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In this episode of What On Earth?!, we’re diving into geological time. This is Part 1.

Ever wondered how scientists make sense of 4.6 billion years of Earth history? How do you even begin to divide that into something understandable? And why do some chapters of Earth’s past end so dramatically?

We’re going all the way back to the Precambrian and the Paleozoic, a time when Earth was a very different place.

We start in the Precambrian, where life is tiny, the atmosphere is changing, and the planet is still forming into the layered, dynamic system we know today. Think rising oxygen, shifting supercontinents, and even moments where ice may have covered almost the entire globe.

Then we move into the Paleozoic, where life really starts to get interesting. Oceans fill with bizarre creatures, early fish begin to appear, and for the first time ever, life starts making the move onto land. Plants, insects, and eventually vertebrates begin exploring a completely new world.

Along the way, we touch on moving continents, changing climates, and the big events that shape life on Earth, including one of the most dramatic mass extinctions in our planet’s history.

If you like big stories, strange lifeforms, and understanding how our planet became what it is today, this episode is for you.

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In part two of our conversation with Dr. Melanie Stammler, we zoom out to the bigger picture: why rock glaciers matter in a warming world. We explore how these debris–ice landforms, characteristic of periglacial mountain regions, respond to climate change and what their movement and surface changes can tell us about permafrost and water systems. Along the way, we also talk about the realities of academic life, from doctoral research and international collaborations to building a career in geomorphology and environmental systems. It’s a thoughtful discussion about science, climate, and the human side of research.

Do you want to find out more about Dr. Melanie Stammler and her research? Visit this link: https://www.geographie.uni-bonn.de/de/forschung/arbeitsgruppen/ag-schrott/team/melanie-stammler

Or follow her on Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-stammler-809020a5/

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What is it like to study rock glaciers high in the Andes? In this episode of What On Earth?!, we talk with Dr. Melanie Stammler about her research on rock glacier dynamics and permafrost landscapes in the Dry Andes of Argentina. She explains how scientists use field measurements, drones, and photogrammetry to track how these slow-moving landforms change over time, and what it’s really like to do fieldwork in remote, high-altitude environments. From logistics and harsh conditions to the excitement of collecting data in the mountains, this episode offers a behind-the-scenes look at real geomorphological research in action. As the first guest on the show we could not be happier that Melanie wanted to join. We hope to see much more of her in the future.

Do you want to find out more about Dr. Melanie Stammler and her research? Visit this link: https://www.geographie.uni-bonn.de/de/forschung/arbeitsgruppen/ag-schrott/team/melanie-stammler

Or follow her on Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-stammler-809020a5/

If you want to see the photos Tika is describing in this episode, visit our IG page:

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In Part 3 of Episode 4 of What on Earth, we travel beyond the rocky worlds and venture into the outer Solar System - home of the giants: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

We begin with Jupiter, the largest planet in our Solar System. A world of swirling cloud bands, intense magnetic fields, and the iconic Great Red Spot, a storm that has been raging for centuries. We also explore its Galilean moons, from volcanic Io to ocean-bearing Europa, revealing that Jupiter is not just a planet, but an entire system of moons.

From there, we move to Saturn, the ringed giant. Famous for its breathtaking ring system, Saturn also hosts some of the most fascinating moons in the Solar System, including Enceladus, with its water plumes, and the strikingly two-toned Iapetus.

Then we tilt our perspective toward Uranus, the planet that rotates on its side. With its pale blue colour, faint rings, and dramatic seasonal extremes, Uranus challenges our understanding of planetary formation. We also take a closer look at Miranda and its enormous cliffs.

Finally, we reach Neptune, deep blue, distant, and dynamic. With the fastest winds in the Solar System and the mysterious Great Dark Spot, Neptune proves that even the outermost giant worlds are anything but quiet.

By the end of this series, you’ll be able to look up at the night sky and recognise our planetary neighbours with confidence, no longer distant mysteries, but familiar worlds you understand.

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In Part 2 of Episode 4 of What on Earth, we leave the Sun behind and begin our journey through the Solar System. Starting with the rocky planets of the inner Solar System: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.

Our first stop is Mercury, a small planet with a disproportionately large metal core, an ancient, heavily cratered surface, and chemistry that still challenges planetary formation models. From there, we move outward to Venus, Earth’s so-called sister planet, where vast volcanic landscapes and a runaway greenhouse effect reveal how dramatically planetary evolution can diverge even between similar-sized worlds.

Back home, we briefly touch on Earth and its unusually large Moon, active plate tectonics, magnetic field, and the unique presence of liquid water and life, features that make our planet stand out among the rocky worlds.

Finally, we arrive at Mars: a planet of extremes. From the massive canyon system of Valles Marineris and the towering Olympus Mons to its tiny moons Phobos and Deimos, Mars tells a story of a thinning atmosphere, and ancient river systems. We also discuss recent discoveries that hint at possible biosignatures, not proof of life, but some of the most intriguing clues yet.

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In our fourth episode of What on Earth, we zoom way out - from rocks beneath our feet to the vast, dynamic system we call home: the Solar System.

We start with a deceptively simple question: what on Earth is the Solar System? From there, we unpack what actually defines it - not just planets orbiting the Sun, but a complex, evolving system shaped by gravity, heat, collisions, and time.

We talk about where our knowledge of the Solar System comes from: meteorites as time capsules of early planetary material, the Moon as a natural laboratory, telescopes on Earth and in space, and numerical models that let us replay cosmic chaos. It turns out we don’t need to travel everywhere to understand space -sometimes the clues fall right into our hands.

From there, we dive into how the Sun was born inside a stellar nursery, how protoplanetary disks form, and why the Solar System ended up so clearly divided into rocky inner planets and distant gas and ice giants. Temperature gradients, collisions, and violent early conditions play a much bigger role than peaceful orbits might suggest.

We also explore our Sun itself: what kind of star it is, how it produces energy, why it has layers like an onion (or an ogre), and how solar activity - from sunspots to solar wind - shapes the space far beyond the planets. Along the way, we follow the solar wind all the way to the edge of the Sun’s influence, where spacecraft like Voyager have shown us just how big our cosmic neighbourhood really is.

Fossils aren’t just dinosaur bones in museums; they’re one of the main ways we know what life on Earth looked like millions of years ago. In this episode, we dive into what fossils actually are, how they form, and why finding one is such a rare and special event.

We explore the different types of fossils, from bones and shells to footprints and burrows, and explain the processes that turn living organisms into stone. You’ll also learn why the fossil record is far from perfect: why some organisms fossilize more easily than others, why oceans leave behind more fossils than land, and why huge parts of Earth’s history are only patchily preserved.

This episode gives you the basics you need to understand how scientists use fossils to piece together Earth’s deep past, and why that puzzle will always have missing pieces.

Perfect for anyone curious about fossils, evolution, and the deep history of our planet.

In our second episode of What on Earth, we dive into the building blocks of our planet - minerals and rocks - and clear up some of the most common confusions right from the start.

We begin by asking a deceptively simple question: what exactly is a mineral? From there, we walk through the key criteria a substance needs to meet to earn that title - naturally occurring, solid, ordered, and chemical (yes, science does love its rules).

Once the minerals are sorted, we zoom out and talk about rocks: what makes them different, how minerals come together to form them, and why not every solid thing you find on the ground qualifies as either. We explore the three main rock families - igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic - and how each tells a different story about Earth’s history.

We also explain how geologists actually describe rocks: from texture and grain size to structure and composition, turning what looks like “just a stone” into a record of pressure, temperature, and time.

By the end of the episode, the ground beneath your feet feels a little less ordinary - and you might never look at a rock the same way again.