Our Existence as a Species Is Very Short

It is estimated that 117 billion humans have existed since our species arose.

British spelling

Almost 8 billion of us are still alive today, but considering the universe is 13.8 billion years old, how long has our species existed?

The universe is very old. Therefore, to make the length of our time here on Earth more understandable, we can condense that vast amount of time.

If we condense 13.8 billion years into one Earth year and call it the cosmic calendar, then one day would equate to 37,800,000 years, and one hour would be 1,575,000 years.

In the cosmic calendar, time and space started on the first second of the first day of January.

At the beginning of September, our planet Earth was forming.

It was September 21st before the first primitive life appeared on our planet. That first life was a prokaryote, a single-celled organism.

Now life could start on its long evolutionary path.

On the 29th of December, an event took place that wiped out 75% of the world’s plant and animal species.

That asteroid that devastated most of life on Earth is estimated to have been over 10 kilometres wide. The impact site was centred on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, and left a crater 150 kilometres across.

Back to the cosmic calendar: about 12 minutes before midnight on the last day of December, anatomically modern humans arrived on the scene.

Yes, our time here as a species is minuscule compared to the age of the universe.

Modern Homo sapiens bones that have been found, date back over 160,000 years.

You may find some of my easy-to-understand stories about the universe and life interesting and educational. Enjoy