omnia mea mecum fero

In this graphic by the Tree of Life web project and designer Leonard Eisenberg, we see all 3.5 billion years of life on earth evolving, not through limbs and timelines, but an elegant rainbow swirl. It’s as if our whole history is a colorful bunch of balloons, all tying back to bacteria.

As you look at the graphic, realize that time radiates outward and each kingdom’s appearance is also in chronological order from left to right. What you’ll discern then is a story of origins and mass extinctions, the way life almost bided its time through the Ice Age then hit the gas through the Cambrian Explosion. It was here when the protostomes (everything from trilobites to squids) simply went nuts, and the separation of plants vs. animals as we know them arose...

Visit the article to learn more about the graphic that visualizes the history of the world...