In case of a broken time machine, Kurzgesagt’s latest video explores the perils of being stranded in Earth’s most hostile geological periods, like the Triassic, Carboniferous, and early Devonian, right alongside the dinosaurs.
The Triassic Period (250 million years ago) was most likely a scorching desert environment with toxic air, low oxygen levels, and deadly sandstorms. The atmosphere was a mix of high CO2 and volcanic gases, making breathing a challenge. Wildlife included early archosaurs and therapsids, some of which were apex predators.
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As for the Carboniferous Period (300 million years ago), things weren’t much better. This was a humid, oxygen-rich world (up to 35% O2 vs. today’s 21%) where giant insects like meter-long millipedes and dragonflies the size of eagles roamed. The high oxygen made fires dangerously easy to ignite, and dense swampy forests were home to early tetrapods.
Now the Early Devonian (400 million years ago) resembled a barren, rocky landscape with no land animals or plants, just shallow seas teeming with bizarre fish like armored placoderms. The air was thin, and UV radiation was intense due to a weaker ozone layer.
Regardless of which period you get stranded in, food and water will be the most vital. Finding edible food is nearly impossible. In the Triassic, you’d face tough, unfamiliar plants or carnivorous dinosaurs. The Carboniferous offers no fruit or mammals—just giant bugs and slimy amphibians. The Devonian has no terrestrial food at all; you’d need to fish in dangerous seas. Water might be contaminated with volcanic ash or saline in these periods.
Our take? There would be two periods worse than these…if your machine broke during the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs 66-million-years-ago, you’d face firestorms, tsunamis, and a “nuclear winter.” Worse than the Triassic in terms of immediate catastrophe. Then you have the Hadean Eon (4 billion years ago), where the was no air, no life—just a molten Earth under meteor bombardment.
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