Time for another extinction! This time, we’re discussing what might be the most ancient, most mysterious, and most catastrophic mass extinction event of all time. The Great Oxidation Event marks the turning point that set our atmosphere on course to its current oxygen-rich state and made the Earth hospitable for life as we know it … at the expense of all the life that came before.In the news: the largest ape, early pollinators, early birds, and early snakes.Time markers: Intro & Announcements: News: Main discussion, Part 1: Main discussion, Part 2: Patron Question: Check out our blog for bonus info and pictures: http://commondescentpodcast.wordpress.com/We're doing another End of the Year Q&A! Submit your question here: https://forms.gle/E398RmMhGvaYHpz6AThe Common Descent Store is open! Get merch! http://zazzle.com/common_descentFollow and Support us on: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/commondescentpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/CommonDescentPC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/commondescentpodcast/ PodBean: https://commondescentpodcast.podbean.com/ iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast/id1207586509?mt=2 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCePRXHEnZmTGum2r1l2mduwThe Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org.Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/