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Meet the man who can explain the first 3 billion years of life on our planet - CNN
Rocks, cliff faces, quarries gouged in earth. Not much for most of us to look at, but for paleontologist Andrew Knoll, they are radiant with meaning, telling a story he says is far grander and stuffed with more plot twists than any Hollywood blockbuster.
That tale is Earth's history -- how the planet went from a rock covered in magma oceans buffeted by comets and meteors to a green and blue orb teeming with life. Between those inhospitable beginnings and now, continents formed and were torn apart, mountain ranges appeared and disappeared, ice caps spread and receded. These are the lost worlds that Knoll has explored and shed light on.
"Having your nose up against the rocks. There's no substitute. If you're interested in the history of this planet, the library is rocks," said Knoll, who is the Fisher Professor of Natural History at Harvard University.
Rocks, cliff faces, quarries gouged in earth. Not much for most of us to look at, but for paleontologist Andrew Knoll, they are radiant with meaning, telling a story he says is far grander and stuffed with more plot twists than any Hollywood blockbuster.
That tale is Earth's history -- how the planet went from a rock covered in magma oceans buffeted by comets and meteors to a green and blue orb teeming with life. Between those inhospitable beginnings and now, continents formed and were torn apart, mountain ranges appeared and disappeared, ice caps spread and receded. These are the lost worlds that Knoll has explored and shed light on.
"Having your nose up against the rocks. There's no substitute. If you're interested in the history of this planet, the library is rocks," said Knoll, who is the Fisher Professor of Natural History at Harvard University.