The Speed of Life: A Deep-Time Perspective

Why is evolution seemingly a story of fits and starts, with long periods of relative stability interrupted by rapid transitions? What allows some species to survive and quickly exploit new opportunities, while others go extinct? Why do the same forms evolve over and over again in different groups, at different times, and in different places, while many hypothetical forms never evolve at all? With information from thousands of extinct and living animals, including dinosaurs and big cats, we now understand more about evolution than ever before, and we’ve learned that with great change comes great unpredictability.

Award-winning paleobiologist Anjali Goswami of the Natural History Museum in London tackles a simple, but deeply profound question: why has life on Earth evolved the way that it has?

Recommended for ages 10 and older.

Host or Publisher Yale Peabody Museum and New Haven Museum