Travel back into the past with the team behind the hit YouTube series PBS Eons to see if they -- and you -- could survive deep time.
Watch the trailer here. Listen to Episode 1
ARLINGTON, VA; October 1, 2024 – If you were suddenly dropped back in time half a billion years ago into the Cambrian period, could you survive? Or 66 million years ago in the aftermath of a giant space rock hitting the Earth? The question of “How long could a human survive if they were dropped into a particular period of time” is one of the most frequently asked by fans of PBS Eons, the popular YouTube series. And it’s exactly the question that their newest podcast seeks to answer. EONS: SURVIVING DEEP TIME premieres on October 1st, and takes listeners on a journey of prehistoric discovery - one that looks to answer overarching questions about the past and ourselves.
EONS: SURVIVING DEEP TIME is hosted by PBS Digital Studios science communicators Kallie Moore, Blake de Pastino, Michelle Barboza-Ramirez, and Gabriel-Philip Santos and will feature special guests.
“We’re so excited for our second season of the Eons Podcast,” said Kallie Moore, co-host of EONS: SURVIVING DEEP TIME and PBS EONS on YouTube. “Together, we’ll explore the challenges of survival over the eons and examine whether or not humans could have made it through specific points in geological time. We’re on a hunt for answers about the unknown past as well as our collective future.”
“The Eons Podcast is an important part of PBS’ multi-platform approach in reaching audiences with engaging content wherever they are,” said Maribel Lopez, Head of PBS Digital Studios. “The Eons teams put a tremendous amount of research and creativity into everything they do, resulting in episodes that are not only educational but fun.”
EONS: SURVIVING DEEP TIME builds off the momentum of EONS: MYSTERIES OF DEEP TIMEwhich premiered in March 2022, and explored some of natural history’s greatest mysteries. While the first season’s episodes relied on a single host telling a scripted story, the new season is structured as a conversation between multiple hosts, which allows for moments of spontaneity and levity as they explore hypothetical situations.
EONS: SURVIVING DEEP TIME is distributed by PRX, and will release 12 episodes bi-weekly. It is available to stream free on all major podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever else users get their podcasts. New this season is a video version, and the podcast will be available to watch on the Eons YouTube channel.
Episodes Overview:
Episode 1 - Could You Survive The End-Devonian? (with Hank Green)
By the end of the Devonian Period, the land had exploded with plant life and ancient invertebrates. There was also Tiktaalik - one of the first known vertebrates able and willing to move from the water to land. Our distant relative figured out how to survive in this dramatically different environment, can you?
Episode 2 - Could You Survive The Cambrian Explosion?
In the ocean, the Cambrian Period was one of startling evolutionary innovations, but on land, it was barren, with no vegetation of any kind. In this strange world before plants made their way onto land…could you survive?
Episode 3 - Could You Survive The End-Ordovician Extinction?
The End-Ordovician Extinction was the first of the so-called ‘Big Five’ mass extinctions in the history of life on Earth - more than 80% of species in the oceans died out. But could you survive its aftermath?
Episode 4 - Could You Survive The Carboniferous?
The swamps of the Late Carboniferous Period teemed with giant insects, but it’s time for the amniotes - the ancestors of all reptiles, birds, and mammals to come - to earn the title of Fully Terrestrial Vertebrates. It’s getting more crowded on land - could you survive?
Episode 5 - Could You Survive The Great Dying?
A catastrophic volcanic event in the Late Permian Period caused the biggest mass extinction of all time - known to us as the Great Dying. As a result, a large majority of terrestrial life would disappear, but our ancestors had the adaptations (and the healthy dose of luck) needed to survive – but would you?
Episode 6 - Could You Survive The End-Triassic
In the aftermath of the Great Dying, rapid evolutionary radiation resulted in the rise of a bunch of weird creatures in the Triassic Period. But life at the end of the period, including the earliest dinosaurs, faced yet another catastrophic extinction event. Could you survive in this strange time period?
Episode 7 - Could You Survive On Hateg Island?
There was an island in the Late Cretaceous Period in the fragmented European archipelago that turned out to be the hunting ground of a terrifying apex predator unlike any other: a giant pterosaur. Could you manage to survive on this island?
Episode 8 - Could You Survive The K-pg Extinction?
66 million years ago, an asteroid hit our planet triggering global wildfires, an impact winter, and the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. Could you make it through the darkest days of planet Earth?
Episode 9 - Could You Survive The Messinian Salinity Crisis
In the Late Miocene Epoch, tectonic forces uplifted the Earth's crust, blocking off the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean. A once-thriving marine ecosystem was replaced by an endless salty, desolate landscape. Is it possible for you to survive here?
Episode 10 - Could You Survive Living With Other Hominin Species?
Today, we Homo sapiens are used to being the only hominin on the planet, but in the Early Pleistocene Epoch, other upright-walking, tool-wielding, large-brained hominins roamed the Earth. In a time when behavior might be the key tool to survival, could you?
Episode 11 - Mailbag Episode
We’ve reached the present! Before we take one look into the future in our final episode, all four Eons hosts have gathered to reflect on their survival experiences - and answer some of your questions.
Episode 12 - Will We Survive The Future?
Just because our ancestors have made it through every major period of upheaval in the Earth’s history so far doesn't mean that our survival through future changes is guaranteed. Humans have become a force of nature, but will we survive ourselves?
Listeners of EONS: SURVIVING DEEP TIME are encouraged to engage in online conversation by using #EonsPodcast, and can also follow Eons accounts on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. PBS Digital Studios is on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.
EONS: SURVIVING DEEP TIME is produced for PBS Digital Studios by Complexly and is distributed by PRX. For Complexly, Hank Green and Seth Radley serve as executive producers; Kallie Moore, Michelle Barboza-Ramirez, Blake de Pastino, and Gabriel-Philip Santos as hosts, Sarah Suta as producer; Paige Madison as script editor, Darcy Shapiro as editorial director, Farhan Mitha as senior staff writer, Callie Dishman as sound designer, Chris Angkico as video editor and Brooke Shotwell as communications coordinator. For PBS, Maribel Lopez is executive in charge and John Campbell is assistant director of programming.
Kallie Moore (she/her) is an enthusiastic paleontologist and science communicator. Since 2008, she has been the Collections Manager, or ‘Fossil Librarian’, of the paleontology collection at the University of Montana. She started as a co-host and content consultant on the YouTube channel PBS Eons with its launch in 2017. Her debut children's book, Tales of the Prehistoric World, was released in the fall of 2022. And in 2024, Kallie became an Executive Producer on Why Dinosaurs? a documentary about dinosaurs and the people that love them.
Michelle Barboza-Ramirez (they/them) is a queer latinx naturalist and geoscience educator. In their work life, they teach people about rocks and fossils… and in their off time they totally do that too! Michelle’s past projects include working in the education departments of the National Park Service and Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, as well as the paleontology departments of the Florida Museum of Natural History and John D. Cooper Center. Michelle currently splits their time between teaching in higher ed and co-hosting on PBS Eons.
Blake de Pastino (he/him) is a science communicator with a background in journalism. He was one of the founding editors of National Geographic News before joining Hank Green to co-create some of the most watched and respected educational channels on YouTube, including PBS Eons, SciShow, and Crash Course. For ten years, he also ran the blog Western Digs, which chronicled research about the paleontology and archaeology of the American West. He currently works as a disability rights advocate, educational content creator, and actor in Montana.
Gabriel-Philip Santos (he/him) is a paleontologist, educator, and storyteller. Originally focusing his work on the study of fossil marine mammals, he has since switched to science education. He is currently Director of Education and Visitor Engagement at the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology in Los Angeles. In his spare time, Gabriel is also the co-founder of the Cosplay for Science Initiative, bringing science education into comic cons and other pop-culture events. For his work, Gabriel was named a 2021 Grosvenor Teacher Fellow with National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions. Gabriel joined the PBS Eons team in 2023 and is excited to be able to share even more stories from deep time!
ABOUT PBS DIGITAL STUDIOS
PBS Digital Studios produces original, digital programming designed to engage, enlighten, and entertain online audiences. The PBS Digital Studios network has more than 30 million subscribers on YouTube, generating an average of 50 million views each month. Since 2012, it has launched over 120 original series and has accumulated over five billion lifetime views on YouTube. Series include the Webby Award-winning BE SMART and SOUND FIELD, as well as popular series such as WEATHERED, EONS, MONSTRUM and SPACE TIME. For more information on PBS Digital Studios, visit PBS.org.
ABOUT COMPLEXLY
Founded in 2012 by Hank and John Green, Complexly is the production company for Crash Course, SciShow, and a dozen other education video channels and podcasts. With a worldwide audience of more than 32 million subscribers and 5 billion views on YouTube, Complexly is one of the largest global online educational companies. Dear Hank and John is a weekly podcast where the Green brothers offer both humorous and heartfelt advice about life’s big and small questions. Each week on the podcast SciShow Tangents, Complexly hosts amaze each other with weird and funny scientific research, while not getting distracted. In the monthly podcast, The Anthropocene Reviewed, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale. Vulture recently named The Anthropocene Reviewed one of the Best 100 Podcasts, SciShow has won a Webby for Science & Education, and Dear Hank and John has charted in 9 different countries.
ABOUT PRX
Celebrating more than 20 years as a nonprofit public media company, PRX works in partnership with leading independent creators, organizations, and stations to bring meaningful audio storytelling into millions of listeners’ lives. PRX is one of the world’s top podcast publishers, public radio distributors, and audio producers, serving as an engine of innovation for public media and podcasting to help shape a vibrant future for creative and journalistic audio. Shows across PRX’s portfolio of broadcast productions, podcast partners, and its Radiotopia podcast network have received recognition from the Peabody Awards, the Tribeca Festival, the International Documentary Association, the National Magazine Awards, and the Pulitzer Prizes. Visit PRX.org for more.
ABOUT PBS
PBS, with more than 330 member stations, offers all Americans the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and digital content. Each month, PBS reaches over 36 million adults on linear primetime television, more than 16 million users on PBS-owned streaming platforms, 53 million viewers on YouTube, and 60 million people view PBS content on social media, inviting them to experience the worlds of science, history, nature, and public affairs and to take front-row seats to world-class drama and performances. PBS’s broad array of programs has been consistently honored by the industry’s most coveted award competitions. Teachers of children from pre-K through 12th grade turn to PBS LearningMedia for digital content and services that help bring classroom lessons to life. As the number one educational media brand, PBS KIDS helps children 2-8 build critical skills, enabling them to find success in school and life. Delivered through member stations, PBS KIDS offers high-quality content on TV — including a PBS KIDS channel — and streaming free on pbskids.org and the PBS KIDSVideo app, games on the PBS KIDS Games app, and in communities across America. More information about PBS is available at PBS.org, one of the leading dot-org websites on the internet, Facebook, Instagram, or through our apps for mobile and connected devices. Specific program information and updates for press are available at pbs.org/pressroom or by following PBS Communications on X.