One Strange Rock

S01E05: Survival

Earth, the great killer. Without the cycle of death and sacrifice, from cellular to planetary, life would not be here. From the deaths of stars, to planetary scale mass extinctions and the sacrifice of individuals for a greater genetic good, this is the story of how life evolved hand in hand with death. Death drives evolution. It's hardwired: from our cells to our landscapes, our colorful living planet is only possible because of it. Death leads to opportunity and biodiversity which ironically ensures life on the planet is never wiped out. It's not enough for our planet to be habitable… it also has to be lethal.

Overview

A mind-bending, thrilling journey exploring the fragility and wonder of planet Earth, one of the most peculiar, unique places in the entire universe, brought to life by the only people to have left it behind – the world’s most well known and leading astronauts.

Episodes

Gasp

S01E01 Gasp

March 26, 2018 8.7 47 min
Our perfectly calibrated, breathing planet. For those privileged few who have seen Earth from space, the very first thing they notice is the thin blue line of atmosphere that clings to our planet and sustains...
Storm

S01E02 Storm

April 2, 2018 8.0 47 min
A planet sculpted from cosmic violence. Earth is a very lucky planet. It has ended up the right size and in the right place. This only happened because of violent cosmic collisions. The crazy thing...
Shield

S01E03 Shield

April 9, 2018 8.0 47 min
Earth protects itself from the sun. The David and Goliath story of Earth's relationship with its greatest threat, our seemingly benign Sun. The Sun is the big violent boss of the Solar System, throwing out...
Genesis

S01E04 Genesis

April 16, 2018 7.3 47 min
Earth gives birth to life. The building blocks of life are common across the universe, but life is rare. What's so special about Earth that it emerged here? Only here on Earth have we found...
Survival

S01E05 Survival

April 23, 2018 8.3 47 min
Earth, the great killer. Without the cycle of death and sacrifice, from cellular to planetary, life would not be here. From the deaths of stars, to planetary scale mass extinctions and the sacrifice of individuals...
Escape

S01E06 Escape

April 30, 2018 7.2 47 min
We are all planets. Is it possible for intelligent life to escape destruction, either from the planet or ourselves? Or are we destined for extinction like 99% of all species before us? Our best chance...
Terraform

S01E07 Terraform

May 7, 2018 8.0 47 min
Earth's great paradox. For our planet to become inhabitable for life, you already need life. Ever since life emerged, microbes, plants and animals have all sculpted the planet's surface and air in the strangest of...
Alien

S01E08 Alien

May 14, 2018 7.7 47 min
The freak accident behind complex life. All life on earth started as single cell bacteria and stayed like that for 2 billion years. Successfully spreading across the planet. So even if we do find alien...
Awakening

S01E09 Awakening

May 21, 2018 7.5 47 min
Your brain is an anomaly. We tend to think that once the first life emerged it was inevitable that it would eventually evolve into us. But there is nothing inevitable about consciousness. For over 2...
Home

S01E10 Home

May 28, 2018 7.7 47 min
There's no place like home. We wrap up the series with the story of NASA's most experienced female astronaut, Peggy Whitson, as she returns home to earth. We might possibly be the only intelligent life...

Cast

Will Smith
Will Smith
Self - Host

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