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What Was the Ancestor of Everything?

The search for our origins go back to a single common ancestor -- one that remains shrouded in mystery. It’s the ancestor of everything we know and today scientists call it the last universal common ancestor, or LUCA.
Season 1 Episode 37 Length 11:06 Premiere: 04/11/18

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Clips & Previews

Specials

Season 1 Episodes

The Two People We're All Related To
S1 E62 Length 08:44 Premiere Date 10/25/18

Your Place in the Primate Family Tree
S1 E61 Length 11:35 Premiere Date 10/17/18

When Giant Amphibians Reigned
S1 E60 Length 09:51 Premiere Date 10/17/18

Can We Get DNA From Fossils?
S1 E59 Length 11:22 Premiere Date 10/03/18

Did Raptorex Really Exist?
S1 E58 Length 12:27 Premiere Date 09/19/18

When We First Walked
S1 E57 Length 10:56 Premiere Date 09/19/18

Life, Sex & Death Among the Dire Wolves
S1 E56 Length 09:15 Premiere Date 09/19/18

The Rise and Fall of the Bone-Crushing Dogs
S1 E55 Length 08:29 Premiere Date 08/28/18

How a Supervolcano Made the Cenozoic’s Coolest Fossils
S1 E54 Length 09:15 Premiere Date 08/28/18

How Horses Took Over North America (Twice)
S1 E53 Length 09:08 Premiere Date 08/14/18

When Birds Had Teeth
S1 E52 Length 11:29 Premiere Date 08/07/18

When Fish Wore Armor
S1 E51 Length 09:37 Premiere Date 07/24/18

The Mystery of the Eocene’s Lethal Lake
S1 E50 Length 07:59 Premiere Date 07/17/18

When Insects First Flew
S1 E49 Length 08:38 Premiere Date 07/10/18

FAQs From Our First Year
S1 E48 Length 09:20 Premiere Date 07/03/18

How the T-Rex Lost Its Arms
S1 E47 Length 06:54 Premiere Date 06/26/18

When Fish First Breathed Air
S1 E46 Length 08:40 Premiere Date 06/19/18

Where Did Viruses Come From?
S1 E45 Length 07:29 Premiere Date 06/12/18

Why Triassic Animals Were Just the Weirdest
S1 E44 Length 09:07 Premiere Date 06/05/18

That Time It Rained for Two Million Years
S1 E43 Length 07:31 Premiere Date 05/22/18

From the Fall of Dinos to the Rise of Humans
S1 E42 Length 12:34 Premiere Date 05/16/18

The Weird, Watery Tale of Spinosaurus
S1 E41 Length 07:28 Premiere Date 05/08/18

The Age of Reptiles in Three Acts
S1 E40 Length 10:45 Premiere Date 05/07/18

How the Chalicothere Split In Two
S1 E39 Length 07:03 Premiere Date 04/24/18

How the Squid Lost Its Shell
S1 E38 Length 08:05 Premiere Date 04/17/18

What Was the Ancestor of Everything?
S1 E37 Length 11:06 Premiere Date 04/11/18

Inside the Dinosaur Library
S1 E36 Length 07:19 Premiere Date 04/02/18

The Most Useful Fossils In The World
S1 E35 Length 05:49 Premiere Date 03/26/18

What a Dinosaur Looks Like Under a Microscope
S1 E34 Length 08:09 Premiere Date 03/19/18

How the Turtle Got Its Shell
S1 E33 Length 08:29 Premiere Date 03/12/18

The Other Explosion You Should Know About
S1 E32 Length 06:25 Premiere Date 03/05/18

How Sex Became A Thing
S1 E31 Length 05:39 Premiere Date 02/26/18

From the Cambrian Explosion to the Great Dying
S1 E30 Length 10:28 Premiere Date 02/20/18

The Whole Saga of the Supercontinents
S1 E29 Length 08:40 Premiere Date 02/12/18

The Great Snake Debate
S1 E28 Length 06:28 Premiere Date 02/05/18

Untangling the Devil's Corkscrew
S1 E27 Length 06:11 Premiere Date 01/29/18

The Time Terror Birds Invaded
S1 E26 Length 05:32 Premiere Date 01/22/18

How Two Microbes Changed History
S1 E25 Length 07:39 Premiere Date 01/15/18

When Giant Fungi Ruled
S1 E24 Length 06:37 Premiere Date 12/18/17

What Happened to the World's Greatest Ape?
S1 E23 Length 07:01 Premiere Date 12/11/17

The Last Time the Globe Warmed
S1 E22 Length 09:54 Premiere Date 12/04/17

The Facts About Dinosaurs & Feathers
S1 E21 Length 10:01 Premiere Date 11/27/17

The Search for the Earliest Life
S1 E20 Length 05:37 Premiere Date 11/20/17

A Brief History of Geologic Time
S1 E19 Length 12:08 Premiere Date 11/07/17

An Illustrated History of Dinosaurs
S1 E18 Length 12:20 Premiere Date 02/15/18

When Whales Walked
S1 E17 Length 04:56 Premiere Date 10/23/17

Living Fossils' Aren't Really a Thing
S1 E16 Length 05:05 Premiere Date 10/16/17

When The Earth Was Purple
S1 E15 Length 05:37 Premiere Date 10/09/17

How Did Dinosaurs Get So Huge?
S1 E14 Length 05:42 Premiere Date 10/02/17

History's Most Powerful Plants
S1 E13 Length 05:20 Premiere Date 09/26/17

The Age of Giant Insects
S1 E12 Length 05:28 Premiere Date 09/18/17

The Strange Case of the Buzzsaw Jaws
S1 E11 Length 03:54 Premiere Date 09/11/17

The Extinction That Never Happened
S1 E10 Length 07:36 Premiere Date 09/21/17

Dimetrodon: Our Most Unlikely Ancestor
S1 E9 Length 05:21 Premiere Date 09/21/17

The Biggest Thing That Ever Flew
S1 E8 Length 04:27 Premiere Date 08/14/17

That Time Oxygen Almost Killed Everything
S1 E7 Length 04:45 Premiere Date 08/07/17

The Story of Saberteeth
S1 E6 Length 05:26 Premiere Date 07/31/17

What Colors Were Dinosaurs?
S1 E5 Length 05:02 Premiere Date 07/24/17

Stegosaurs: Tiny Brains & Thagomizers
S1 E4 Length 04:49 Premiere Date 07/17/17

The Tully Monster & Other Problematic Creatures
S1 E3 Length 04:01 Premiere Date 07/11/17

When Did the First Flower Bloom?
S1 E2 Length 04:21 Premiere Date 07/03/17

The Trouble With Trilobites
S1 E1 Length 06:46 Premiere Date 06/26/17

A Quick Introduction to Eons
Preview Length 01:28 Premiere Date 06/22/17

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