About From Cells to Us…How!? | The Biology of Life Explained
From Cells to Us…How!? | The Story of Life and Biology is a storytelling biology podcast for people who are curious about science—even if they never thought of themselves as “science people.”
We start at the origin of life and move forward through evolution and the history of biology, unpacking how single cells became everything from bacteria to humans. Along the way, we explore the big questions: How did life begin? How did it change? And how did we figure it out?
Expect 90s references, pop culture callbacks, and memorable analogies that make complex biology click.
No textbooks. No prerequisites. Just curiosity, storytelling, and a sense of humor.
Hosted by Jackie Mullins—genetics researcher, phlebotomist, biomedical engineer, and lifelong biology enthusiast who believes science deserves better storytelling.
Any thoughts? Text me! For billions of years, life on Earth was relatively simple. Then the Cambrian happened. In what amounts to a geological instant, the oceans filled with predators, armor, eyes, claws, bizarre body plans, and some of the strangest animals evolution has ever produced. In this episode, we’re diving into the Cambrian Explosion — what changed, what may have caused it, and why this moment completely transformed the story of life on Earth. We’ll meet Anomalocaris, Hallucigenia,...
7 Oct 2026
A mini recap - first cell to the Ediacaran
Any thoughts? Text me! A Mini Recap: First Cell to the Ediacaran Need a quick refresher before we dive into the Cambrian Explosion? This bonus mini episode takes you from the very beginning of life — the first cells, DNA, oxygen, mitochondria, sex, multicellularity, and more — all the way to the strange, quiet world of the Ediacaran. Thirteen episodes of evolutionary history in about 10 minutes. Perfect if you’re new to the show, missed an episode, or just need someone to remind you how we go...
19 Jun 2026
Ep 13 - The World Before the Explosion
Any thoughts? Text me! Before the Cambrian Explosion came the weirdest chapter in animal history. In this episode, we head back to the Ediacaran Period — a quiet world of microbial mats, shallow seas, and the first large, complex organisms trying out body plans for the very first time. Meet Dickinsonia, the giant living pancake confirmed as an animal by ancient cholesterol. Meet fractal ferns, three-armed whirlpools, a tiny grain-of-rice burrower that may sit near our own branch of the tree o...
22 May 2026
EP 12 - From one to many (multicellularity)
Any thoughts? Text me! For three billion years, life went solo. Then one day, some cells forgot to separate after dividing — and that tiny accident changed the history of Earth. In Episode 12 of From Cells to Us… How?!, we explore the rise of multicellular life: the first cells that learned to cooperate, the evolutionary battle against cheating cells (aka cancer), and how trillions of individual cells eventually became… you. Because multicellularity didn’t just make life bigger. It made compl...
8 May 2026
Ep 11 - Sexual Reproduction
Any thoughts? Text me! Sex Didn’t Evolve to Make Babies What if I told you sex didn’t evolve to reproduce? A billion years ago, single-celled organisms were already doing something that looks a lot like sex — and it had nothing to do with babies. No embryos. No development. No families. Just two cells, briefly merging… shuffling their DNA… and separating again. So why would evolution invent something so inefficient? Why give up cloning — the fastest, simplest way to survive — for something sl...
22 Apr 2026
Ep 10 - Inside the cell city
Any thoughts? Text me! Episode 10: Inside the Cell City 🧬 What if your cells weren’t just blobs… but fully functioning cities? In this episode, we take a tour inside the eukaryotic cell — where proteins are built, packaged, shipped, and even recycled. From the rough ER and Golgi apparatus to lysosomes and motor proteins, every part of the cell has a job. And none of it was planned. Every organelle exists because it solved a problem — one solution leading to the next, turning simple cells into...
8 Apr 2026
Ep 9 - The cell that ate the sun (photosynthesis)
Any thoughts? Text me! A cell eats another cell… again. But this time? It doesn’t just get energy — it gets the ability to make food from sunlight. In this episode, we dive into chloroplasts, photosynthesis, and the moment life figured out how to turn sunlight and air into sugar. Plants stop hunting. Animals don’t. And every calorie you’ve ever eaten? It all traces back to this one ancient accident.
24 Mar 2026
Ep 8 - Rise of the Eukaryote
Any thoughts? Text me! Episode 8: The Rise of Eukaryotes — The Cell That Changed Everything | The Mitochondria and the Nucleus How did life become complex? In this episode, we explore how eukaryotic cells evolved from simple prokaryotes through one of the most important events in biology: endosymbiosis — when one cell engulfed another and kept it alive. Learn how mitochondria originated from bacteria, why more energy allowed complex life to evolve, and how this single evolutionary partn...
9 Mar 2026
Ep 7 - The Great Oxygenation Event
Any thoughts? Text me! Oxygen — the thing keeping you alive right now — was once a toxic waste product that triggered the first mass extinction in Earth's history. In this episode we're talking about the Great Oxygenation Event: the day cyanobacteria accidentally poisoned the planet, possibly froze it solid, and somehow set the stage for everything that came after. Including you. We cover why early Earth had basically no oxygen, how a tiny bacterium changed everything by figuring out photosyn...
23 Feb 2026
Ep 6 - The Great Split
Any thoughts? Text me! LUCA had kids. And like all kids, they went their separate ways. Today we're covering the first great split in the tree of life - when LUCA's descendants branched into Bacteria and Archaea. Same genetic code, completely different everything else. Plus: viruses (where have THEY been this whole time?), horizontal gene transfer (strangers sharing genes), and why bacteria sharing resistance genes is now one of the biggest threats to modern medicine. Also, I make a lot...
9 Feb 2026
Ep 5 - The Genetic Code - Part 2
Any thoughts? Text me! Life learned to speak in Episode 4. Now it’s time to speak clearly. Tina gets her anticodon. Rick becomes Darth Vader. The wobble gives evolution room to experiment. And LUCA emerges - the ancestor of all life on Earth.
26 Jan 2026
Ep 4 - The Genetic Code - Part 1
Any thoughts? Text me! How did life go from random chaos to organized machinery? Three-letter words. In this episode, we meet the RNA family - Mary, Rick, and Tina - and discover how they invented the genetic code. The same code you, me, E. coli, and blue whales all still use today.
12 Jan 2026
Ep 3 - DNA
Any thoughts? Text me! RNA was first—but DNA changed everything. This episode explores why life switched to DNA for long-term storage and how that shift made complexity possible.
12 Jan 2026
Ep 2 - The Workers Arrive
Any thoughts? Text me! RNA can store information—but it can’t do everything alone. In this episode, we explore how amino acids entered the picture and why life needed molecular “workers” to survive and evolve.
12 Jan 2026
Ep 1 - The First Cell
Any thoughts? Text me! How did life begin from non-life? In this episode of From Cells to Us… How!?, we go all the way back—before biology had a name—to explore how chemistry on early Earth may have produced the first living systems. We talk lightning, oceans, RNA, and the messy, improbable process that eventually led to life. No textbooks. No prerequisites. Just curiosity. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RjuOlrhjX8eN0gAkdnDS8u8uQNAywwGUXnkH_uxQxiY/edit?usp=sharing
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5.0 / 5
8 ratings
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