For millions of years, things were very much the same; just the wild randomness of the natural world throwing challenges and opportunities at different species and seeing what happened next.
But for the last few thousand years, humans have started to become perhaps the primary cause of change for so many other animals and plants on this planet.
So, just how much of an impact are we having on the evolution of life around us?
Helen Pilcher, science writer and author of ‘Life Changing: How Humans are Altering Life on Earth’ joined Jonathan to discuss.
Listen and subscribe to Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
  
Download, listen and subscribe on the Newstalk App.
   
You can also listen to Newstalk live on newstalk.com or on Alexa, by adding the Newstalk skill and asking: 'Alexa, play Newstalk'.