Cosmos Era Wiki

The real science behind every era, civilization and ending in the game, with sources

Eras

Primordial universeFrom 0 s after the Big Bangwhat happened right after the Big BangFrom the Planck epoch to electroweak symmetry breaking, the first instant of the universe saw inflation and reheating. Each stage and the research behind it.
Particle era10⁻¹² s – 3 minhow quarks, antimatter and neutrinos appearedAs the universe cooled, quarks bound into protons and neutrons and matter beat antimatter. This era's events and the discovery of quarks, antimatter and neutrinos.
Nuclei & atoms3 min – 150 million yearshow the cosmic microwave background beganThe lightest elements formed minutes after the Big Bang, and atoms 380,000 years later, letting light travel freely. These events and the afterglow's discovery.
First stars150 million – 1 billion yearshow the universe's first light switched onThe first stars lit the dark universe. How they were born, the clues from black holes and dark matter, and the key observations behind them.
Galaxies & elements1 billion – 9 billion yearshow stars built the periodic tableGalaxies took shape, stars cooked heavy elements and neutron star mergers forged gold. The story of galaxies and elements, event by event, with the research.
Solar system9 billion – 9.7 billion yearshow the planets and the Moon formedThe solar system formed from a cloud of gas and dust. How the planets, the Moon and the early Earth formed, and how exoplanets were discovered.
Chemical origins4 billion – 3.8 billion years agohow the raw materials of life appearedFrom the primordial soup to the RNA world: the chemistry before life, including amino acids, nucleotides, self-replicating molecules and hydrothermal vents.
Early life3.8 billion – 700 million years agowhat the first living things looked likeFrom the common ancestor to the three-domain tree: the first life, the rise of oxygen, endosymbiosis and the discovery of DNA's double helix.
Complex life640 million – 6 million years agoanimals, plants and the mass extinctionsThe Cambrian explosion, the move onto land, mass extinctions and the dinosaurs: how complex life evolved, event by event, with the key fossils.
Human origins6 million – 12,000 years agohow apes became Homo sapiensThe evolution of humans: walking upright, stone tools, fire, the language gene and ancient genomes, each with its source.
Civilization12,000 years ago – nowkey turning points from farming to computersKey events from farming and writing to the scientific revolution and the information age, plus landmark research on relativity, penicillin and information theory.
Interstellar civilizationFuturecan humans leave the solar system?The real science of the interstellar age: SETI, Dyson spheres, the Kardashev scale, warp drive theory, light sails and the far future of the universe.

Civilization channels

Endings

Topics