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The Origin and Evolution of Earth: From the Big Bang to the Future of Human Existence

Season 1
In 48 lectures by Professor Robert M. Hazen, the noted scientist who pioneered the study of mineral evolution, you follow events from the big bang to the formation of Earth to the many twists and turns in our planet’s evolution. In a course suitable for scientists and nonscientists alike, Professor Hazen recounts Earth’s story through the unique lens of mineral evolution.
202448 episodesTV-PG
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Episodes

  1. S1 E1 - Mineralogy and a New View of Earth
    October 16, 2024
    38min
    TV-PG
    Begin your study of Earth's history by voyaging backward in time, seeing how each crucial stage in the evolution of our planet depended on what came before. Preview the surprising role played by minerals, which coevolved with life-a link that provides a revolutionary new way of understanding Earth.
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  2. S1 E2 - Origin and Evolution of the Early Universe
    October 16, 2024
    32min
    TV-PG
    Earth has existed for only a third of the history of the universe. What happened before our planet formed? Journey back to the big bang, learning how fundamental forces and particles froze out of a homogeneous state in the initial moments of cosmic evolution.
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  3. S1 E3 - Origins of the Elements—Nucleosynthesis
    October 16, 2024
    33min
    TV-PG
    Discover how simple atoms of hydrogen and helium make stars, and how stars manufacture all other naturally occurring elements through processes including titanic supernova explosions. Called nucleosynthesis, this remarkable mechanism is responsible for the chemical richness that made Earth possible.
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  4. S1 E4 - Ur-Minerals, First Crystals in the Cosmos
    October 16, 2024
    32min
    TV-PG
    Trace the origin of minerals and discover a surprising candidate for the first crystal forged in the cauldron of dying stars. Then follow the processes that created other early minerals, which survive in their original form in microscopic presolar dust grains in interplanetary space.
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  5. S1 E5 - Presolar Dust Grains—Chemistry Begins
    October 16, 2024
    32min
    TV-PG
    Unravel the story told in "presolar" grains of dust formed by stars very different from our sun. These are the earliest building blocks of our own solar system. Learn how scientists identify these microscopic particles, which often contain diamond crystals. Also see how the field of cosmochemistry is revolutionizing the study of minerals.
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  6. S1 E6 - Coming to Grips with Deep Time
    October 16, 2024
    30min
    TV-PG
    Plunge into deep time-the vast period that reaches back to Earth's beginning. Professor Hazen walks you through a memorable analogy that orients you along this sea of ceaseless change. Also explore the techniques that allow scientists to date rocks and other materials with astonishing precision.
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  7. S1 E7 - The Birth of the Solar System
    October 16, 2024
    30min
    TV-PG
    Where did Earth and the solar system come from? See how an idea proposed in the 18th century provides a simple and elegant answer to this question. Compare our solar system with other planetary systems that have recently come to light in the successful search for extrasolar planets.
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  8. S1 E8 - The Early Solar System—Terrestrial Planets
    October 16, 2024
    30min
    TV-PG
    Investigate the work of the most successful planet-hunter of all time: the Kepler spacecraft, which found thousands of candidate planets orbiting other stars. Then focus on the origin of the four terrestrial planets in our inner solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.
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  9. S1 E9 - Hints from the Gas Giants and Their Moons
    October 16, 2024
    30min
    TV-PG
    Tour Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—the four gas giants of the outer solar system. Each is a mammoth world of violent weather, and each has multiple moons that help shed light on Earth's story. View this strange realm through the eyes of far-traveling space probes.
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  10. S1 E10 - Meteorites—The Oldest Objects You Can Hold
    October 16, 2024
    29min
    TV-PG
    Most meteorites that fall to Earth are older than Earth itself. Review our understanding of these artifacts of the solar nebula, learn where most meteorites are found, and hear about Professor Hazen's experiences searching for meteorites in the murky world of international meteorite trading.
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  11. S1 E11 - Mineral Evolution, Go! Chondrite Meteorites
    October 16, 2024
    33min
    TV-PG
    Focus on the most numerous class of meteorites: chondrites. These incredibly ancient rocks tell a story of intense pulses of radiation from the infant sun, which melted dust grains into sticky rocky droplets called chondrules. Countless chondrules clumped together to form chondrite meteorites.
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  12. S1 E12 - Meteorite Types and Planetesimals
    October 16, 2024
    33min
    TV-PG
    As planetesimals grew, the primary chondrite minerals were altered in ways that formed a different class of meteorites: achondrites. Study these fascinating relics from destroyed mini-planets. Some achondrites were blasted off the moon and Mars, including one specimen purported to show evidence of ancient extraterrestrial microbes.
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  13. S1 E13 - Achondrites and Geochemical Affinities
    October 16, 2024
    32min
    TV-PG
    Having surveyed the first stage of mineral evolution during the solar nebula phase, turn to stage two, which saw an explosion of mineral diversity during the accretion of protoplanets. One key to understanding how minerals began to diversify during this period is the influential classification scheme developed by geochemist Victor Goldschmidt.
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  14. S1 E14 - The Accretion and Differentiation of Earth
    October 16, 2024
    34min
    TV-PG
    Follow the stages of Earth's initial formation, as solar system debris in our neighborhood of space collided until one object dominated, growing into the embryonic Earth. Trace the process of differentiation that produced a distinct core, mantle, and crust; and learn how scientists know the details of Earth's deep interior.
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  15. S1 E15 - How Did the Moon Form?
    October 16, 2024
    30min
    TV-PG
    Investigate the case of the massive moon. Where did Earth's unusual moon come from? Explore the three possibilities considered before the Apollo moon landings gave scientists actual lunar samples to analyze. Also hear the story of Professor Hazen's close encounter with moon dust.
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  16. S1 E16 - The Big Thwack!
    October 16, 2024
    32min
    TV-PG
    Continue your investigation of the moon's origin. The simplest theory that explains the evidence is the "big thwack" model. Study this scenario, which has all the drama of a disaster movie - with colliding planets and a giant moon filling Earth's sky and then slowly receding over the course of billions of years.
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  17. S1 E17 - The “Big Six” Elements of Early Earth
    October 16, 2024
    33min
    TV-PG
    Survey Earth's six dominant elements: oxygen, magnesium, aluminum, silicon, calcium, and iron. Each has played a key role in Earth's history, governed by the element's distinctive chemical character. Examine this chemistry and learn, for example, why virtually all oxygen on the planet is locked in minerals and rocks.
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  18. S1 E18 - The Black Earth—Peridotite to Basalt
    October 16, 2024
    34min
    TV-PG
    Trace the evolution of Earth's first rocks, which crystallized from the young planet's seething magma oceans. Peridotite was the earliest major rock type to form. Discover why peridotite is now found mostly deep in the mantle, while a related rock called basalt covers 70 percent of Earth's surface.
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  19. S1 E19 - Origins of the Oceans
    October 16, 2024
    32min
    TV-PG
    Follow Earth's remarkable transition from a dry world with a uniform black basaltic surface to a wet planet of rivers, lakes, and oceans. Also learn about the special properties of water, which make it a universal solvent, a vehicle for life, and the chief architect of Earth's surface features.
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  20. S1 E20 - Blue Earth and the Water Cycle
    October 16, 2024
    32min
    TV-PG
    Hunt for unseen water on the moon, Mars, and Earth, discovering that copious quantities exist in unlikely places, including hundreds of miles underground. Professor Hazen tells how his lab duplicates conditions in Earth's deep interior to learn how minerals incorporate water under extreme pressure.
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  21. S1 E21 - Earth and Mars versus Mercury and the Moon
    October 16, 2024
    31min
    TV-PG
    Search for the reason that Earth and Mars have far greater mineral diversity than Mercury and Earth's moon. Probe clues such as tiny zircon crystals that are the oldest surviving minerals on Earth. From this evidence, assemble a story of Earth's global ocean and a time when the entire planet froze over.
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  22. S1 E22 - Gray Earth - Clays and the Rise of Granite
    October 16, 2024
    33min
    TV-PG
    Probe the essential features of clay minerals, which are abundant on both Earth and Mars. Then investigate why Earth has so much granite. Trace the origin of this rock, which abounds in Earth's continents but is rare elsewhere in the solar system.
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  23. S1 E23 - Earth's Mineralogy Takes Off—Pegmatites
    October 16, 2024
    30min
    TV-PG
    Continue your study of the stages of mineral evolution by looking at what happens when granite partially melts. Under the right conditions, the resulting crystals can be unusually large and strikingly beautiful. Such rocks are called pegmatites, and their formation involves some of the rarest elements on the planet.
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  24. S1 E24 - Moving Continents and the Rock Cycle
    October 16, 2024
    30min
    TV-PG
    Explore early attempts to explain why the continents fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, including Alfred Wegener's continental drift theory and the expanding Earth hypothesis. Lay the groundwork for an understanding of the revolutionary theory of plate tectonics by reviewing the stages of the rock cycle.
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  25. S1 E25 - Plate Tectonics Changes Everything
    October 16, 2024
    32min
    TV-PG
    Research after World War II converged on a remarkable theory for the evolution of Earth's crust and upper mantle: plate tectonics. Study the evidence that led scientists to conclude that a dozen shifting plates explain earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain ranges, deep sea trenches, and much more.
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Subtitles
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Producers
The Great Courses
Cast
Robert Hazen
Studio
The Great Courses
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