Nick Pyenson with whale bones on Cuverville Island, in Antarctica. (Photo: Martha Stewart)

We think of whales as icons of the sea, but the first whales were certainly not like the ones that you see today: They lived on land, had four legs, and were the size of a dog. How do we know about the deep past of whales, and what does that tell us about how evolution works? In the finale of SERC's 2020 Earth Optimism series, get a closer look with Nick Pyenson, author of "Spying on Whales" and curator of fossil marine mammals at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. Dive in for the surprising backstory and a glimpse of our shared future with these enigmatic giants. The talk will span the poles to the equator; ice-locked waters to dry deserts; from millions of years in the past to our uncertain future.

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