>> CHICAGO AREA BIRDS ARE NESTING AND LAYING EGGS EARLIER THAN BEFORE.

A METEOR BURNS UP OVER PAPA NEW BEGIN ANY.

A FOSSIL THAT COULD REWRITE THE EVOLUTION OF LIFE ON EARTH AND A DISTURBING FINDING ABOUT MICRO PLASTICS.

JOINING US IS UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PALEONTOLOGIST NEIL SHUBIN.

LET'S START WITH THE STUDY ABOUT BIRDS.

IT FOUND THAT SOME BIRDS ARE LAYING THEIR EGGS ABOUT A MONTH EARLIER NOW THAN THEY WERE A CENTURY AGO.

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS HERE?

>> YEAH, IT'S REMARKABLE.

SCIENTISTS AT THE FIELD MUSEUM USING EGG COLLECTIONS MADE IN 1880-1920 RECORDED THE DATE WHEN THEY COLLECTED THE EGGS THEY COMPARED THE PAST RECORDS AND FOUND THAT 72 SPECIES THEY CAN MEASURE.

THEY CAN GET PAST DATA AND CURRENT DATA AND A THIRD OF THEM ARE PLAYING THEIR EGGS THREE WEEKS TO A MONTH EARLY.

THAT IS DRAMATIC.

THE IMPLICATIONS ARE HUGE BECAUSE IT AFFECTS THE BIOLOGY OF THE CREATURES.

BY HATCHING EARLIER THERE'S DIFFERENT FOOD SOURCES AND COMPETITORS MAYBE PREDATORS.

SO IT DOES AFFECT THEIR BIOLOGY IN A PRO FOUND MANNER.

>> WHAT ARE THEY ATTRIBUTING THE CAUSE TO?

>> GLOBAL WARMING.

IT WILL CHANGE WHEN FLOWERS BUD IT CHANGES WHEN AND WHERE INSECTSES WILL BE HATCHING.

THOSE CHANGES TO FOOD STRUCTURES WILL CHANGE WHEN THE BIRDS LAY THEIR EGGS.

>> IT IS ABOUT A THIRD OF THE BIRD SPECIES.

DOES THAT MEAN MORE SPECIES THEN THEY KNOW OF ARE ACTUALLY NESTING EARLIER?

>> ABSOLUTELY.

IT CERTAINLY COULD AND IT MAY NOT JUST BE BIRD IT IS COULD BE REPTILES AS WELL.

AND THERE IS A LOT GOING ON HERE THE FUNDAMENTAL BIOLOGY THAT IS SHIFTING BECAUSE OF THE GLOBAL WARMING.

>> LET'S TALK ABOUT THAT METEOR.

2014, A METEOR ABOUT THE SIZE OF A DISHWASHER BURNED UP OVER PAPA NEW GUINEA WHY DO RESEARCHERS BELIEVE THIS WAS UNIQUE?

>> WHEN SCIENTISTS LOOKED AT THE DATABASE USING STATE LIGHT IMAGERY, IT WAS GOING SO FAST, THAT WHAT IT SUGGESTED TO THEM THAT THE METEOR AROSE NOT FROM A BODY CIRCULATING THE SUN BUT FROM SOMETHING THAT CAME FROM OUTSIDE OUR SOLAR SYSTEM.

>> AN INTERSTELLAR METEOR AND THE FOLKS THAT CAME UP WITH THIS AND THE EVIDENCE HAD A LOT OF TROUBLE GETTING THEIR NOTES HEARD ON THIS.

>> YEAH, BECAUSE THEY WERE USING DATA RELATED TO MILITARY SATELLITES AND THE MILITARY SATELLITES IT'S CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.

THE MILITARY SATELLITES ARE LOOKING AT MISSILE MAP NUCLEAR TEST SITES AND LAUNCHES FROM OTHER COUNTRIES THAT WAS CLASSIFIED DATA THEY USED.

SO THE DATA CANNOT BE PUBLISHED AND SCIENTISTS NEED THE DATA PUBLISHED.

>> AND AGAIN, IT'S UNIQUE BECAUSE IT'S THOUGHT TO BE AN INTERSTELLAR METEOR.

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THAT A ROCK COMING FROM OUTSIDE OUR SOLAR SYSTEM?

>> HUGE.

OUTSIDE OUR SOLAR SYSTEM FROM ANOTHER STAR SYSTEM THAT IS A VISITOR FROM SO FAR AWAY WE DON'T SEE THOSE.

IT'S GIVING US A SENSE OF WHAT IS HAPPENING OUTSIDE OUR SOLAR SYSTEM.

>> SPEAKING OF BIG QUESTION, SCIENTISTS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF COLLEGE OF LONDON BELIEVE THAT LIFE ON EARTH BEGAN EARLIER THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT.

HOW ARE THEY DETERMINING THAT?

>> WELL, THEY WERE WORKING ON ROCKS IN QUEBEC FORMED IN THE OCEAN 4.25 BILLION YEARS OLD 300 MILLION YEARS AFTER THE FORMATION OF EARTH.

THEY FOUND STRUCTURES SPHERES, FILAMENTS LIKE STEMS WITH BRANCHES THAT SEEMED TO BE MADE BY CREATURES MICRO KROBS.

THE KEMPSY IT SHOWED IRON AND SULFUR OTHER THINGS THAT MICROBES DO.

THERE'S LINES OF EVIDENCE SUGGESTING THAT THEY ARE MICROBES ON EARTH 4.25 BILLION YEARS AGO.

LITERALLY SOON RIGHT AFTER OUR PLANET FORMED.

>> IN THE INFANT STAGES OF THE PLANET.

THERE WERE SCIENTISTS THAT WERE SKEPTICAL OF THIS CLAIM.

HOW STRONG IS THE EVIDENCE?

>> IT'S EASY TO BE SKEPTICAL BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO ASK THE QUESTION CAN THE STRUCTURES BE FORMED IN THE ROCKS OR BECAUSE OF LIFE.

THEY USED MULTIPLE LINES OF EVIDENCE H THEY USED THE CHEMISTRY OF THE ROCKS TO SUGGEST METABOLISM AND USED THE STRUCTURE OF THE FOSSILS AND COMPARED THEM TO MICROBES THAT ARE ALIVE TODAY AND THE MULTIPLE LINES OF EVIDENCE POINT TO THAT THESE WERE ONCE LIVING CREATURES.

>> A MORE DISTURBING STUDY SCIENTISTS FOUND MICRO PLASTIC POLLUTION DEEP IN THE LUNGS OF LIVING PEOPLE FOR THE FIRST TIME AND THERE WAS A SUBSET OF FOLKS WHERE MICRO PLASTICS WERE DETECTED.

>> DURING SURGERIES THEY COLLECTED TISSUE TO REMOVE PART OF A LUNG AND THEY SAMPLE THAT TISSUE FOR MICRO PLASTICS AND FOUND A SURPRISING FRACTIONATE 0% OF THE PATIENTS HAD SMALL PARTICLES OF MICRO PLASTICS DEEP INSIDE THE LUNGS IN THE DEEPEST PARTS OF THE LUNGS AND THAT WAS SURPRISING.

>> OMINOUS THERE.

WHAT DO RESEARCHERS ATTRIBUTE THAT TO ESPECIALLY GETTING SO DEEP INTO THE LUNGS?

>> THESE WERE PLASTICS AND WATER BOTTLES AND PIPING AND PACKAGING.

THESE ARE THINGS WE BREATHE.

THESE WERE PARTICLES THAT WE BREATHE AND WE'RE PROBABLY ALL BREATHING.

ONE OTHER ROOT THROUGH THE DIGESTIVE TRACK, DRINKING WATER AND EATING FOOD.

>> AND WHAT ARE THE LONG-TERM HEALTH IMPLICATIONS IF SO MUCH OF THE POPULATION HAS MICRO PLASTICS DISCOVERABLE DEEP IN THEIR LUNGS.

>> WE ARE FINDING IS IN BLOOD AND OTHER TISSUE.

THAT IS THE CONCERNING THING.

WE REALLY DON'T KNOW.

ONE THING WE DO KNOW IN LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS LIKE IN A DISH PLASTICS ARE NOT GOOD FOR HUMAN CELLS THEY CAN DAMAGE THE CELLS.

WE DON'T KNOW HOW IT LINKS TO DISEASES.

THERE'S CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE THAT MUCH MORE RESEARCH NEEDS TO