1 00:00:00,920 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to you stuff you should know from house Stuff 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:12,399 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. Don't 3 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:16,680 Speaker 1: Josh Clark, there's Charles W. Chucker's Bryant. Jerry is over there. 4 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: I'm gonna said your last name, Jerry. How weird. And 5 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:23,040 Speaker 1: then today we have a fourth character in the in 6 00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: the studio with this Chuck. This a scent scent coming 7 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:32,560 Speaker 1: together to make like a changeable human being. So you 8 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:37,240 Speaker 1: are wearing Patuli, uh not wearing well, you have Petulia 9 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:39,720 Speaker 1: on you as a result of one of Emily's sugar 10 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:44,880 Speaker 1: scrubs right from Mama and it's Love your Mama dot com. Okay. 11 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: And then Jerry is contributing to that with um an enchilada, 12 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:54,400 Speaker 1: so that all of them combined, I would say, there's 13 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:56,560 Speaker 1: like there's an extra person in the seat right here. 14 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:00,440 Speaker 1: What kind of person is that? Just another person? Okay, 15 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:06,240 Speaker 1: a viable living organism, one that when we leave the 16 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:12,120 Speaker 1: studio we'll probably become extinct. That's a good one. Did 17 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:15,480 Speaker 1: you like that? Yeah? I've had that plan since probably 18 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: two weeks ago. How are you doing, man, I'm good. 19 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:23,760 Speaker 1: I've been thinking of Busta Rhymes all day. Why did 20 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:26,240 Speaker 1: he have a song about extinction had an album called 21 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: the Extinction Level Event. Oh yeah, yeah, and that was 22 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 1: in one of the songs that sounds super nineties. Well 23 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 1: let's Buster Rhymes has. But I mean even those words 24 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:40,200 Speaker 1: extinction level Event. People were worried about stuff because of 25 00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:43,640 Speaker 1: like the turn of the millennium. You remember, Exiles is 26 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:48,680 Speaker 1: a huge hit Deep Impact and Armageddon came out of 27 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 1: like on the same day basically, and both were hits. 28 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 1: Like people were just nervous and um. As a result, 29 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: Buster Rhymes is very popular, that's right, although he's not anymore. Uh, 30 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: he's still good though he hadn't been doing much no, 31 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:09,200 Speaker 1: but his body of work is yeah, leaders in the 32 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: New School and his early work with Chip call Quest. 33 00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:15,840 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, he guessed it on one of my favorite 34 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:20,040 Speaker 1: songs is What's the Scenario? Was that the one I 35 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:22,079 Speaker 1: think so? I mean it was definitely on that one, 36 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 1: but they that was the one also where I think, um, yeah, 37 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:29,480 Speaker 1: he makes fun of people with saggy pants because it 38 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: was so new. Apparently Bustter Rhames wasn't down with it yet. Yeah, 39 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:36,760 Speaker 1: just pretty ironic because he got hardcore into that. That 40 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: was raw, raw, like a dungeon dragon, right, it's pretty awesome. 41 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:48,240 Speaker 1: So extinction is clearly what we're talking about today. Uh 42 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:50,440 Speaker 1: and uh, I guess we should probably give a shout 43 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:53,679 Speaker 1: out to some of the extra reading material. Yeah, man, 44 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:57,559 Speaker 1: we picked up on UM. There's a woman named Elizabeth 45 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:01,800 Speaker 1: um Colbert or Corp Colbert depending on what if you 46 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:07,239 Speaker 1: watch the Colbert Report. Um and she is basically a 47 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:11,680 Speaker 1: leading expert as far as journalists go on extinction. She 48 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:14,200 Speaker 1: wrote a book called The Sixth Extinction. That's a good 49 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:16,920 Speaker 1: it's a good article. Yeah, and like she wrote an 50 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:19,239 Speaker 1: article in the New Yorker. She's a New Yorker journalist 51 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: that was basically the predecessor to the book. You know 52 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:24,360 Speaker 1: how they do. Like, I need an extra twenty grand, 53 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: so I'll just write a synopsis of the book I'm writing. 54 00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:30,079 Speaker 1: Um And it's a good article, and we worked from that. 55 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:33,359 Speaker 1: There's another one from the New York Review of Books 56 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: called They're taking Over about the explosion of jellyfish. UM. 57 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:39,840 Speaker 1: On how stuff Works, there's one that I wrote years 58 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: back called will We Soon Be Extinct? And there's another 59 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 1: how stuff Works one that we've done an episode on 60 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: called wise bio Diversity Important. Yeah, and I found one 61 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 1: in an I O nine for animals that we thought 62 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:59,080 Speaker 1: were extinct but miraculously pop back up nice, which is 63 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:01,480 Speaker 1: always a good story. Oh yeah, it's a it's a 64 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:06,040 Speaker 1: heartwarming story of triumph of raversity and coming back when 65 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: everybody thought you were down. Yeah, some of them like 66 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 1: basically rocky, hundreds of millions of years later. Even Yeah, 67 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:15,320 Speaker 1: it's crazy, like the Silicon I think that's when I 68 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:19,560 Speaker 1: was at the Big Fish. They just caught that thing 69 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 1: one day, yeah, and said, hey, wait a minute, Yeah, 70 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:27,840 Speaker 1: this thing's extinct. It's supposed to be. And we'll talk 71 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:32,359 Speaker 1: about how and why things fall off. But things do 72 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: fall off, and it seems that there is a um 73 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:40,599 Speaker 1: that the whole thing is a very natural process. Extinctionists. 74 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:46,560 Speaker 1: But for a very long time, I guess scientists um 75 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:52,800 Speaker 1: believed that the God created all of the animals on 76 00:04:52,839 --> 00:04:56,840 Speaker 1: Earth and that his will was too perfect, his creation 77 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,600 Speaker 1: was too divine to even allow for extinct and so 78 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:04,320 Speaker 1: because they were aware of the fossil record, they rationalized 79 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:06,800 Speaker 1: these huge bones of animals that he didn't see anywhere 80 00:05:06,839 --> 00:05:09,400 Speaker 1: as we just haven't found him yet. Well yeah, and 81 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: this was all the way up and you know, into 82 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:13,880 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century and some really smart people like Thomas 83 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: Jefferson thought, for instance, when he sent Lewis and Clark 84 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:21,000 Speaker 1: out west, that they might come across the great Mastodon. 85 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:23,719 Speaker 1: He's like, it's found to be out there somewhere, guys, 86 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:26,719 Speaker 1: to be careful. But there were some other smarter people, 87 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:31,640 Speaker 1: um like George Cuvier in eighteen twelve, he was pretty 88 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:34,039 Speaker 1: ahead of his time. In fact, in eighteen twelve he 89 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:36,839 Speaker 1: was way ahead of his time because he published an 90 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:40,280 Speaker 1: essay called Revolutions on the Surface of the Globe and 91 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:43,760 Speaker 1: he kind of asserted that now things can go extinct, 92 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:50,479 Speaker 1: and he called them a species produced lost species and 93 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: basically hypothesized that there have been cataclysmic events that have 94 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:59,680 Speaker 1: caused extinctions. In so many words, this is basically flew 95 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:01,839 Speaker 1: in the face of this that like, not only was 96 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:05,280 Speaker 1: their extinction, but there were there were huge events that 97 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:08,040 Speaker 1: caused it. And so the the religious thinkers of the 98 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: day said, okay, wait, wait, wait, we can work with this, 99 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:14,000 Speaker 1: because buddy, what you're talking about is like Noah's flood. 100 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:19,280 Speaker 1: So you, my friend, just proved the Bible correct using science. Yeah. 101 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 1: Darwin wasn't on board though, Although he did believe in extinction, 102 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:24,679 Speaker 1: he thought it was the only way it could happen 103 00:06:24,839 --> 00:06:28,200 Speaker 1: is the gradual extinction. That is also true, and we'll 104 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:30,159 Speaker 1: talk about that as well. And of course Darwin is 105 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:34,520 Speaker 1: this huge hero of biology so well, Darwin's right about 106 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:40,960 Speaker 1: just about everything, so literally, until the nineteen nineties, Darwin's 107 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 1: view that extinction happens extremely slowly, slower than speciation events, 108 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:50,320 Speaker 1: so ultimately you should always have more species, new species 109 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:56,000 Speaker 1: coming up, then you have going extinct. Until the nineteen nineties, 110 00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:58,360 Speaker 1: that's the way that it was, That's the way it seemed, 111 00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:02,120 Speaker 1: so Chuck, like I said, all of this um stayed 112 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: around until and it was the result of like think 113 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:09,800 Speaker 1: about it, think about how you think of mass extinctions now, 114 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:15,320 Speaker 1: you think of a asteroid hitting Earth, destroying everything. And 115 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:20,800 Speaker 1: it wasn't until that that view became widely accepted. And 116 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:24,520 Speaker 1: it was because of this dude um named Alvarez. He 117 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: was a geologist, I believe, Walter Alvarez, and in the 118 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:32,800 Speaker 1: seventies he started studying this clay layer that was basically 119 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:35,600 Speaker 1: in the fossil record right at the time the dinosaurs 120 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:39,200 Speaker 1: suddenly died out, and no one could quite explain what 121 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:42,200 Speaker 1: was going on here. They just knew that this must 122 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:45,320 Speaker 1: have happened gradually, so it must be a problem with 123 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:48,120 Speaker 1: the actual fossil record, not our way of thinking. And 124 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:50,160 Speaker 1: there are plenty of problems with the fossil record, which 125 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:53,440 Speaker 1: we'll get into as well. But UM Walter Alvarez said, 126 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 1: let me, let me look at this in a little 127 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:57,840 Speaker 1: more detail, and he looked at the iridium and found 128 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:01,400 Speaker 1: that the iridium levels were off the arts, which shouldn't 129 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 1: be because it's very, very rare, and we associate a 130 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:06,440 Speaker 1: ridium on Earth as being brought here by, say, like 131 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:09,680 Speaker 1: an asteroid or whatever. Yeah, it's superabundant asteroids. So all 132 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:12,520 Speaker 1: of a sudden, this guy goes, oh, wait a minute, 133 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:17,240 Speaker 1: maybe we can explain this dying out of dinosaurs where 134 00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:21,480 Speaker 1: the dinosaurs went sixty five million years ago by an asteroid. 135 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:24,360 Speaker 1: And that was in nineteen eighty that they proposed this hypothesis, 136 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:27,680 Speaker 1: and they ran into a lot of resistance UM and 137 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:33,400 Speaker 1: then finally in n UM, a year after a crater 138 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:38,800 Speaker 1: was discovered under the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, UM they 139 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:41,600 Speaker 1: dated it and said, yeah, it just so happens that 140 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,560 Speaker 1: this crater was formed just at the moment the dinosaurs 141 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 1: died out. So Valvareus hypothesis is probably right, and extinction 142 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:52,640 Speaker 1: can happen on a mass sudden scale, just as it 143 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:56,160 Speaker 1: can also happen on a very long term scale too. Yeah, 144 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:58,240 Speaker 1: that crater was a hundred and twelve miles wide, so 145 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:03,000 Speaker 1: it fit the profile and basically ended the Cretaceous period 146 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:06,319 Speaker 1: in the Mesozoic era. And for a while they called 147 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:09,880 Speaker 1: it the Cretaceous Tertiary event, but now they call it 148 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 1: the Cretaceous paleogene event. And did you notice that the 149 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:18,719 Speaker 1: right they noticed the that. Did you notice the Cretaceous, 150 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:21,360 Speaker 1: which is spelled at the sea is denoted with the K. 151 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:25,480 Speaker 1: Did you see why? It's just German. It's just a 152 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:28,559 Speaker 1: German translation for it. I figured out something like that. Yeah, 153 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:32,600 Speaker 1: it was just bugging me. So now we now believe 154 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:35,400 Speaker 1: in asteroid brought us into the Cenozoic era that we 155 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:39,200 Speaker 1: that we enjoyed today. Love the Cnozoic. It's pretty good, 156 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:43,079 Speaker 1: pretty awesome. I mean it's our era, so you gotta 157 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:47,320 Speaker 1: love it. You gotta love it. Um, So Chuck, like 158 00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:51,600 Speaker 1: I said, the extinction, extinction can happen, and it does happen, 159 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:55,440 Speaker 1: and it's a natural process. Um. If you talk to 160 00:09:55,480 --> 00:10:00,560 Speaker 1: people about extinction today though, they say, yeah, we're kind 161 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:04,520 Speaker 1: of in a huge extinction event. Yeah, and it makes sense. 162 00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:07,839 Speaker 1: I mean when you look at the our past. They 163 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:10,840 Speaker 1: estimate maybe up to five billion species have lived on 164 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:14,840 Speaker 1: Earth and more than those are gone. And I love 165 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:16,960 Speaker 1: how the New Yorker put it. I think that there's 166 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:19,480 Speaker 1: an old joke that all of life on Earth today 167 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:22,600 Speaker 1: could be accounted for with a simple rounding error, like 168 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:28,000 Speaker 1: everything we know. Um, so, yeah, we've lost of things 169 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:31,160 Speaker 1: that have ever lived on this planet due to extinction, right, 170 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:34,640 Speaker 1: which again is like it has such a terrible connotation 171 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:39,120 Speaker 1: these days, extinction, extinction, but it happens naturally. Apparently. What 172 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:42,240 Speaker 1: they've found from looking at the fossil record from studying 173 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:46,200 Speaker 1: life on Earth is that a species tends to have 174 00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:50,079 Speaker 1: about a ten million year lifespan, and there a speciation 175 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:54,320 Speaker 1: event occurs where it branches off from one specie produces 176 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:57,640 Speaker 1: an entirely new species, and that species on average will 177 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:00,480 Speaker 1: stick around for about ten million years, and then something 178 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:05,480 Speaker 1: happens and it dies out and other species take its place. 179 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:08,520 Speaker 1: This is the natural course of life from what we 180 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:12,280 Speaker 1: can tell. The thing is, it normally happens on a 181 00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:18,840 Speaker 1: very slow time scale, like when it's what's called background extinction, right, Yeah, 182 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:21,839 Speaker 1: the background rate uh is supposed to be between one 183 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:25,040 Speaker 1: and five species per year, but they think that now 184 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:27,800 Speaker 1: it could be like a times that I've seen up 185 00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:31,280 Speaker 1: to a thousand times the normal rate, and I saw 186 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:35,360 Speaker 1: another study from two thousand fourteen, so it's fresh and 187 00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:38,960 Speaker 1: it it said that they these researchers calculated the normal 188 00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:42,200 Speaker 1: rates and they found that there's between point zero two 189 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:47,120 Speaker 1: three and point one three five extinct species per million 190 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:51,839 Speaker 1: species per year. That doesn't really mean much. It means 191 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:54,840 Speaker 1: so much that it boggles the mind, you know, Like 192 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:57,280 Speaker 1: that's a really strange way of putting it. But basically 193 00:11:57,559 --> 00:12:00,400 Speaker 1: they're saying, like, for every million species on on earth 194 00:12:00,679 --> 00:12:04,160 Speaker 1: at any given point in time during a year, as 195 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:08,320 Speaker 1: low as point zero two three species will die out. 196 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:11,280 Speaker 1: So in a year, you shouldn't necessarily have that Maine 197 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:15,920 Speaker 1: species in two In current times though, like you said, 198 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:19,040 Speaker 1: between a hundred and a thousand times that rate is 199 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:22,400 Speaker 1: what we're seeing right now, which is you could say, alarming. 200 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:25,120 Speaker 1: It is alarming. The reason they don't have hard numbers 201 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:28,120 Speaker 1: on this stuff is because, like we said, it's a 202 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:31,439 Speaker 1: tough thing to study because the fossil record is well, 203 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:34,960 Speaker 1: there's a lot of problems. One is it's incomplete. We 204 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:39,760 Speaker 1: don't really know how many species have been on Earth 205 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:44,520 Speaker 1: since the beginning of Earth. It's just impossible to tell um. 206 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:48,600 Speaker 1: Fossils forum under you know, really specific conditions. So you 207 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:51,480 Speaker 1: may think something is gone because it has disappeared from 208 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:54,000 Speaker 1: the fossil record, but all that means is there wasn't 209 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:57,120 Speaker 1: a fossil doesn't necessarily mean it's gone. So that's why 210 00:12:57,160 --> 00:12:59,560 Speaker 1: things will pop back up that they'll think, hey, we 211 00:12:59,559 --> 00:13:03,000 Speaker 1: haven't seen the fossil of this guy and two thousand years, 212 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:04,560 Speaker 1: but here it is all of a sudden, And even 213 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:08,200 Speaker 1: if it has gone extinct, just where it stopped showing 214 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:11,000 Speaker 1: up from the fossil record doesn't mean, like you said, 215 00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:13,960 Speaker 1: that's when it went extinct, right then it could have 216 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:16,560 Speaker 1: been millions of years later. Well, because then you're supposing 217 00:13:16,600 --> 00:13:19,560 Speaker 1: that the last thing of that species happened to make 218 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:22,760 Speaker 1: a fossil, which is just silly um. And also it 219 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:25,080 Speaker 1: makes you wonder how many species have lived and died 220 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:28,360 Speaker 1: on Earth that just never showed up in the fossil record. Yeah, 221 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:31,480 Speaker 1: just weren't fossils at all. Yeah, Well, if it never 222 00:13:31,559 --> 00:13:35,760 Speaker 1: crawled into amber or you know, was buried by ash 223 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:40,880 Speaker 1: or something that's luck, or got trapped in Bronosaurus poop. 224 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:42,280 Speaker 1: I don't know if that's good luck or bad luck. 225 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:46,440 Speaker 1: It's just it is what it is. It's nature. So 226 00:13:46,559 --> 00:13:49,240 Speaker 1: because of all these gaps in the fossil record, UM, 227 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:52,960 Speaker 1: these researchers that love this topic tend to do a 228 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:56,920 Speaker 1: lot of math and a lot of speculating with algorithms 229 00:13:56,920 --> 00:14:01,160 Speaker 1: and mathematical formulas. This up out, sure, and that's the 230 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:04,719 Speaker 1: only way to do it, really, to speculate with numbers. UM. 231 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:08,000 Speaker 1: It also helps them define things like the minimum viable population, 232 00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:11,360 Speaker 1: which if you go below that then it's bad news 233 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:14,400 Speaker 1: for the species. It's the minimum amount you can have 234 00:14:14,559 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: to still be considered to have a bright future right 235 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:23,040 Speaker 1: as a thing, or to just survive as a species. Right, Yeah, 236 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:26,760 Speaker 1: that's what I mean, damn future if you're not surviving. Yeah, 237 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:29,920 Speaker 1: math is pretty grim. It can be in this case 238 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:33,640 Speaker 1: for sure. UM. So we'll talk about exactly what makes 239 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:37,600 Speaker 1: an extinction and and then what makes up mass extinctions. UM. 240 00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:45,800 Speaker 1: But first let's do a little break it un Okay, So, Chuck, 241 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:52,080 Speaker 1: you've been talking about um animals, animal species, going extinct 242 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:54,680 Speaker 1: and then showing up again like the Ceila can't or 243 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:58,280 Speaker 1: at least disappearing from the record, but we as humans 244 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:00,920 Speaker 1: assume they were extinct like a again, the Cela cant 245 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:03,600 Speaker 1: is this fish um that they caught off the coast 246 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:05,720 Speaker 1: of South Africa. When did we talk about it wasn't 247 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:08,120 Speaker 1: into this day in history. I remember we definitely have 248 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:11,440 Speaker 1: hit on that though. I think it was. It's huge, right, Yeah, 249 00:15:11,480 --> 00:15:14,360 Speaker 1: it's a big, ugly fish and it looks like an 250 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:17,640 Speaker 1: old dinosaur. But they thought it had died out like 251 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:21,600 Speaker 1: like fifties, sixty million years ago, actually way longer. They 252 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:25,080 Speaker 1: thought it disappeared four million years ago, even more impressive. 253 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:27,760 Speaker 1: So then they caught one off the coast of South 254 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:30,520 Speaker 1: Africa in the thirties. Then they caught another one a 255 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:34,880 Speaker 1: couple of decades later in Madagascar or Mauritius or something, 256 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:39,720 Speaker 1: and um that made the Seila cant a Lazarus species. 257 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:43,160 Speaker 1: You know, I hadn't really gone anywhere. We just thought 258 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:46,440 Speaker 1: it did. So we humans, having the most important perspective 259 00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:49,800 Speaker 1: on the entire planet, possibly in the entire universe, it 260 00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:52,880 Speaker 1: was a Lazarus species to us, Lazarus from the Bible 261 00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:56,240 Speaker 1: race from the dead like the sea cant again with 262 00:15:56,320 --> 00:16:01,000 Speaker 1: the biblical connotations with extinction. Yeah, a lot at stake here, 263 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:05,080 Speaker 1: that's true. Another way something might disappear and you might 264 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:07,920 Speaker 1: think it's gone is if it actually evolves into a 265 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:11,720 Speaker 1: new species. That's called pseudo extinction. And that's a great 266 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:14,240 Speaker 1: success story as well. It is, but it also I 267 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:18,840 Speaker 1: don't understand why that's not just a speciation event. I mean, 268 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:21,160 Speaker 1: why is that pseudo extinction? Why is that any different 269 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:26,840 Speaker 1: from regular extinction? Um, yeah, maybe just because it's uh, 270 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:31,600 Speaker 1: it's didn't die out actually just changed and evolved. Those 271 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:33,720 Speaker 1: are two different things. Yeah, it seems like a gray 272 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:38,120 Speaker 1: area to me. But for the most part, when an 273 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:42,240 Speaker 1: animal just disappears, and we should say, like even today, 274 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:45,000 Speaker 1: we were still finding things that we thought were extinct, 275 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:49,000 Speaker 1: so called Lazar species, which goes to make the point 276 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:53,240 Speaker 1: we have no idea how many living species there are 277 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:56,720 Speaker 1: on the planet today, Yeah, or have been. It's all 278 00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:01,160 Speaker 1: just a good guess it is using math, grim grim math. 279 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:04,720 Speaker 1: But for the most part we understand that when uh 280 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:09,080 Speaker 1: species goes away, suddenly it went extinct. And as we've 281 00:17:09,119 --> 00:17:12,360 Speaker 1: been saying again and again, extinction is kind of this 282 00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:16,359 Speaker 1: natural processor. It is a very natural process, um. And 283 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:22,239 Speaker 1: it typically results from a change in the habitat of 284 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:28,520 Speaker 1: species and it's inability to adapt so it dies out. Yeah. 285 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:34,040 Speaker 1: Competition with other species, hunting by humans, or perhaps the 286 00:17:34,119 --> 00:17:38,080 Speaker 1: environment has been tainted by humans, humans, or a new 287 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:41,000 Speaker 1: bacteria or a new virus. The thing is, though, is 288 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:46,160 Speaker 1: so these these big factors, habitat loss, competition with new species, hunting, 289 00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:49,480 Speaker 1: and contaminants in the environment. Those are the big four 290 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:53,560 Speaker 1: reasons that something goes extinct, right, Humans can and are 291 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:56,919 Speaker 1: responsible for all four of those. Yeah, and the and 292 00:17:56,960 --> 00:17:59,119 Speaker 1: these are This is the extinction that happens over time. 293 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:02,119 Speaker 1: Obviously not a big asteroid hid in the planet. No, 294 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:05,080 Speaker 1: But it can't happen pretty quickly. In this this is 295 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:08,840 Speaker 1: a Tracy Wilson joint and in uh in the introduction, 296 00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:14,520 Speaker 1: she mentions the stellar sea cow, which was an Arctic resident. 297 00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:17,760 Speaker 1: It was a big old manateee basically, and they were 298 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:22,480 Speaker 1: first described by Arctic explorers in seventeen forty one. By 299 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:26,080 Speaker 1: seventeen sixty eight they were extinct. So it can't happen 300 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:32,119 Speaker 1: on a pretty rapid um scale. Yeah, especially when you 301 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:34,560 Speaker 1: introduce humans. Yeah, and it you know, it has a 302 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:37,400 Speaker 1: domino effect too, because we talked about and everyone knows 303 00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:40,600 Speaker 1: about the dangers of losing bees. It's not just like, oh, 304 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:44,080 Speaker 1: well there're no more bees. That's gonna affect pollination and plants, 305 00:18:44,119 --> 00:18:46,720 Speaker 1: and those plants are being fed on by other animals, 306 00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:51,800 Speaker 1: and it tends to have a snowball effect. Um. Like, 307 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:54,880 Speaker 1: for example, the end of the last ice age, mammals, 308 00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:57,160 Speaker 1: small mammals started to go extinct and because of that, 309 00:18:57,640 --> 00:18:59,920 Speaker 1: large animals started to go extinct because they liked to 310 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:02,560 Speaker 1: eat the small animals. Exactly. Which is the answer to 311 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:06,920 Speaker 1: the question why is biodiversity important? Well, because ecosystems thrive 312 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,560 Speaker 1: and survive on a wide number of species that are 313 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:15,359 Speaker 1: exists pretty much naturally imbalanced. Um. You know. A pretty 314 00:19:15,359 --> 00:19:20,000 Speaker 1: good example of that stuff falling out of balance, um 315 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:24,080 Speaker 1: is the passenger pigeon. Are you familiar. Yeah, they're trying 316 00:19:24,119 --> 00:19:27,960 Speaker 1: to de extinct to that thing. Yeah. You want to 317 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:31,600 Speaker 1: talk about the extinction, Yeah, Well, the extinction is um, 318 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:34,120 Speaker 1: exactly what it sounds like. It is sort of Jurassic 319 00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:37,880 Speaker 1: parky it is. In two thousand three, some scientists revived 320 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:43,000 Speaker 1: the Burcardo Bucardo, and that's a Spanish mountain goat and 321 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:45,520 Speaker 1: they did it just sort of like Jurassic Park from 322 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:51,360 Speaker 1: DNA that was frozen in time. Unfortunately, although it did 323 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:55,639 Speaker 1: work initially. Uh, the DNA only survived a matter of minutes, 324 00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:58,879 Speaker 1: but they did they did count as a d extinction. 325 00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:02,679 Speaker 1: I think there was a live birth that survived a 326 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:05,600 Speaker 1: few minutes, wasn't it. Yeah, the the animal itself only 327 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:09,000 Speaker 1: survived a few minutes, though it was like, I should 328 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:15,120 Speaker 1: not be that's true. Uh, And I mean they basically said, 329 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:19,679 Speaker 1: it's happening now, and we have the capabilities and we 330 00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:22,040 Speaker 1: may not be able to bring the wooly mammoth back, 331 00:20:22,119 --> 00:20:23,719 Speaker 1: but we might be able to bring back something kind 332 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:26,480 Speaker 1: of close, right. So, and that raises in this article 333 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:30,520 Speaker 1: that you sent um this this moral question, like should 334 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:33,159 Speaker 1: we be doing this just because we can? Does that 335 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:35,680 Speaker 1: mean we should? And so like, if you bring back 336 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:38,639 Speaker 1: an animal that has been extinct for so long that 337 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:41,680 Speaker 1: its habitat is now gone where they're gonna live, exactly 338 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:43,879 Speaker 1: where you're gonna put it a zoo, that doesn't seem 339 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:45,679 Speaker 1: like a good reason to bring an animal back. So 340 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:48,280 Speaker 1: we could put it in a zoo? Yeah, and just 341 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:52,360 Speaker 1: uh like maybe it This is my opinion here, which 342 00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:54,000 Speaker 1: we don't do a lot of, but it seems like 343 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:57,560 Speaker 1: concentrating on the problems we face now with the extinction 344 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:00,600 Speaker 1: rates is something that we should concentrate on, not bringing 345 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:03,240 Speaker 1: back the wooly mammoth. Right, And and that also kind 346 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:06,480 Speaker 1: of dovetails of the point that if we have this 347 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: ability and routinely UM exercise it, we may be less 348 00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:14,440 Speaker 1: inclined to protect the stuff we have now, for like, oh, 349 00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:17,840 Speaker 1: it's important enough, we'll just genetically re engineer and bring 350 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:20,160 Speaker 1: it back later. Yeah. I think they in the scene 351 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:22,159 Speaker 1: an article they liken it to just thinking we have 352 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:26,679 Speaker 1: an undo button on the world controls the Yeah, no, good, No, 353 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:29,960 Speaker 1: it's funny because the author doesn't realize that controls the 354 00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:35,800 Speaker 1: works outside of Microsoft word too. He specifically mentioned control 355 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:42,480 Speaker 1: Z and Microsoft word, oh words, specifically Microsoft word. He said, yeah, 356 00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:44,399 Speaker 1: that's a little weird. He could be a schill and 357 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:48,160 Speaker 1: he was just working it in maybe you know, well 358 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:50,960 Speaker 1: on max though it's not control UM. Maybe he just 359 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:55,000 Speaker 1: smit Microsoft and awkwardly put in word maybe, or maybe 360 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:59,080 Speaker 1: that's the only program he knows. You know, how do 361 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:03,119 Speaker 1: I work this? UM? So you're saying that they're trying 362 00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:06,560 Speaker 1: to bring back the the passenger pigeon. Right, So the 363 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:11,879 Speaker 1: passenger pigeon is this really neat example of what happens when, um, 364 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:16,520 Speaker 1: you have a lack of biodiversity. Um, there were when 365 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:21,760 Speaker 1: European settlers came to the New World, apparently like one 366 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:26,320 Speaker 1: out of every four birds in North America was a 367 00:22:26,359 --> 00:22:30,199 Speaker 1: passenger pigeon. A quarter of the entire bird population was 368 00:22:30,359 --> 00:22:34,359 Speaker 1: passenger pigeons. There's a ton of pigeons. There are so 369 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:37,000 Speaker 1: many that you could just like shoot into like a flock, 370 00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:39,959 Speaker 1: and you would kill a couple hundred. Literally, it was 371 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:43,360 Speaker 1: that there were that many. The thing is is, um 372 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:46,760 Speaker 1: if you live, if you read one. I can't remember 373 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:48,800 Speaker 1: which one it is, but both are excellent books by 374 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:51,639 Speaker 1: Charles C. Man. He talks about the passenger pigeon and 375 00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:54,760 Speaker 1: how they've recently realized that there were so many passenger 376 00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:59,720 Speaker 1: pigeons because a century before they're one of one of 377 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:03,840 Speaker 1: their um great predators. The native American had been wiped 378 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 1: out by disease that had been introduced to the continent 379 00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:09,199 Speaker 1: about a century before that. So by the time the 380 00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:12,120 Speaker 1: Europeans got here and really started to settle and encounter, 381 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:15,920 Speaker 1: the passenger pigeon, they're like, God, look at all these pigeons, 382 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:19,600 Speaker 1: and didn't realize that the pigeon population had exploded because 383 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:23,840 Speaker 1: their natural predator had died off, and so we in 384 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:28,720 Speaker 1: turned hunted them into extinction. So because of one near extinction, 385 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:33,320 Speaker 1: the another species was allowed to thrive and explode, and 386 00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:38,200 Speaker 1: then that when they were faced with their their predator again, humans, 387 00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:41,480 Speaker 1: they were eventually wiped out and when extinct. Yeah, the 388 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:44,520 Speaker 1: American Buffalo, we almost sounded them out of existence. Yet 389 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:47,080 Speaker 1: we're not for Ted Turner. Yeah, we tried our best too. 390 00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:50,240 Speaker 1: They were just shooting those things for fun at one point, man. 391 00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:54,560 Speaker 1: That's disgusting. Disgusting. You hear about the trains just going 392 00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:56,320 Speaker 1: through the West and just shooting out the windows at 393 00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:58,840 Speaker 1: the Buffalo for no reason and doing nothing, just leaving 394 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:01,960 Speaker 1: them there to rot. Remember we did an episode on 395 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:05,440 Speaker 1: the Buffalo that was a good one. So sad um 396 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:10,520 Speaker 1: So it was good. Well it was sad dude though. So, uh, 397 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:13,840 Speaker 1: if you want to talk about extinction level events, that's 398 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:17,239 Speaker 1: a whole different deal. You want to talk that's not 399 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:22,760 Speaker 1: a slow gradual extinction, that is, uh, some big thing 400 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:25,720 Speaker 1: that happens that wipes out a lot of living things 401 00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:29,000 Speaker 1: all at once, and they estimate there's been more than 402 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:31,879 Speaker 1: twenty of these in the history of the world, but 403 00:24:32,119 --> 00:24:35,080 Speaker 1: um five of them. They call him the Big Five 404 00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:38,399 Speaker 1: for a reason, for good reason, and we'll just go 405 00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:43,000 Speaker 1: through those kind of quickly. Now, Uh, the Ordo Viscian extinction, 406 00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:46,919 Speaker 1: it's about four ninety million years ago, and that wiped 407 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:50,359 Speaker 1: out about half of all animal families. And the reason 408 00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:53,280 Speaker 1: it wiped out about half is because at the time 409 00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:55,600 Speaker 1: most of the stuff on are still lived in the sea. 410 00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:59,400 Speaker 1: Glaciers formed at this time, lowering sea levels, which meant 411 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:02,239 Speaker 1: that animal is that lived in a certain depth of 412 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:06,360 Speaker 1: the sea, usually towards the surface, lost their habitat boiled 413 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:10,360 Speaker 1: yeah maybe yeah, or were brought down to the level 414 00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:12,480 Speaker 1: where their predators like to hang out and we're eating 415 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:16,240 Speaker 1: non mass. But that that accounted for that extinction, which 416 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:18,360 Speaker 1: is kind of rare because, as you'll see when we're 417 00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:21,040 Speaker 1: talking about the Big Five or mass extinctions in general, 418 00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:24,280 Speaker 1: it's very difficult to pinpoint exactly what happened. So that's 419 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:26,520 Speaker 1: one of the rare ones that were like pretty sure, 420 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:29,400 Speaker 1: this is why all of these, all this life went 421 00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:31,920 Speaker 1: extinct all of a sudden. Yeah, And one reason it's difficult. 422 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:35,240 Speaker 1: It's because it was almost five million years ago. It's 423 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:39,280 Speaker 1: kind of tough. Here in number two, I feel like 424 00:25:39,359 --> 00:25:43,679 Speaker 1: letterman number two on the top five extinction UM, the 425 00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:47,280 Speaker 1: Late Devonian extinction UM, they're still debating about that, and 426 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:50,560 Speaker 1: about a quarter of the marine families. And by the way, 427 00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:53,520 Speaker 1: we should mention when they research these things, they home 428 00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:59,080 Speaker 1: in on family and genera and the big um classification group. 429 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:02,439 Speaker 1: They don't say like, oh, look at these kingdoms that 430 00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:05,399 Speaker 1: have disappeared or these phylum. They go down to the 431 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:09,840 Speaker 1: smaller levels and family and genis are just above species 432 00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:14,240 Speaker 1: as far as the taxonomy is concerned, exactly. UM. So 433 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:17,560 Speaker 1: what I say about half of the marine genera and 434 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:20,960 Speaker 1: that was three hundred and sixty million years ago, No 435 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:23,280 Speaker 1: idea what caused that one? No idea? At least you 436 00:26:23,359 --> 00:26:25,240 Speaker 1: and I have no idea. Yeah. I don't think they 437 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:30,200 Speaker 1: care about that one too much. The Permian Triassic extinction, 438 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:32,720 Speaker 1: this is um. This is a pretty big one. This 439 00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:34,639 Speaker 1: is the biggest one ever. This is the one they 440 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:37,760 Speaker 1: called the Great Dying, right I think so. I've seen 441 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:41,280 Speaker 1: estimates of as much as nine to nineties six percent 442 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:47,399 Speaker 1: of all life died off during this this extinction event. Um. 443 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:51,520 Speaker 1: In this article it says of marine genera and seventy 444 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:55,000 Speaker 1: of land species when extinct, and that was two hundred 445 00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:58,439 Speaker 1: and fifty million years ago. There's a lot of people 446 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:01,399 Speaker 1: who have different ideas about what did it. But do 447 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:05,960 Speaker 1: they think it's possible as volcanic activity creating acid rain. Um, 448 00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:08,520 Speaker 1: that's a big one that possibly happened more than once. 449 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:10,560 Speaker 1: Was that the one where I don't know, I think 450 00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:14,080 Speaker 1: that was the the KPg event was the one where 451 00:27:14,119 --> 00:27:16,720 Speaker 1: they think, um, they're not exactly how it happened, but 452 00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:19,840 Speaker 1: they might have been just broiled and then awesome broiled 453 00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:22,399 Speaker 1: on the face of the Earth, which would have happened 454 00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:24,840 Speaker 1: pretty quickly to actually and I think that one is 455 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:27,520 Speaker 1: if because they think it may have burst through the 456 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:31,280 Speaker 1: atmosphere right, yes, it rained hot debris everywhere. That's the 457 00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:34,280 Speaker 1: one that got ride of the dinosaurs six million years ago. 458 00:27:34,359 --> 00:27:37,480 Speaker 1: What is it called the k K hyphen PG, Yeah, 459 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:40,520 Speaker 1: the Cretaceous Paleogene event now, and that's the one where 460 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:44,480 Speaker 1: they they are pretty sure that an asteroid hit um 461 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:50,760 Speaker 1: Central America and sent all of this rock like basically 462 00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:55,160 Speaker 1: vaporized rock with away from Earth with so much force 463 00:27:55,280 --> 00:27:57,800 Speaker 1: that this stuff made it out of the atmosphere and 464 00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:00,320 Speaker 1: then started to come back down, and as they did, 465 00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:05,280 Speaker 1: it generated thermal heat enough to bring the broil down 466 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:08,560 Speaker 1: on Earth. Yeah. And that's the one of two um 467 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:12,160 Speaker 1: sub explanations. The other is that, uh, the old familiar 468 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:17,080 Speaker 1: um ash basically kept photosynthesis from it, like it blacked 469 00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:21,600 Speaker 1: out the sun like a nuclear winner. Um. Pretty nuts though, 470 00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:24,880 Speaker 1: But we skipped number four for no good reason. Um. 471 00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:29,560 Speaker 1: The end Triassic extinction killed about of marine families, about 472 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:33,639 Speaker 1: half of marine genera, and that was two million years ago. Yea. 473 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:38,080 Speaker 1: And again, like with a mass extinction, there's there's no 474 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:41,760 Speaker 1: real definition for it. I found. I was looking to see, Okay, 475 00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 1: who's who's the body that says, like, okay, a mass 476 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:50,280 Speaker 1: extinction event took place. It's again, the the fossil record 477 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:53,320 Speaker 1: is incomplete enough, and we're making guesses and mathematical guesses, 478 00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:56,400 Speaker 1: but still guesses to the extent that we don't have 479 00:28:56,440 --> 00:29:01,880 Speaker 1: a real definition for what constitutes a mass extinction. But 480 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:06,760 Speaker 1: those five were so massive that there's virtually no debate 481 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:13,000 Speaker 1: whatsoever that those account for mass extinction events. Yeah. Um, 482 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:15,920 Speaker 1: it's kind of like you know it when you see it, 483 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:20,520 Speaker 1: kind of thing, but there's no agreement on how pretty much. Um. 484 00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:23,480 Speaker 1: There there's no agreement on how fast it happened it 485 00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:25,880 Speaker 1: has to happen, or how widespread it has to happen. 486 00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:30,320 Speaker 1: But typically it's like a large percentage of all of 487 00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:35,480 Speaker 1: the animals alive, something like say, of all living animals species, 488 00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:39,360 Speaker 1: not just animals. Animal species just die off. Um, and 489 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:43,520 Speaker 1: it's worldwide. That's another that seems to be another um 490 00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:48,440 Speaker 1: factor in defining a mass extinction widespread. Yeah, so um, 491 00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:51,240 Speaker 1: these events were pretty big. Yeah, and one of them, 492 00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:53,320 Speaker 1: I think one of the researchers in the article you 493 00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:56,320 Speaker 1: sent made a pretty good point that the current mass 494 00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:58,960 Speaker 1: extinction extinction that we're in now, which we're gonna talk 495 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:02,000 Speaker 1: about in depth here in a minute, uh, he said, 496 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:05,000 Speaker 1: these are way more dangerous because in the event of 497 00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:09,160 Speaker 1: an asteroid, let's say, while it might really suck, it's 498 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:13,720 Speaker 1: one bad event, and right afterwards, the world starts to 499 00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:16,360 Speaker 1: try and recoup. It may take a million years, but 500 00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:18,840 Speaker 1: it tries its best to start reforming life and get 501 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:21,880 Speaker 1: going again. Where right now there's no stress relief, it's 502 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:25,960 Speaker 1: just a constant there's no recuperation because it's not over 503 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:29,480 Speaker 1: right or the recuperation will come, but we won't be 504 00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,640 Speaker 1: around to see it because it the the breaking point 505 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:36,760 Speaker 1: will be us wiping ourselves out by wiping out the biodiversity. 506 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:40,200 Speaker 1: And there is a kind of this whole moralistic thing 507 00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:43,600 Speaker 1: to the to the idea of extinction. This there's this 508 00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:46,000 Speaker 1: whole human guilt. But if you just kind of take 509 00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:51,080 Speaker 1: a step back and look at mass extinction um intellectually, 510 00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:56,360 Speaker 1: it doesn't wipe out life. It just changes everything. Right, 511 00:30:56,440 --> 00:31:01,920 Speaker 1: So for for one species it might be a boom time. 512 00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:05,520 Speaker 1: For everybody else it's a dying off time. But it's 513 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:08,480 Speaker 1: all in your perspective. Well, yeah, this, this beautiful earth 514 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:10,880 Speaker 1: that we know and love now isn't anything like it 515 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:13,440 Speaker 1: was a hundred million years ago exactly. And there's not 516 00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:18,000 Speaker 1: necessarily a set level that or a baseline that Earth 517 00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:21,800 Speaker 1: is supposed to be at, right because nature doesn't care 518 00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:24,960 Speaker 1: and nature is not like, Oh, we got all these 519 00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:27,680 Speaker 1: people here now and things seem pretty modern and they 520 00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:32,200 Speaker 1: got smartphones, so maybe we should just protect this version. Uh, 521 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:34,560 Speaker 1: they're like, what was the cycle every what ten million 522 00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:37,960 Speaker 1: years for a species? For species? OK, that's a lifespan 523 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:43,400 Speaker 1: of a species on average, So basically every what ten 524 00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:46,920 Speaker 1: million years the Earth, it just doesn't care. No, The 525 00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:49,600 Speaker 1: point is is, for a species, it's lifespan is ten 526 00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:52,280 Speaker 1: million years, and the Earth is not caring every day 527 00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:55,680 Speaker 1: of that. It doesn't care. It's just stumbling toward the 528 00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:59,840 Speaker 1: next event, basically exactly that will one day probably have. 529 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:02,800 Speaker 1: The thing is is all of this is not to 530 00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:05,800 Speaker 1: say that humans are off the hook. All evidence that's 531 00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:08,720 Speaker 1: coming in now is showing that we are doing a 532 00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:13,240 Speaker 1: lot to speed up extinction events and create a mass extinction, 533 00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:16,240 Speaker 1: so much so that the Big Five is possibly the 534 00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:18,840 Speaker 1: Big six, and we may be in the very beginning 535 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:22,160 Speaker 1: stages of the sixth one. And we'll talk about that 536 00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:34,480 Speaker 1: right after this. So, Chuckers, we've been talking about mass 537 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:38,120 Speaker 1: extinction events. There's a Big five, and a lot of 538 00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:40,960 Speaker 1: people are saying, no, there's six, and the sixth one 539 00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:45,160 Speaker 1: is human caused, so much so that geologists are proposing 540 00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:50,600 Speaker 1: that we call our current epoch the anthroposcene because humans 541 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:54,520 Speaker 1: are having such an impact on Earth that they imagine 542 00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:57,360 Speaker 1: ten thousand years from now, geologists will be able to 543 00:32:57,440 --> 00:32:59,600 Speaker 1: look and point to this layer and say, here's where 544 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:03,480 Speaker 1: human started. Yeah, let's get in the way back machine. 545 00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:05,760 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, let's crank this baby up? Does they have 546 00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:08,760 Speaker 1: enough charisee? Oh, it's got enough kerosene, buddy, because we're 547 00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:13,560 Speaker 1: going back years, you got, okay? And we're we're going 548 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:17,240 Speaker 1: to go to Australia even because it's just nice down there. 549 00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:21,160 Speaker 1: And what I see around me are these huge wombat 550 00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:23,840 Speaker 1: like things that are as big as hippos. Huge. And 551 00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:26,680 Speaker 1: I see a tortoise over there that's the size of 552 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:32,160 Speaker 1: a VW beetle, and this weird short faced kangaroo and 553 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:35,040 Speaker 1: these ten ft tall ten ft tall kangaroo looks the 554 00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:38,680 Speaker 1: size of it and everything is crazy. But um, let's 555 00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:42,120 Speaker 1: just unpack here and let's start propagating you and me. Okay, 556 00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:45,280 Speaker 1: I'm gonna make it far just for safety, all right. 557 00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:47,200 Speaker 1: It sounds like I needed to fend you off too. 558 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:51,000 Speaker 1: And you know what, it's weird. Things are starting to 559 00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:54,760 Speaker 1: disappear around us as we grow and as we expand, 560 00:33:55,480 --> 00:34:00,600 Speaker 1: and uh and seen, can we get out of here 561 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:09,600 Speaker 1: because that teen foot tall kangaroos eyeing us, well not anymore, 562 00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:13,960 Speaker 1: but he's dead because they believe a lot of people 563 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:17,879 Speaker 1: think that around fifty years ago, when humans started expanding 564 00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:24,279 Speaker 1: their footprint, Um, there was a very inconvenient correlation with 565 00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:28,120 Speaker 1: species dying out as we spread about the earth. Yeah, 566 00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:33,000 Speaker 1: the the this sixth mass extinction. I apologize for not 567 00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:38,320 Speaker 1: being able to say sixth correctly. But um, there there's 568 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:40,960 Speaker 1: a huge debate and it's still it's not settled. Both 569 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:44,440 Speaker 1: sides are like, we're right, right, another one is like, 570 00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:46,799 Speaker 1: we're right. The thing is both sides agree like, yeah, 571 00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:50,000 Speaker 1: we're in the midst of a six maths extinction and 572 00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:52,520 Speaker 1: isn't that what matters? But is it human caused or 573 00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:55,719 Speaker 1: is the result of climate change? And just because it's 574 00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:58,239 Speaker 1: the result of climate change doesn't mean that if you 575 00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:02,280 Speaker 1: take the trail back far enough, it isn't necessarily human cause. 576 00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:05,160 Speaker 1: But these are the two debates. So one is the 577 00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:08,799 Speaker 1: theory of overkill, which is the one you were just describing. Yeah, 578 00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:12,399 Speaker 1: and that was describing Australia fifty years ago. Um, if 579 00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:14,520 Speaker 1: we want to get back in the way back machine 580 00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:17,680 Speaker 1: and go to North America eleven thousand years ago, uh, 581 00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:22,080 Speaker 1: three quarters of our largest animals started to die out, 582 00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:24,600 Speaker 1: like the mascodon and the Willie mammoth and the giant beaver, 583 00:35:25,160 --> 00:35:29,400 Speaker 1: sabretooth tiger and not coincidentally, probably that's right. Around the 584 00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:32,600 Speaker 1: time where we first walked over the bearing Land Bridge 585 00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:34,759 Speaker 1: and set up shop here in North America. Yeah. The 586 00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:36,919 Speaker 1: thing is is you can also say, well that kind 587 00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:39,360 Speaker 1: of gives or takes a few thousand years, and yeah, 588 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:43,480 Speaker 1: you can. That's definitely stretchable, but it's just not been proven. 589 00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:47,279 Speaker 1: So there is a huge correlation between the spread of 590 00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:49,399 Speaker 1: humans and the death of what are called mega faun 591 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:53,000 Speaker 1: a huge land animals. And they say that that theory 592 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:56,080 Speaker 1: of overkill says that we came along with our smart 593 00:35:56,160 --> 00:36:00,160 Speaker 1: little tool kits, which included like spearheads and arrows and 594 00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:04,359 Speaker 1: axes and clubs and domesticated dogs after a certain point 595 00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:10,360 Speaker 1: in time and over hunted either these huge like hippo 596 00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:15,800 Speaker 1: sized marsupials, or we hunted things that were slightly smaller 597 00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:20,360 Speaker 1: that the huge hippo sized marsupials. Eight. Either way, we 598 00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:24,879 Speaker 1: contributed directly to their mass extinction. Yeah, and they think, 599 00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:28,799 Speaker 1: um generally that over hunting isn't the very least, it's 600 00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:32,279 Speaker 1: not the soul cause because you probably just can't hunt enough. 601 00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:35,000 Speaker 1: The amount of people that we had, especially in a 602 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:39,560 Speaker 1: place like Australia which wasn't super heavily uh founded, you know, 603 00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:42,240 Speaker 1: it wasn't like ten million people moved to Australia overnight, 604 00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:45,920 Speaker 1: you know. So they say over hunting is probably not 605 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:48,839 Speaker 1: the soul cause, but maybe a factor. UM. But other 606 00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:51,800 Speaker 1: things humans did, like maybe um in Australia they started 607 00:36:52,239 --> 00:36:56,319 Speaker 1: burning shrubs to clear land, and maybe those shrubs were 608 00:36:56,320 --> 00:36:58,680 Speaker 1: eaten by a certain species and then that caused that 609 00:36:58,719 --> 00:37:02,560 Speaker 1: domino effect again another um. The other camp that basically says, no, 610 00:37:02,640 --> 00:37:05,960 Speaker 1: it's climate change and it's fairly natural. Other people might 611 00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:09,359 Speaker 1: say it's human cause climate change. But for the most part, 612 00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:15,760 Speaker 1: if you are a climate change extinction proponent, you're probably 613 00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:18,480 Speaker 1: just believed that this is a natural process that the 614 00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:21,799 Speaker 1: Earth is undergoing, and humans didn't have enough of an 615 00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:24,640 Speaker 1: impact early on to account for the loss of a 616 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:28,000 Speaker 1: lot of these species. This one study pointed to a 617 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:33,000 Speaker 1: place called Sahul, which was Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania 618 00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:38,440 Speaker 1: all joined together in this megacontinent. There was several tens 619 00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:40,600 Speaker 1: of thousands of years ago, and they were saying that 620 00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:45,279 Speaker 1: by the time humans arrived in Sahul or Australia, most 621 00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:47,959 Speaker 1: of the megaphone it was already gone. He has gone 622 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:50,239 Speaker 1: as a result of climate change and there's no evidence 623 00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:55,320 Speaker 1: that we had a tool kit capable of killing these animals, um, 624 00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:59,319 Speaker 1: you know, at this time. So the debate still rages on. 625 00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:02,560 Speaker 1: And you know, there's been several ice ages that didn't 626 00:38:02,760 --> 00:38:06,040 Speaker 1: make things go extinct, so people point to that as 627 00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:10,080 Speaker 1: maybe another counter argument. But the researchers you sent along 628 00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:12,840 Speaker 1: did this pretty cool thing. They did the first global 629 00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:18,840 Speaker 1: analysis um of mapping large animals during this period a 630 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:21,560 Speaker 1: hundred and thirty two thousand to a thousand years ago, 631 00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:23,560 Speaker 1: and it was the first time they were able to 632 00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:26,920 Speaker 1: really get a fine point on this geographical variation in 633 00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:29,759 Speaker 1: the and species loss. And they did find that a 634 00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:33,520 Speaker 1: hundred and seventy seven species of large mammals disappeared during 635 00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:37,239 Speaker 1: that period where we were starting to spread out as 636 00:38:37,719 --> 00:38:42,040 Speaker 1: a species, and which apparently is as this put in 637 00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:46,200 Speaker 1: this article, a massive loss. Yeah, and they said, you know, 638 00:38:46,239 --> 00:38:48,760 Speaker 1: they expect these kind of things to happen on an island, 639 00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:51,560 Speaker 1: like if you go to Hawaii or you know, any island. 640 00:38:51,560 --> 00:38:54,560 Speaker 1: They say that that survival is the exception when humans 641 00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:57,920 Speaker 1: invade an island, But for to happen on like a continent, 642 00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:00,520 Speaker 1: it's it's pretty uh, it's pretty as going to think 643 00:39:00,520 --> 00:39:03,879 Speaker 1: about the human impact. It's still an island. Well, yeah, 644 00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:07,200 Speaker 1: I guess that's a good point. Um. But the jury 645 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:10,880 Speaker 1: is still out though, and exactly what's causing this. Most 646 00:39:11,080 --> 00:39:16,440 Speaker 1: scientists agree that we are in an mass extinction event, 647 00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:21,560 Speaker 1: and it's happening pretty quickly. Um, something like I think 648 00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:25,400 Speaker 1: a third of all coral reefs are in danger of extinction. 649 00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:29,720 Speaker 1: A third of amphibians, I believe, Yeah, and a quarter 650 00:39:29,719 --> 00:39:31,680 Speaker 1: of all mammals and an eighth of all birds are 651 00:39:31,719 --> 00:39:35,040 Speaker 1: all classified as threatened with extinction and um, and this 652 00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:38,080 Speaker 1: is happening around the world, So it's faking the criteria 653 00:39:38,160 --> 00:39:40,640 Speaker 1: for a mass extinction. Yeah, they're basically chalking up to 654 00:39:40,719 --> 00:39:43,759 Speaker 1: the pace of human expansion. And you know, if you 655 00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:49,360 Speaker 1: consider that, uh, farming and logging and building roads and buildings, 656 00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:52,719 Speaker 1: and most of the world's waterways have been diverted or 657 00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:56,239 Speaker 1: damned at this point or manipulated somehow. Um. Only two 658 00:39:56,320 --> 00:40:00,920 Speaker 1: percent of rivers in the United States run unimpeded. Everything 659 00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:05,000 Speaker 1: else has been altered in some way. Chemical plants um 660 00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:09,040 Speaker 1: affecting you know CEO two in the atmosphere, it's having 661 00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:11,480 Speaker 1: an effect. And the c O two actually in the 662 00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:16,120 Speaker 1: atmosphere is having another effect um called ocean acidification, which 663 00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:20,200 Speaker 1: has been described as global warming's evil twin. As more 664 00:40:20,239 --> 00:40:23,960 Speaker 1: and more C O two gets released in the atmosphere um, 665 00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:27,920 Speaker 1: the oceans scramble to keep up by absorbing more and 666 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:31,040 Speaker 1: more and it stores some of that by turning some 667 00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:34,160 Speaker 1: of it into acid, which lowers the pH of the ocean, 668 00:40:34,440 --> 00:40:38,120 Speaker 1: which is making the ocean unfit for a lot of life. 669 00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:43,239 Speaker 1: But as to kind of demonstrate how mass extinction is 670 00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:48,800 Speaker 1: bad for one species great for another, jellyfish populations are booming, 671 00:40:49,680 --> 00:40:53,680 Speaker 1: so probably because yeah, they like it more acidic, and 672 00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:56,799 Speaker 1: they're like seriously starting to cause some real problems. And 673 00:40:56,800 --> 00:40:59,480 Speaker 1: we're just seeing the beginning of this. So it's entirely 674 00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:02,719 Speaker 1: possible that the next thousand years will see the rise 675 00:41:02,760 --> 00:41:04,839 Speaker 1: of the jellyfish. Is the rest of the life on 676 00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:08,120 Speaker 1: Earth starts to die off. Well, here's a staggering stat 677 00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:11,040 Speaker 1: the drop in ocean pH levels that have occurred in 678 00:41:11,040 --> 00:41:14,279 Speaker 1: the past fifty years. They think might exceed what has 679 00:41:14,280 --> 00:41:18,799 Speaker 1: happened in the past previous fifty million years. So in 680 00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:21,640 Speaker 1: the past fifty years they've changed the basically changed the 681 00:41:21,680 --> 00:41:23,880 Speaker 1: chemical makeup of the ocean more than the past fifty 682 00:41:23,880 --> 00:41:28,160 Speaker 1: million and speaking of fifty years, apparently in the next 683 00:41:28,280 --> 00:41:34,080 Speaker 1: fifty years and estimated half half of all species on 684 00:41:34,200 --> 00:41:38,799 Speaker 1: Earth could be extinct. Sucks, man, I want to see 685 00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:41,439 Speaker 1: a sloth as big as an elephant. Hey, get into 686 00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:45,520 Speaker 1: the extinction. Well here, Um, you just saw when we 687 00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:49,320 Speaker 1: were in we were in Sahol. Well, yeah, it was nice, 688 00:41:49,840 --> 00:41:52,120 Speaker 1: but I want to like I wanted to come in 689 00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:54,200 Speaker 1: the way back machine and bring it to Atlanta. I 690 00:41:54,239 --> 00:41:57,439 Speaker 1: don't think that's a good idea. Man. That thing looked 691 00:41:57,440 --> 00:42:01,080 Speaker 1: like it would go berserk. Uh. And finally, unless you 692 00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:04,640 Speaker 1: have anything else, I don't think so. I'm looking at everything. Um. 693 00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:08,120 Speaker 1: We have a few highlights of extinct animals that have 694 00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:11,000 Speaker 1: been rediscovered, which is not the same thing as being 695 00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:14,040 Speaker 1: re engineered. What was this in I O nine Particle nine? 696 00:42:14,080 --> 00:42:17,360 Speaker 1: And some of those are pretty good. The Bermuda, petrel 697 00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:21,520 Speaker 1: and uh disappeared they fought in the sixteen hundreds, but 698 00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:24,480 Speaker 1: rediscovered nineteen fifty one. There's about a hundred and eighty 699 00:42:24,480 --> 00:42:27,640 Speaker 1: of those alive today. Uh. Let me see here what 700 00:42:27,640 --> 00:42:29,520 Speaker 1: else is good? Well? We also we already talked about 701 00:42:29,520 --> 00:42:34,560 Speaker 1: the Celo camp, the cuban, uh, soulan, don, Solenodon, excuse me. 702 00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:40,000 Speaker 1: Discovered in eighteen sixty one. Um has only been caught 703 00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:43,279 Speaker 1: thirty seven times in the history of the world. In 704 00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:45,920 Speaker 1: in ninev they thought it was an extinct it's like 705 00:42:45,920 --> 00:42:48,839 Speaker 1: a weird rat like species. But then they found one 706 00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:51,719 Speaker 1: in the seventies, and then another one in two thousand three. Huh, 707 00:42:52,200 --> 00:42:55,560 Speaker 1: so like welcome back Cuban Solenodon. So it's like caught 708 00:42:55,640 --> 00:42:59,000 Speaker 1: during the seventies and then during the period of the 709 00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:03,160 Speaker 1: seventies revival in the early two thousands. That's right. Nice, uh, 710 00:43:03,200 --> 00:43:07,040 Speaker 1: Gilbert's po po turu and these have weird names. That's 711 00:43:07,040 --> 00:43:10,640 Speaker 1: why they went extinct, because you couldn't say, you know 712 00:43:10,680 --> 00:43:16,959 Speaker 1: that we we should save the the what yeah, forty 713 00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:21,200 Speaker 1: one This is a rabbit size marsupial in Australia and 714 00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:23,759 Speaker 1: it last appeared in eighteen seventy nine. And they thought, 715 00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:27,840 Speaker 1: while this thing's gone up until came back out and 716 00:43:28,120 --> 00:43:30,120 Speaker 1: poked his head around and got caught in a few traps. 717 00:43:30,520 --> 00:43:33,040 Speaker 1: But currently less than a hundred of those in the world. 718 00:43:33,520 --> 00:43:35,040 Speaker 1: And so those are just a few of the ten, 719 00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:38,600 Speaker 1: and there's more than ten, obviously. But it's always a 720 00:43:38,600 --> 00:43:41,680 Speaker 1: good story. Sure, it is heartwarming. We think this thing 721 00:43:41,760 --> 00:43:44,440 Speaker 1: is dead. It's like, yeah, welcome back to the mass 722 00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:49,000 Speaker 1: extinction still going on. If you want to know more 723 00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:51,360 Speaker 1: about extinction, you should read each and every one of 724 00:43:51,360 --> 00:43:54,520 Speaker 1: the articles we cited. Uh and you can also read 725 00:43:54,600 --> 00:43:57,200 Speaker 1: this article on how stuff works dot com by typing 726 00:43:57,360 --> 00:43:59,880 Speaker 1: extinction into the handy search bar. And since I said that, 727 00:44:00,120 --> 00:44:04,920 Speaker 1: time for listener mail, I'm gonna call this police interrogation 728 00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:09,920 Speaker 1: follow up from Matt pope Hey in Victoria, British Columbia. 729 00:44:10,840 --> 00:44:13,239 Speaker 1: All right, thank you to Vancouver, by the way, for 730 00:44:13,320 --> 00:44:19,320 Speaker 1: two great shows after our great shows in Toronto and Vancouver. 731 00:44:19,640 --> 00:44:22,960 Speaker 1: Very supportive people. And boy that second crowd Vancouver was 732 00:44:23,040 --> 00:44:28,120 Speaker 1: drunk and rowdy. Hey, guys, just listen to police interrogation. 733 00:44:28,160 --> 00:44:30,240 Speaker 1: I thought i'd share a couple of quick personal stories 734 00:44:30,239 --> 00:44:33,759 Speaker 1: to illustrate the pitfalls of relying on nonverbal cues to 735 00:44:33,800 --> 00:44:36,120 Speaker 1: see if someone's guilty. I've never been in trouble with 736 00:44:36,120 --> 00:44:38,040 Speaker 1: the law myself, but several years ago I witnessed a 737 00:44:38,120 --> 00:44:41,239 Speaker 1: crime called nine one to report it. Cops snabbed the 738 00:44:41,239 --> 00:44:43,200 Speaker 1: perpetrator and a few days later asked me to come 739 00:44:43,200 --> 00:44:46,359 Speaker 1: down to provide a witness statement. When I arrived, an 740 00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:48,279 Speaker 1: officer led me into a tiny room that was every 741 00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:49,919 Speaker 1: bit as bleak as the ones you see on TV. 742 00:44:50,480 --> 00:44:52,799 Speaker 1: The weird experience, even though I wasn't accused of a 743 00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:54,920 Speaker 1: crime and the cop was polite and it's questioning the 744 00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:58,520 Speaker 1: interrogation room setting, the power differential between the uniform cop 745 00:44:58,600 --> 00:45:01,359 Speaker 1: with a gun and my unarmed self made me feel 746 00:45:01,400 --> 00:45:04,759 Speaker 1: really nervous. I started sweating, my voice shook, and if 747 00:45:04,760 --> 00:45:06,520 Speaker 1: you had been watching my body language did the one 748 00:45:06,560 --> 00:45:08,920 Speaker 1: way mirror, you would have thought I was guilty and 749 00:45:09,040 --> 00:45:11,960 Speaker 1: he was just a witness. The second story is very similar. 750 00:45:12,160 --> 00:45:14,560 Speaker 1: Every year a local courthouse as a public event where 751 00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:16,719 Speaker 1: they give tours and put on a mock trial and 752 00:45:16,760 --> 00:45:22,560 Speaker 1: actually hang someone kidding. That was pretty good. It's supposed 753 00:45:22,600 --> 00:45:24,720 Speaker 1: to be educational and fund My father is a lawyer. 754 00:45:24,719 --> 00:45:26,480 Speaker 1: In one year asked me, I would like to play 755 00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:29,400 Speaker 1: the defendant in the trial. I'm no actor, but I 756 00:45:29,400 --> 00:45:32,320 Speaker 1: said sure. My character was accused of a minor drug offense, 757 00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:34,640 Speaker 1: and I went through the whole ordeal, being on trial 758 00:45:34,680 --> 00:45:37,880 Speaker 1: and testifying my own defense. I'll spare you the details, 759 00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:40,520 Speaker 1: but afterwards my mom said, wow, you looked really guilty 760 00:45:40,560 --> 00:45:43,040 Speaker 1: up there. I hope you never actually are on trial. 761 00:45:43,080 --> 00:45:45,279 Speaker 1: For anything, because they'll lock you up and throw away 762 00:45:45,280 --> 00:45:48,359 Speaker 1: the key. I learned from these situations. The very act 763 00:45:48,400 --> 00:45:50,600 Speaker 1: of treating someone like a criminal and make him appear 764 00:45:50,640 --> 00:45:54,879 Speaker 1: guilty reminds me of the Stanford prison study that we've 765 00:45:54,880 --> 00:45:59,000 Speaker 1: talked about. And there's a psychologist nuts about that psychologies 766 00:45:59,120 --> 00:46:01,400 Speaker 1: Nuts video and are you tube channel about the Stanford 767 00:46:01,400 --> 00:46:03,520 Speaker 1: prison experiment. Yeah, that's a good one. You should check 768 00:46:03,520 --> 00:46:05,759 Speaker 1: that out. I hope you guys um never have to 769 00:46:05,800 --> 00:46:09,400 Speaker 1: find out the hard way you'll react to police interrogation 770 00:46:09,440 --> 00:46:10,880 Speaker 1: if you do. I hope you find a good lawyer. 771 00:46:11,239 --> 00:46:14,359 Speaker 1: That's from Matt Pope once again in Victoria, BC. Well 772 00:46:14,400 --> 00:46:18,160 Speaker 1: thanks a lot, Matt, Um. That's cookie about your town 773 00:46:18,200 --> 00:46:20,800 Speaker 1: doing mock trials and stuff like that. Yeah, like hanging 774 00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:24,920 Speaker 1: a guy, Yeah, crazy said, it's fun. The only the 775 00:46:24,960 --> 00:46:27,239 Speaker 1: only thing that's okay about is they make the guy 776 00:46:27,320 --> 00:46:30,600 Speaker 1: look like Hitler, right, So it's like hanging Hitler every year, 777 00:46:30,640 --> 00:46:32,640 Speaker 1: which everybody can get behind. Yeah, they call it the 778 00:46:32,719 --> 00:46:37,040 Speaker 1: Hitler hanging. If you want to send us an email 779 00:46:37,080 --> 00:46:39,960 Speaker 1: that Chuck feels the need to make up stuff about 780 00:46:40,600 --> 00:46:42,960 Speaker 1: you can, Well, you can send us an email. You 781 00:46:43,000 --> 00:46:45,400 Speaker 1: can also tweet to us at s y s K Podcast. 782 00:46:45,480 --> 00:46:47,320 Speaker 1: You can join us on Facebook, dot com, slash stuff 783 00:46:47,320 --> 00:46:49,400 Speaker 1: you Should Know, You can send us an email to 784 00:46:49,600 --> 00:46:53,880 Speaker 1: Stuff Podcast at how stuff works dot com, and as always, 785 00:46:54,000 --> 00:46:55,879 Speaker 1: check out our home on the web, Stuff you Should 786 00:46:55,880 --> 00:47:03,239 Speaker 1: Know dot com. For more on this and thousands of 787 00:47:03,239 --> 00:47:06,320 Speaker 1: other topics, visit how stuff Works dot com m