Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life

00:00:02 Our Earth is the only known planet that sustains life

00:03:00 explains how this wonderful diversity came about.

00:05:34 In one day, in a small area

00:07:42 which enabled it to reach up to higher vegetation.

00:10:33 Here he wrote an account of his travels

00:13:07 So maybe

00:16:00 have now become so different they are species.

00:18:46 He continued to accumulate evidence and refine his theory for the next 14 years.

00:21:31 whose first editions still line these office walls.

00:23:49 In fact, some of those questions would not be answered until comparatively recently.

00:26:39 Ah, Micraster...

00:28:50 It's almost impossible to resist the temptation

00:31:17 so an ability to hold on tight is very valuable.

00:33:13 The earliest known fossils in Darwin's time

00:35:52 in rocks of this extreme age

00:38:25 And these tiny crystals are revealed to be 562 million years old.

00:40:55 in just the way that the German geologist had suggested

00:43:08 If the pit got deeper and started to close, then light would form a blurred image.

00:45:24 others could actually skip a generation. How could that happen?

00:48:11 So, 150 years after the publication of Darwin's revolutionary book

00:50:33 that exploited this new environment in all kinds of ways.

00:53:07 With much of the land left vacant after the great catastrophe, they now had their chance.

00:56:46 And now, to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth

185:08:02 back from the Galapagos