Brian Klaas

And what you ultimately end up with when you're making truthful assessments of what happened is that there's an infinite number of causes, many of them tiny, but all of them essential because if you take them away, you probably wouldn't end up with the same outcome.

And what you ultimately end up with when you're making truthful assessments of what happened is that there's an infinite number of causes, many of them tiny, but all of them essential because if you take them away, you probably wouldn't end up with the same outcome.

And what you ultimately end up with when you're making truthful assessments of what happened is that there's an infinite number of causes, many of them tiny, but all of them essential because if you take them away, you probably wouldn't end up with the same outcome.

This is one of my favorite sections of my research is that I'm looking at all these crazy aspects of human evolution where, but for this one thing, we wouldn't exist. My favorite is the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs because the best science we have today suggests that an oscillation in this part of space called the Oort cloud fluctuates

This is one of my favorite sections of my research is that I'm looking at all these crazy aspects of human evolution where, but for this one thing, we wouldn't exist. My favorite is the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs because the best science we have today suggests that an oscillation in this part of space called the Oort cloud fluctuates

This is one of my favorite sections of my research is that I'm looking at all these crazy aspects of human evolution where, but for this one thing, we wouldn't exist. My favorite is the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs because the best science we have today suggests that an oscillation in this part of space called the Oort cloud fluctuates

flung a space rock towards Earth and it hit in the worst possible place from the perspective of the dinosaurs and the best possible place from the perspective of humans, just off the Yucatan Peninsula in what is this rock that is very rich with gypsum. And so the impact creates obviously some devastation, but what really wiped out the dinosaurs was this toxic gas along with the heat.

flung a space rock towards Earth and it hit in the worst possible place from the perspective of the dinosaurs and the best possible place from the perspective of humans, just off the Yucatan Peninsula in what is this rock that is very rich with gypsum. And so the impact creates obviously some devastation, but what really wiped out the dinosaurs was this toxic gas along with the heat.

flung a space rock towards Earth and it hit in the worst possible place from the perspective of the dinosaurs and the best possible place from the perspective of humans, just off the Yucatan Peninsula in what is this rock that is very rich with gypsum. And so the impact creates obviously some devastation, but what really wiped out the dinosaurs was this toxic gas along with the heat.

And so if it had hit anywhere else on the planet or if it had been delayed by a few seconds, it probably would have missed the Earth. Humans almost certainly would not exist. Mammals would not have risen as the sort of dominant player after the extinction of the dinosaurs. This is constantly happening.

And so if it had hit anywhere else on the planet or if it had been delayed by a few seconds, it probably would have missed the Earth. Humans almost certainly would not exist. Mammals would not have risen as the sort of dominant player after the extinction of the dinosaurs. This is constantly happening.

And so if it had hit anywhere else on the planet or if it had been delayed by a few seconds, it probably would have missed the Earth. Humans almost certainly would not exist. Mammals would not have risen as the sort of dominant player after the extinction of the dinosaurs. This is constantly happening.

My other favorite story of this type from evolutionary biology is the origin story of live births and the sort of emergence of placenta. That is, according to the best genomics research we have today, derived from a single chance event where one shrew-like creature got infected with a retrovirus about 100 million years ago. And this is why mammals don't lay eggs, right?

My other favorite story of this type from evolutionary biology is the origin story of live births and the sort of emergence of placenta. That is, according to the best genomics research we have today, derived from a single chance event where one shrew-like creature got infected with a retrovirus about 100 million years ago. And this is why mammals don't lay eggs, right?

My other favorite story of this type from evolutionary biology is the origin story of live births and the sort of emergence of placenta. That is, according to the best genomics research we have today, derived from a single chance event where one shrew-like creature got infected with a retrovirus about 100 million years ago. And this is why mammals don't lay eggs, right?

And you sort of think, I mean, such a profound evolutionary change. Maybe we wouldn't exist.

And you sort of think, I mean, such a profound evolutionary change. Maybe we wouldn't exist.

And you sort of think, I mean, such a profound evolutionary change. Maybe we wouldn't exist.

if not for this one shrew-like creature 100 million years ago, it's a very humbling thing to look into these backgrounds because the fragility, not just of your individual existence through the maddening random chance that leads to you being born rather than somebody else from your parents, but also just humanity's existence is incredibly, incredibly fragile.

if not for this one shrew-like creature 100 million years ago, it's a very humbling thing to look into these backgrounds because the fragility, not just of your individual existence through the maddening random chance that leads to you being born rather than somebody else from your parents, but also just humanity's existence is incredibly, incredibly fragile.