Oxygen and the rise of mammals

Here’s a story about the link between increasing oxygen levels in Earth’s atmosphere and the rise of mammals. This goes into a lot of detail about the geological processes that caused the higher oxygen levels; when the Atlantic Ocean formed, more carbon washed into the sea along the new coastline. This kept the carbon out of the atmosphere; the less carbon there was in the atmosphere, the more oxygen there was. This also goes into the details about why mammals need higher levels of atmospheric oxygen. It’s a pretty cool story about the intricate connections between geology and biology.

http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050926/full/050926-13.html