NOVA
Season 40 Episode 16 - Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Life Explodes
How did life storm the beaches and dominate planet Earth? Ancient Australian fossils offer clues in "Life Explodes." Half a billion years ago, Australia was still part of the super-continent Gondwana. The oceans were teeming with weird and wonderful animals, but the world above the waves remained an almost lifeless wasteland. All that was about to change, though. Host Richard Smith introduces Earth's forgotten pioneers: the scuttling arthropod armies that invaded the shores and the waves of green revolutionaries whose battle for the light pushed plant life across the face of a barren continent. Evolution continued underwater as well, with armor-plated fish experimenting with teeth, jaws, sex, and lungs. NOVA's prehistoric adventure continues with four-legged animals walking onto dry land—and the planet poised for disaster.
Episodes in Season 40
Secrets of the Viking Sword
55 min
Forensics on Trial
55 min
Mystery of Easter Island
55 min
Ultimate Mars Challenge
55 min
Inside the Megastorm
55 min
Doomsday Volcanoes
55 min
Decoding Neanderthals
55 min
Rise of the Drones
55 min
Who Killed Lindbergh's Baby?
55 min
Building Pharaoh's Chariot
55 min
Earth From Space
55 min
Mind of a Rampage Killer
55 min
Meteor Strike
55 min
Ancient Computer
55 min
Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Awakening
55 min
Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Life Explodes
55 min
Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Monsters
55 min
Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Strange Creatures
55 min
Manhunt - Boston Bombers
55 min
Oklahoma's Deadliest Tornadoes
55 min
