The Most Hated Woman in Science Was Right About the Dinosaurs
Today I Learned Science
41,549 views
What really killed the dinosaurs? The Chicxulub asteroid impact is only half the story. Paleontologist Dr. Gerta Keller spent 35 years arguing that the Deccan Traps volcanoes drove the mass extinction and not the asteroid.
In 1988, Keller walked up to a podium at one of the world's biggest conferences on mass extinctions, and the room turned on her. Her claim was that the asteroid theory, the story in every textbook, museum, and kids' dinosaur book, left out something slower, messier, and in some ways more disturbing: hundreds of thousands of years of volcanic eruptions in India that were already poisoning the planet.
This is the story of the Dinosaur Wars, one of the nastiest feuds in science. It covers a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who called paleontologists "stamp collectors," the scientists whose careers paid the price for disagreeing, and a woman who calls herself "the most hated woman in the world" and still refuses to back down at 81. It also covers the 2023 study in Science that used a computer model to test whether or not volcanic eruptions or an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs.
I traveled to Princeton to interview Gerta Keller, and spoke with Dartmouth geologist Brenhin Keller (no relation), co-author of the 2023 study, about what the rocks actually say. The answer might change how you think about extinction, including the one happening right now.
In this video:
-The Alvarez asteroid hypothesis and the iridium layer
-How the Chicxulub crater was discovered
-Gerta Keller's foram evidence and the fight to be heard
-The Deccan Traps: eruptions on a scale Earth rarely sees
-What the 2023 computer model found, and what it didn't
-Why the way the dinosaurs died matters for climate change today
CHAPTERS
00:00 The Dinosaur Wars
01:12 The most hated woman in science
02:07 Act I: The story everyone knows
06:29 Act II: The problem with Alvarez
11:50 Act III: The woman who wouldn't shut up
18:42 Act IV: The evidence
27:00 Act V: The computer that settled nothing and everything
34:31 Act VI: What this is really about
39:35 What this means for us
Want to restore the planet's ecosystems and see your impact in monthly videos? The first 100 people to join Planet Wild using the code TODAYILEARNED10 will get the first month paid for by me: https://planetwild.com/r/todayilearne...
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KEY SOURCES: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-...
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—
YOU’VE REACHED THE K-PG BOUNDARY
Congratulations. You survived the impact, the volcanism, the scientific feud, and somehow made it all the way to the end of this description. You’re officially a real one.
ONE LAST TIL
If you had to defend one piece of evidence from this video in a room full of skeptical scientists, which one would you pick?
Drop the timestamp and tell us what convinced you.
unTIL next time, stay curious.
#Dinosaurs #DinosaurExtinction #GertaKeller #Paleontology #DeccanTraps #MassExtinction #Asteroid #ScienceDocumentary
20 Comments
Amazing video btw ❤🔥
The new theory that took time to be accepted was that an asteroid created the mass extinction. This was seen as cathastrophism, which had decades of bad reputation.
Eventually the theory was that the asteroid was the final nail, while was/is still uncertain is how healthy the species population were before that.
This is not new, but nuance that is usually ignored in current documentaries.
The conclusion that we humans are going extinct gradually yet rapidly is a terrifying truth that many others have also been bringing to light. The fact that the Dinosaurs died in a parallel fashion to the air pollution we're causing sends chills. I genuinely wonder what will happen in the next few decades.
The Most Hated Woman in Science Was Right About the Dinosaurs
Today I Learned Science
41,549 views
What really killed the dinosaurs? The Chicxulub asteroid impact is only half the story. Paleontologist Dr. Gerta Keller spent 35 years arguing that the Deccan Traps volcanoes drove the mass extinction and not the asteroid.
In 1988, Keller walked up to a podium at one of the world's biggest conferences on mass extinctions, and the room turned on her. Her claim was that the asteroid theory, the story in every textbook, museum, and kids' dinosaur book, left out something slower, messier, and in some ways more disturbing: hundreds of thousands of years of volcanic eruptions in India that were already poisoning the planet.
This is the story of the Dinosaur Wars, one of the nastiest feuds in science. It covers a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who called paleontologists "stamp collectors," the scientists whose careers paid the price for disagreeing, and a woman who calls herself "the most hated woman in the world" and still refuses to back down at 81. It also covers the 2023 study in Science that used a computer model to test whether or not volcanic eruptions or an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs.
I traveled to Princeton to interview Gerta Keller, and spoke with Dartmouth geologist Brenhin Keller (no relation), co-author of the 2023 study, about what the rocks actually say. The answer might change how you think about extinction, including the one happening right now.
In this video:
-The Alvarez asteroid hypothesis and the iridium layer
-How the Chicxulub crater was discovered
-Gerta Keller's foram evidence and the fight to be heard
-The Deccan Traps: eruptions on a scale Earth rarely sees
-What the 2023 computer model found, and what it didn't
-Why the way the dinosaurs died matters for climate change today
CHAPTERS
00:00 The Dinosaur Wars
01:12 The most hated woman in science
02:07 Act I: The story everyone knows
06:29 Act II: The problem with Alvarez
11:50 Act III: The woman who wouldn't shut up
18:42 Act IV: The evidence
27:00 Act V: The computer that settled nothing and everything
34:31 Act VI: What this is really about
39:35 What this means for us
Want to restore the planet's ecosystems and see your impact in monthly videos? The first 100 people to join Planet Wild using the code TODAYILEARNED10 will get the first month paid for by me: https://planetwild.com/r/todayilearne...
If you want to get to know them better first, check out their plastic mission in Mumbai: https://planetwild.com/r/todayilearne...
KEY SOURCES: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-...
CONNECT WITH TODAY I LEARNED SCIENCE
Website: https://todayilearned.com
TikTok: TikTok: tilscience
Instagram: Instagram: tilscience
Substack: https://tilscience.substack.com/
FOR SPONSORSHIPS, COLLABORATIONS & PARTNERSHIPS
Contact: adam@twowest.com
Need more?
Subscribe to Today I Learned Science (@tilscience), where we dive deep into stories across science, history, culture, and the people who shaped our world. From groundbreaking discoveries and scientific controversies to hidden histories and extraordinary lives, we uncover the stories behind how the world actually works.
More science worth sharing at Today I Learned Science.
—
YOU’VE REACHED THE K-PG BOUNDARY
Congratulations. You survived the impact, the volcanism, the scientific feud, and somehow made it all the way to the end of this description. You’re officially a real one.
ONE LAST TIL
If you had to defend one piece of evidence from this video in a room full of skeptical scientists, which one would you pick?
Drop the timestamp and tell us what convinced you.
unTIL next time, stay curious.
#Dinosaurs #DinosaurExtinction #GertaKeller #Paleontology #DeccanTraps #MassExtinction #Asteroid #ScienceDocumentary
The first 100 people to join Planet Wild using code TODAYILEARNED10 will get their first month paid for by me:
https://planetwild.com/r/todayilearnedscience/join
If you want to get to know Planet Wild a little better first, check out their plastic mission in Mumbai:
https://planetwild.com/r/todayilearnedscience/m34
Now for the real questions:
If the asteroid had never hit, do you think the dinosaurs were already doomed by the Deccan eruptions?
Or flip it: if the Deccan eruptions had never happened, would Chicxulub still have caused the same extinction?