A Recap of Cosmic and Biological Evolution

Our universe is 13.8 billion years old; our solar system is 8 billion years old; and the earth is 4.5 billion years old. A timeline on earth from that point on reads like this (and what a testimony to scientific achievement this list is):



billion years of simple cells (prokaryotes),
3 billion years of photosynthesis,
2 billion years of complex cells (eukaryotes),
1 billion years of multi-cellular life,
600 million years of simple animals,
550 million years of complex animals,
500 million years of fish and proto-amphibians,
475 million years of land plants,
400 million years of insects and seeds,
360 million years of amphibians,
300 million years of reptiles,
200 million years of mammals,
150 million years of birds,
130 million years of flowers,
65 million years since the dinosaurs died out
40 million years of butterflies and moths
20 million years of giraffes
15 million years of hominids
13 million years since orangutan-hominid split
10 million years since gorilla-hominid split
6 million years since chimpanzee-hominid split
5 million years of Australopithecines
million years of Ardipithecus
million years of Australopithecus afarensis
5 million years of Homo habilis
8 million years of Homo erectus
2 millions years of Homo antecessor
600 thousand years of Homo heidelbergensis
350 thousand years of Neanderthals
200 thousand years of Anatomically modern humans
160 thousand years of Homo sapiens
50 thousand years since migration to South Asia
40 thousand years since migration to Australia and Europe
15-40 thousand years since migration to Americas
12 thousand years since evolution of light skin in Europeans

Is something happening here? Is there anything we can infer from all this?

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Published on February 21, 2016 00:46
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