We call this period Snowball Earth.

我们称这个时期为冰雪地球。

The condition is more popularly known as Snowball Earth.

这种状况更经常被称为“雪球世界”。

The “Snowball Earth” refers to a series of ice ages that happened between 725m and 541m years ago.

雪球事件指的是7.25亿-5.41年前一系列的冰川时代。

Scientists call this chapter in our history Snowball Earth.

科学家将我们历史上的这一章称为“雪球地球”。

In other words, welcome to Snowball Earth.

换句话说，欢迎来到 Snowball Earth。

Snowball Earth was what formed the Great Unconformity.

雪球地球形成了大不整合。

Earth became almost entirely covered in ice during an event known as “Snowball Earth.”

在被称为“雪球地球”的事件中，地球几乎完全被冰覆盖。

And we do know that sponges were around during Snowball Earth.

我们确实知道在雪球地球期间海绵就在身边。

So sponges were definitely around in Snowball Earth, despite the cold.

因此，尽管寒冷，但海绵肯定在雪球地球周围。

The technical term for this time period is " Snowball Earth." (Laughter) Seven hundred, eight hundred million years ago.

这个时期的专业术语是“雪球地球”。 （笑声） 七八亿年前。

So how did they – and other life - survive Snowball Earth?

那么它们——以及其他生命——是如何在雪球地球中幸存下来的呢？

But during snowball earth, there was very little oxygen in the oceans.

但是在滚雪球地球期间，海洋中的氧气非常少。

Well, first, I don't want to be that person, but Snowball Earth really should be called Snowball Earths.

好吧，首先，我不想成为那个人，但 Snowball Earth 确实应该被称为 Snowball Earths。

Which is why many biologists have proposed that Snowball Earth was really more like Slushball Earth, with many areas of open ocean.

这就是为什么许多生物学家提出， 雪球地球实际上更像是泥泞的地球，有许多开阔的海洋区域。

In fact, the authors speculate that during the last extreme ice age—the so-called " snowball Earth, " some 700 million years ago—all this phosphorus runoff may have caused a bloom in ocean life.

该研究的作者估计，实际上在过去的极端冰河时代—7亿年前雪球假说中，正是这些磷使得海洋生命茁壮成长。

This newly exposed rock absorbed more carbon dioxide from rainfall, eventually removing so much atmospheric CO2 that the planet was plunged into a period called Snowball Earth.

这块新暴露的岩石从降雨中吸收了更多的二氧化碳，最终去除了如此多的大气中的二氧化碳， 以至于地球陷入了一个叫做雪球地球的时期。

Molecular clocks estimate that many of our earliest animal ancestors diverged during the Snowball Earth period, and diversified immediately afterwards in the Ediacaran, like the last common ancestor of all vertebrates.

分子钟估计， 我们许多最早的动物祖先在雪球地球时期发生了分化，并在埃迪卡拉纪之后立即发生了分化，就像所有脊椎动物的最后一个共同祖先一样。

Plus, some recent research suggests that during Snowball Earth, ice at the equator was maybe just a few meters or even centimeters thick, which would have allowed light to pass through.

此外，最近的一些研究表明， 在雪球地球时期，赤道的冰层可能只有几米甚至几厘米厚，这本来可以让光线穿过。

But the fact is, sponges not only survived Snowball Earth, they may have actually shaped the future of our planet, making the world's oceans more liveable and paving the way for all animal life to come.

但事实是，海绵不仅在雪球地球中幸存下来，它们实际上可能塑造了我们星球的未来，使世界海洋更加宜居， 并为所有动物生命的到来铺平了道路。