Back in the groovy, paranormal-obsessed 70s, brilliant, anti-establishment scientist James Lovelock came up with the idea that all process on Earth, including living things, are part of an enormous self-regulating system. This was meant to explain how Earth's various conditions have remained stable, and suitable for life, over millions of years. Calling this idea 'Gaia' after the personification of the Earth in Greek mythology, Lovelock found, perhaps inevitably, that the notion was taken up by the New Age movement. The notion that the Earth was somehow 'alive' became attached to Gaia in the popular imagination. And ever since, the Gaia hypothesis has seemed to exist in a half-way house, neither science nor mysticism.

In this episode, Cian takes Gaia back to its original scientific roots. What exactly did Lovelock propose? Has Gaia been accepted by mainstream science? What is its connection to the 'super-organism?'

Join us at the Cabin In The Woods to find out.