100 WVIA Way
Pittston, PA 18640

Phone: 570-826-6144
Fax: 570-655-1180

Copyright © 2025 WVIA, all rights reserved. WVIA is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The 40 Million-Year-Old Ecosystem In Your Mouth

Season 4 Episode 15 | 8m 14s

The hardened residue scraped off your teeth at the dentist is called your dental calculus, and your dental calculus is the only part of your body that actually fossilizes while you’re alive! And scientists have figured out how to study & trace the evolutionary history of these microbes over tens of millions of years.

Aired: 12/08/21
Extras
Long-extinct dinosaurs may still haunt us—possibly driving us to age faster than any vertebrate.
Only twice in Earth's history have supermountains risen, and both times reshaped life forever.
Was the T-Rex given the wrong name?
500+ pterosaur fossils found at Solnhofen may be hiding a dark secret distorting our view of them.
Why are our teeth so sensitive? The answer originates in the armored skin of ancient fish.
For flowering plants to take over, they first helped burn the old world—and then put the fires out.
Ancient weeds mimicked crops, tricking farmers into domesticating friends—and enemies—by mistake.
Brains and brawn aren’t opposites—they’ve been linked far longer than we might think.
Understanding the Isthmus of Panama.
How we might borrow genes from that ancient past of Greenland to help us adapt to the future.
Latest Episodes
All
  • All
  • Eons Season 8
  • Eons Season 7
  • Eons Season 6
  • Eons Season 5
  • Eons Season 4
  • Eons Season 3
  • Eons Season 2
  • Eons Season 1
Long-extinct dinosaurs may still haunt us—possibly driving us to age faster than any vertebrate.
Only twice in Earth's history have supermountains risen, and both times reshaped life forever.
Was the T-Rex given the wrong name?
500+ pterosaur fossils found at Solnhofen may be hiding a dark secret distorting our view of them.
Why are our teeth so sensitive? The answer originates in the armored skin of ancient fish.
For flowering plants to take over, they first helped burn the old world—and then put the fires out.
Ancient weeds mimicked crops, tricking farmers into domesticating friends—and enemies—by mistake.
Brains and brawn aren’t opposites—they’ve been linked far longer than we might think.
Understanding the Isthmus of Panama.
How we might borrow genes from that ancient past of Greenland to help us adapt to the future.