewed weary tall mountains.

10:39

And is scale mountains perhaps out there

10:42

in New England? And in

10:44

the tropical floodplains. Between the mountains

10:46

and the see the key

10:49

quarry forest flourished with the

10:51

streams is trees broccoli headed

10:53

palm like trees draping every

10:56

green ancestors club mass fungi

10:58

a this up for a

11:00

telephone pole and also smaller.

11:04

Little things like liverworts literal word searches

11:06

cool v don't know what one is

11:08

just like went up to see little

11:11

leaflet like things. So

11:13

and now. Has these rich

11:15

habitats full of resources

11:17

and seltzer. Like

11:19

an empty house ready to be a

11:21

home. And so

11:24

the first loeb since this is

11:26

a false. Little skinny legs and

11:28

crawled up from the water into

11:30

the forest. Peace.

11:35

Where our ancestors the first

11:37

burner rests on land. The

11:40

beginning of other and sapiens also

11:42

birds, the dinosaurs and I. and

11:48

that's about where we are here in

11:50

new york we had everything vertebrates invertebrates

11:52

some plants on land at the site

12:06

So this is one of

12:08

the first full forests on

12:10

the planet Earth. Unbelievable.

12:14

Totally. That

12:16

is crazy. What

12:21

do you think is so, um,

12:23

en- I don't want to say

12:25

the word enchanting. I'm not sure if that's right, but just

12:27

like enthralling about

12:30

the KRO site. Why do you think it,

12:32

it like sparked so many people's

12:34

imaginations? It's

12:38

the oldest perspective. It's

12:41

the oldest sense we have of

12:45

first forests where you can actually

12:47

look out across the

12:49

forest floor and see where

12:52

all these trees stood. But

12:55

this is a big perspective. It's

12:59

really the Devonian period when

13:01

life first really colonized

13:03

the land to a large scale.

13:07

It was that Devonian period. The

13:13

tropical flood lanes of upstate New York

13:15

were a perfect place for these forests

13:18

to take root. Nonsoons

13:21

rolled off the towering Appalachian

13:23

Mountains, drowning the marshes

13:25

and swamplands under epic floods.

13:28

It was wet, but also it was

13:30

warm. Ideal for plants starting to

13:32

figure out how to live on land. And

13:36

then the explosion. And

13:40

it's actually literally called the

13:42

Devonian plant explosion. Life

13:44

had found a new home on the land and

13:47

there was no stopping it. It

13:49

raced across the barren, rocky

13:52

world, an explosion of biodiversity,

13:54

transforming the world from gray

13:56

and blue to green and

13:58

blue into a planet. that

14:00

we'd more or less recognize today. And

14:04

in doing so, they might have caused

14:07

the biggest mass extinctions in

14:10

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there. The

17:16

story a slice exploding on

17:18

the land. Is also

17:20

the story of Slice Dying.

17:23

And. The oceans. By.

17:26

The end of the Devonian. Once

17:28

seeming sees were now

17:30

a graveyard. The carnage.

17:33

Of one of the biggest mass

17:35

extinctions in the history. Of the planet.

17:38

And extinction as violent as

17:40

the one that killed the

17:42

dinosaurs. Nearly three

17:44

quarters of the species

17:46

on Earth died in

17:48

this slowly unfolding catastrophe.

17:51

And the oceans suffered worst

17:54

of all. Horses littered the

17:56

sea. Floor. The

17:58

age of fishes. Was oh. It

18:03

takes a certain degree of imagination to

18:05

see that things are different in the

18:07

past. And the deeper

18:09

back to go into earth's history.

18:12

The. More bizarre they are and the more

18:14

for and they are to what you're

18:16

familiar with. Geologists Thomas

18:18

and Cel Studies. Ancient

18:20

Apocalypse as. By. Effectively

18:23

delved into all of the math think

18:25

that, events and earth history. Our.

18:28

Planet as nurtured life from.

18:31

Billions of years, it's been

18:33

a remarkably stable place to

18:35

the lands. and try as.

18:37

And. In that long history. There

18:40

have only been five times when

18:42

the world was flung into. Such

18:44

chaos that a majority of the

18:46

species on Earth were wiped out

18:48

before they had a chance to

18:51

adapt. And for that to happen,

18:53

there has to be some kind of trigger. Some.

18:55

Head. External figure that

18:58

upsets the system. And.

19:00

Thomas thinks that is this mass

19:02

extinction in the oceans list triggered

19:05

by the trees. The.

19:10

Devonian plants explosion seems the

19:13

face of our planet. But.

19:15

It also tends to sow the planet

19:17

where. How the air,

19:20

soil, and the water all

19:22

interacted. Fees. First

19:24

Forests said what for us

19:26

still do today. They pulled

19:28

carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

19:30

and released oxygen. But.

19:32

This scale of photosynthesis

19:34

with something totally new.

19:37

Trees. Basically, we're really made

19:40

the atmosphere. Dropping.

19:42

Carbon dioxide levels by maybe as

19:44

much as ninety percent. And.

19:46

Doubling the oxygen. And

19:49

as the big increase that brings

19:51

us up close to modern oxygen

19:53

level. This giant

19:55

screen is one of just

19:57

a few times living beings

19:59

and. Raptor, The atmosphere

20:01

so dramatically. These

20:04

first forests. Up ended the

20:06

climate and plunged the earth

20:08

into an ice age that

20:10

envelops the world for tens

20:12

of millions of years. But.

20:17

An ice age alone. Doesn't

20:19

necessarily lead to mass extinction.

20:22

There. Was a second punch coming for the age

20:24

of this is. A wave of

20:26

death. Spreading. Out some the

20:28

land. The

20:33

real of these first

20:35

forests dug into the

20:37

earth, breaking up rocks

20:39

and releasing mineral. The

20:42

trees than died. He composed.

20:44

And formed new layers of carbon

20:46

rich soil. As

20:50

the forests grew so did the

20:53

soil which made it easier for

20:55

younger plants to take root and

20:57

help those force for up which

20:59

then led to even more soil.

21:02

And or the have a positive feedback

21:04

there. But. Eventually the nutrients are

21:06

going to week out into the ground

21:09

water system for the forced out of

21:11

the foil into the ground water. The

21:13

ground water runs into a local river

21:16

basin somewhere. The river theories in Israel

21:18

says of Ios. Soils

21:23

don't just how plants grow

21:25

on land, they also help

21:27

plants throw in the water

21:30

and so as these trees

21:32

flourished and help to fertilize

21:34

huge boost of algae. With.

21:37

Devastating. Consequences for the seen.

21:40

As those massive algal bloom

21:42

died and dictated that rob

21:45

the waters of dissolved oxygen.

21:48

Without dissolved. Oxygen in

21:50

the water. Marine life couldn't

21:52

breathe. It's huge. Dad Zones

21:54

spread across the world's oceans.

21:57

Enveloping, vibrant, Coral.

22:00

These communities. In As Sappy

22:02

with Cloud of Death. Suffocating

22:04

the age of fishes And

22:07

that's effectively what I think

22:09

happened during the late Devonian.

22:20

For. The asteroid that killed the

22:22

dinosaurs. There is clear direct

22:24

evidence a giant impact crater

22:26

in the Gulf of Mexico.

22:29

And a layer of extraterrestrial

22:31

dust slung across the globe.

22:34

It's very testable, but the Devonian

22:36

players are different because you're looking

22:38

because the evidence, That and. You.

22:41

See big changes in

22:43

climate and environmental conditions

22:45

but it's has. Simply.

22:48

Say those are due to the influence

22:50

were plus they could be due to

22:52

other frigates. So. Did

22:54

trees pulled the trigger on this

22:57

mass extinction? Or. Did

22:59

they set the world up to? they put

23:01

it in front of the done and set

23:04

the stage for some other trigger. Like

23:06

a volcanic eruption, Thomas's

23:09

determined to find out. For.

23:12

What's really needed A better record of the

23:14

evolution of where players themselves. But if you

23:16

find a powerful one place that doesn't necessarily

23:19

tell you anything about with going on in

23:21

another place. So. For

23:23

some kind of global pattern, you

23:25

literally have to go out and

23:27

analyze the sages and dozens or

23:29

maybe hundreds of different locations in

23:32

order to be confident you're looking

23:34

at a global fact. There

23:37

are countless fossil forests around the world's.

23:39

like the one here and came out.

23:42

That could shed more light on

23:44

the Devonian plant explosion. But

23:47

they're. Buried under earth

23:49

and rocks. Still waiting

23:52

to be discover. it. So

24:08

there is a time before forests

24:10

and then the world was never

24:12

the same again. Sinden.

24:14

Same stuff. As good. As

24:24

I walk across the quarry

24:26

floor, the distance to the

24:28

past seems permeable. I

24:32

can retrieve the steps of my. And

24:34

Sabean ancestors imagine them

24:36

scampering from tree to

24:38

tree. This. Forest was their

24:41

first home on lance the beginning

24:43

of slice as we know it,

24:45

the reason. I'm is in here. Millions

24:48

of years later, That

24:51

light. Curve to

24:53

mine says ancient route seem

24:55

like etchings in a stone

24:57

shrine monument commemorating these trees.

25:00

These heroes that silver Spring

25:02

Spring air I'm breathing oxygen.

25:08

There's also a darkness here around

25:10

the edges. A

25:12

somber memorial to a mass extinction

25:14

like killed the majority of life

25:16

on earth. A tombstone

25:19

to the Aids Assists is. Marking

25:21

of violent revolution that overturned

25:24

the planet. Says

25:28

a double edged sword. Have. To

25:30

think about like. Allies

25:33

finding new homes to

25:35

be as explosives as

25:38

violent as an asteroid.

25:40

Yeah, yeah. absolutely. well.

25:45

But. The past seals closest. When I

25:47

think about the present, We

25:50

are now the life transforming

25:53

Earth's climate and ecosystems. We're

25:56

releasing carbon. In the air

25:58

that these first trees. Their descendants

26:00

buried in the ground. So

26:03

long ago. We

26:06

are on the brink of the sixth

26:08

mass extinction in the history of the

26:10

planet. May be the

26:13

second one ever caused by living

26:15

been. And they

26:17

can't help but wonder. How

26:19

will we be remembered? As

26:32

physicists as I believe, this

26:34

is such a magical place.

26:36

Substances? absolutely. Episode

26:58

was reported produced and

27:00

scored. By me, Meredith

27:02

happening. It was edited

27:04

by Jorge just with help from Brian.

27:07

As next first. Male and

27:09

did the makes and we collaborated together

27:11

on the sound design. Most

27:13

a hearse. Check the fax.

27:15

Many Lewin is lost in

27:18

a good way for Pinkerton.

27:20

As on the Hunt and our hosts know

27:22

I'm Hassenfeld that stuff than a black. Hole.

27:24

Or maybe he was there

27:26

all along. Special.

27:29

Thanks to Bill Stein says ferry

27:31

Lupus policy So reader Morris and

27:34

the town of To out. And

27:37

a huge thank you to Burrow! Bra has.

27:39

For making this adventure

27:41

so magical and also think

27:44

you mileage! As for

27:46

sharing your wonder and

27:48

curiosity. I love you

27:50

guys! I couldn't have made the story

27:52

without you. This

27:58

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and the link is also in

29:01

the show. Notes: A really helps

29:03

us out. Body

29:06

I does at what I

29:08

always thought that runners loves.

29:11

Running And that toxic. A small

29:13

centers Hate Running. Do

29:17

it in the new.you serious running

29:19

socks brought to you by females.

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Abby Air as learns why Women

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runners everywhere driven to go the

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distance. It really is about taking

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my power back and proving myself

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wrong. Team Milk is about feeling

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when his performance and helping them

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along their marathon journeys. You can

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