Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
ONE
FIRST
FUMBLINGS
This is an extraordinary time to be alive. Look around you, take in the intricate complexities of life on
Earth, and then consider this: complex life is a very recent invention. Our home planet spent most of
its long history coated in nothing but simple, primordial slime. For billions of years, the only earthlings
were made of goo.
Then, suddenly, everything changed. At one abrupt moment roughly 600 million years ago,
something shook the Earth out of its complacency. From this came the beginnings of eyes, teeth, legs,
wings, feathers, hair and brains. Every insect, every ape and antelope, every fish, bird and worm.
Whatever triggered this new beginning was ultimately responsible for the existence of you and every-
one you've ever known.
So what was it?
Paul Hoffman, part-time marathon-runner, full-time geologist, and obsessive, intense seeker of
glory, thinks he knows. He believes he has finally struck science gold. Now a full professor at Harvard
University and a world-renowned scientist, he has uncovered evidence for the biggest climate cata-
strophe the Earth has ever endured. And from that disaster, according to Paul, came a remarkable new
redemption.
S
HARK
B
AY
shows up from the air as a snag in the smooth coastline of Western Australia. Five hundred
miles north of Perth, it lies just at the place where tropical and temperate zones rub shoulders. The area
around the bay is a powerful reminder of how far we have come since primordial slime ruled the world.
It is full of varied, vivid life.
This is one of the few places in the world where wild dolphins commune with humans, every day,
regular as clockwork. At 7:00 a.m. each day a park ranger dressed in khaki uniform emerges from a
wooden hut to focus a pair of binoculars on the horizon. Perhaps half an hour later, he'll spot the first
dolphin fin. Somehow the word immediately spreads. Where there were only four or five people on the
sandy beach, suddenly fifty or sixty appear.
Three harassed rangers do their best to marshal them into an orderly line. Everyone will get a chance
to see the dolphins. No one will be permitted to touch them. No one must go more than knee-deep in the
water. Another ranger deftly diverts the enormous wild white pelicans away from the beach by flicking
on a water sprinkler. The birds flock around with gaping jaws—in this desert landscape, fresh water is
irresistible.
The dolphins and their calves arrive. One of the rangers, a wireless headset amplifying her voice,
wades up and down in front of the spectators, introducing the dolphins (“This is Nicky and Nomad,
