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How to win at evolution and survive a mass extinction

1,268,556 views | Lauren Sallan • TED2017

Congratulations! By being here, alive, you are one of history's winners -- the culmination of a success story four billion years in the making. The other 99 percent of species who have ever lived on earth are dead -- killed by fire, flood, asteroids, ice, heat and the cold math of natural selection. How did we get so lucky, and will we continue to win? In this short, funny talk, paleobiologist and TED Fellow Lauren Sallan shares insights on how your ancestors' survival through mass extinction made you who you are today.

Congratulations! By being here, alive, you are one of history's winners -- the culmination of a success story four billion years in the making. The other 99 percent of species who have ever lived on earth are dead -- killed by fire, flood, asteroids, ice, heat and the cold math of natural selection. How did we get so lucky, and will we continue to win? In this short, funny talk, paleobiologist and TED Fellow Lauren Sallan shares insights on how your ancestors' survival through mass extinction made you who you are today.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

About the speaker

Lauren Sallan

See speaker profile

TED Senior Fellow Lauren Sallan is a paleobiologist using a wide variety of data and methods to reveal how biodiversity changes at scales beyond human observation (macroevolution).

Peter Brannen | Harper Collins, 2017 | Book

The Ends of The World

This lively book for a popular audience covers our current understanding of the all major mass extinctions in the history of life and what they collectively mean for the future. Peter Brannen interviewed numerous paleobiologists, geologists and other investigators behind the discoveries, tagging along on fieldwork and visiting their labs. As a result, it’s part travelogue, part hard data and part sociology of science, resulting in a deep and multifaceted view of the state of the art that's also fun!

Matt Friedman and Lauren Sallan | Palaeontology, 2012 | Article

"Five Hundred Million Years of Extinction and Recovery"

For more detailed information about gains and losses in the evolutionary history of fishes, read this synthesis of their extensive fossil record. While this article is from five years ago, most of the material is still relevant, if only for lack of workers!

John A. Long | Johns Hopkins University, 2010 | Book

The Rise of Fishes: 500 Million Years of Evolution

For more information about the weird and wonderful fishes featured on my slides, or just more beautiful paleoart, refer to this colorful introduction by John Long (Flinders University). Prof. Long is eminent paleoichthyologist who has helped flesh out "The Age of Fishes" through numerous discoveries and a prolific author of science books for a general audience. This book is a great choice for anyone with an interest in paleontology, or life in general.

Michael Benton | Wiley, 2014 | Book

Vertebrate Palaeontology, 4th Edition

Refer to this classic textbook series for a more thorough introduction to vertebrate paleontology as it is currently practiced, and our present take on the history of vertebrate kind. Prof. Benton (Bristol) helped revolutionize the study of long-term evolution (macroevolution) and mass extinction in vertebrates. Here, he summarizes decades of breakthroughs, cutting-edge techniques and the full diversity of fossil vertebrates in an accessible way.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.