How An Ancient Ocean Shaped US History
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Published 2024-02-20
From ancient seas to fertile soils, evolutionary biologist Shane Campbell-Staton explores the remarkable journey that transformed the Cretaceous coastline into the fertile “Black Belt” region of the American South. He joins oceanographer Craig McClain, professor Sven Beckert, and geneticist Steven Micheletti to learn how millions of years of deposits shaped the events of Black American history.
Human Footprint explores the impact of humans on the planet. Join Shane as he travels from farms to restaurants, from high-tech labs to street markets, and from forests to cities to uncover the consequences of our unique human history. Are you ready to explore our past, present, and future as a species?
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All Comments (21)
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This episode was deeper than I was ready for
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This information should be taught in all US schools. Thank you for researching and airing it.
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Another reason to love geology. It is not just the past ❤
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This is exactly the type of show I look for from PBS Terra. How ancient Earth/Terran processes impact our past, present & futures. Thank you!
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Growing up in the 80s in Alabama we were taught about the Black Belt and that it was an ancient coastline but none of the socio-economic and demographic connections and correlations were ever mentioned. This video really should be taught in every school in the USA today.
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This is the interdisciplinary story that explains why we need to teach social sciences and STEM.
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I love learning about these kinds of connections. "It's the same band over and over again." That's when the video went from interesting to fascinating for me. We know that old geology affects the modern world, but this was a particularly striking example.
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"I welcome diversity in my genome, I just don't like how it got there." This part of the video with the 23nMe guy was impactful. Everyone should understand what this science is uncovering.
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Not only are these facts phenomenal, but you who studied it and put it together for us to watch are the real phenomenon to be proud of! Thank you!
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Thank you for this. I saw this on Google Earth several years ago and never found a satisfying explanation of it. I figured out from other geography videos that it was a coastline but the in depth explanation of the thing was elusive and I never even knew what to call it.
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That final link was jaw dropping...absolutely brilliantly made! Thank you for posting!
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Maaan, crossing from natural history into people's history. Brilliant and right on time. This is amazing. Thank you!
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Besides the core subject of the video being interesting, this is also a great example of the power of modern data visualization tools. Those tools make it easier to discover patterns.
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title does not accurately describe what this video is about
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Excelent presentation 😁 Shane's voice is so smooth and engaging
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If Americans aren't learning this in highschool then that's a crying shame.
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A simple like isn't enough to say how much I enjoyed this episode. Good stuff
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Anyone else needed a moment to gather themselves after this one? What an amazing episode. I feel this one could have been at least twice in length with how deep and layered the subject matter turned out to be. I especially loved the allowance to sit with those uncomfortable moments in the conversations without blame or judgment
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The amount of history, specifically human history that is hidden due to water levels is mind-blowing. Annnnddd then this episode takes a totally different direction than expected 😮
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This episode was WAAAAAAY deeper than what the headline gave off. I needed MORE of this topic of DNA and historical graphs
