大象传媒

Simple cells were the first living things, the predecessors of all life on Earth. Over time, the cells diversified and spread around the world but one group would have a devastating impact on the planet. Off Western Australia, those ancient microbes still exist today. Called stromatolites, they secrete strange pillars made of lime. It is like a scene from three billion years ago. Although they look harmless enough now, back then stromatolites almost snuffed-out all life forever. By generating huge amounts of a new and toxic gas - oxygen - they triggered a global pollution crisis. Oxygen utterly destroyed primitive cells, poisoning them by the billion!