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Crash Course Big History: Why the Evolutionary Epic Matters (12:21)

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.

Key Ideas

Think about the following questions as you watch the video


  1. 02:10 What, overall, were the various causes of the first five mass extinctions?
  2. 05:10 Evolutionarily speaking, what do single cell bacteria (pre-Cambrian) and the human species have in common?
  3. 07:00 What are some of the reasons the year 1500 marks the beginning of the “sixth extinction”?
  4. 10:20 What are some of the most significant consequences of an increased global temperature?
  5. 11:52 What is the difference between humans and all the other things (volcanoes, asteroids, for example) that has caused mass extinctions?