Could some of you scientists please answer a couple of 'stupid' questions please? I know the over-arching answers will be 'it's a bit more complicated than that' but here goes:

In the video we hear "humans share a common ancestor with bacteria". Does that mean that there was a 'life form zero' that emerged from all that 'soup' I read so much about? Just one? Is it possible that several strands appeared at the same time? Is this an important point or am I confusing things?

Secondly, I understand the common ancestor that man and apes had and going back all mammals but how/why/when was there a split between plants and animals. My reason for asking is that when evolution is presented as a series of steps and refinements I get it, but when there is such a huge jump I can't quite get my head around it. Or put another way; I understand why giraffes have long necks but struggle with how did a tapeworm evolve to live in our guts.

I love this site and the Bad Science book - perhaps Andrew and some of you guys could put together a reading list for those who wished they had chosen sciences rather than arts/humanities at 14!

Once again, apologies for the stupid questions.

DB

Don't have a great deal of time just now, but regarding your second point: there isn't such a huge divide between animals and plants, indeed there are primitive organisms that share features of both animals AND plants. Look up "euglena", a famous example of a creature which can reasonably be described as both animal and plant.

I love Cdk007's videos, they're absolutely brilliant at explaining complex - but fascinating - concepts in lay terms.

Shamefully, I wasn't aware of him before they appeared here, so thanks for introducing me! Keep up the good work.