Dr. Dan Janzen and Dr. Ignacio Chapela catalog both the larger and microbial life forms inside a single ecosystem in Costa Rica, finding that neither plants, animals, nor microbes would be able to exist without the others.

Dr. Karen Nelson and Dr. Craig Venter map the genome of Thermatoga, the microbes Dr. Karl Stetter discovered in Episode 1 of this podcast, and find convincing evidence that Thermatoga's origins are very close to the beginning of life on Earth.

A new understanding of life on Earth has forced us to redraw the tree of life. Dr. Carl Woese and Norman Pace describe the process and challenges of categorizing microbial life.

Join Dr. Karl Stetter on a mission to find the closest living relative

of the first life on Earth as he discovers a strain of bacteria he

names "Thermatoga."