Eons ago, long before T. rex or any other large multicellular life roamed the planet, life on Earth got stuck. After inventing single-celled organisms and teaching them biochemical tricks such as the energy-creating miracle of fermentation, evolution cranked out nothing but simple communities of microbes. It was the evolutionary equivalent of visiting every car dealership in the world and finding only Kia sedans, but in different colors. Scientists call this stagnant period, which spanned from about 1.8 billion years ago to 600 million years ago, the “boring billion.”Then, suddenly, everything…
