Stretch back 325 million years to follow our mammalian forebears as they persevere in the shadow of the dinosaurs, survive the worst day in the history of Earth, and then rapidly diversify and claim the world as their own. From woolly mammoths and sabre-toothed tigers and countless spectacular extinct species, and eventually the 6000+ species of mammals that rule the Earth today, including ourselves. Professor Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh, author of the pop science book The Rise and Reign of the mammals, reveals new fossil finds and technologies that are allowing us to understand the evolution of mammals in unprecedented detail. By doing so, he uncovers how our single human species is affecting the world like no mammal before, and if things continue at the current pace, more than half of all mammal species may succumb to extinction. Now at the most perilous point in mammal history since our ancestors stared down the asteroid, the lecture builds an understanding in our history, enabling us to make a better future.