> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.cascadepbs.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# How Earth’s Smallest Life Caused its Biggest Death
- URL: https://www.cascadepbs.org/show/eons/episode/how-earths-smallest-life-caused-its-biggest-death-dxio9i/
- Published: 2026-09-15T17:01:34.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T21:00:19.000Z
- Description: For millions of years after the Great Dying microbes ruled the Earth.
- Author: Cascade PBS Staff
- Tags: Eons, Season 9, Episode 7, #ZZZ_Episode_47bc4850-ee1f-486d-bb80-5b590c3894b0, #episode, #ZZZ_Show_097a92b5-f8ed-4727-9486-f3b9368ac0ef, #geo-us, #v1.16

The Great Dying at the end of the Permian Period was among our planet’s darkest hours. But for the smallest among us, the story went very differently. For 3 million years, microbes ruled the Earth. But were these tiny survivors just lucky? Or did they play a more sinister role in the greatest disaster our planet has ever faced?