They have shared the timelines
Institutions, education authorities and learned societies
Académie de DijonIn a 15 October article, and in its software catalogue
ClasseTICEIn a 7 October article about Deep Time
Association des professeurs de biologie et géologie, NormandieAmong its recommended resources
Association des professeurs de biologie et géologie, RennesAlongside a lecture by J.-M. Mazin
Les Naturalistes vendéensIn issue 48 of its newsletter, sent to nearly 500 members
Lycée français de VienneIn a Year 13 general science course
Ensemble scolaire François d’Assise, CerizayIn a Year 10 course
Lycée Nord Bassin Simone Veil, Andernos-les-BainsIn three upper-secondary courses
Fédération française amateur de minéralogie et paléontologieOn its page about the history of the Earth
Show more
Société géologique de l’ArdècheOn its further-reading page, next to Planet-Terre
Club Géologique Île-de-FranceIn its articles on the age of the Earth and on the Anthropocene
Minéraux & Fossiles des PyrénéesAmong its websites of interest
International
Université libre de BruxellesOn its libraries’ portal for history teaching
Birmingham Paleontological SocietyIn a selection made by its members
Geological Society of GlasgowOn its geology resources page
Liverpool Geological SocietyAmong the websites it recommends
GeoHub LiverpoolIn the University of Liverpool’s resource bank
Geological Society of NorfolkAt the top of its links directory, with an introduction to Deep Time
Ottawa Valley Mineral ClubAt the top of its reference list, with an example relating to its region
Educational websites
Muriel Cacheux’s blogIn a 3 October article about Deep Time
TICE les SVTOn a page about Deep Time, with the Genes.media teaching pack
Sandra Rivière’s blogOn its home page, in a news item for teachers
Histoire-Geographie.comOn its Year 7 page, in the “For the curious!” section
Classe à deuxIn a project for pupils aged 9 to 12, under the heading “Interactive timeline”
Pierrick Auger’s blogIn a 3 October post titled “Deep Time: a very useful timeline”
Histoires naturellesOn Cyrille Deliry’s website, on a page about the atmosphere and life
Lionel Maerten’s blogOn its links page and in its updates
HGEOAP.netIn a Year 7 course, as further reading
SVT RéunionIn a Year 10 course on the history of life
Géologie – Dr Ruault-DjerrabAmong the references on its page about the geologic time scale
And many more!
Genes.media is a popular science platform devoted to evolutionary sciences, genetics and the Anthropocene. It brings together two interactive timelines, Deep Time and Sapiens, and a collection of essays. The timeline entries are based on peer-reviewed scientific publications, cited with their identifiers. The essays reflect on the scientific, ethical and social issues raised by these fields. Everything is published open access, without advertising, by an independent publisher.
The site lays out established knowledge about the history of the Earth, of life and of the human species along a time axis. For each fact, the site gives the date, the uncertainty attached to that date and the research on which the fact rests. In the essays, it offers a reading of this knowledge in which the biomedical sciences, humanist thought and philosophical reflection meet. The timelines make up most of the site today: about 1,050 pages in French and English, compared with about twenty essays.
The site’s editorial policy rests on two principles: citing sources, and stating uncertainties and controversies explicitly. The Editorial method section describes how they apply to the entries and to the essays.
History
- October 20255 and 13 OctoberThe site is created. The first essays appear in October.
- August 202623 AugustDeep Time goes online.
- September 20265 SeptemberA band showing the expansion of Homo sapiens, region by region, is added to the Sapiens timeline.
- October 20266 OctoberThe Methods page is published. Written in the format of a scientific article, it describes how the two timelines were built.
- 12 OctoberPublic-domain or openly licensed images are added to 334 entries.
- 13 OctoberCausal arcs are added to both timelines. Each arc links an event to a later event that the earlier one helped to bring about. The scientific literature supports each arc.
- 19 OctoberTwo bands are added to Deep Time: one for global temperature, the other for the CO₂ content of the air. Their data and sources are gathered on the Temperature and CO₂ page.
- 19 OctoberThe For teachers page and a teaching pack are published.
- 22 OctoberTemperature and CO₂ bands are added to Sapiens. Their data and sources are gathered on the Temperature and CO₂ page of Sapiens.
Content
Deep Time
Deep Time is a zoomable timeline that covers the 4.54 billion years of the Earth’s history, from the formation of the planet to the present day. It has 200 event entries, which describe the state of knowledge on subjects such as the formation of the Moon, oxygenic photosynthesis, the Cambrian explosion and mass extinctions. It also has 68 pages on the major divisions of our planet’s history. Fifty of them describe units of the geologic time scale, as defined by the International Commission on Stratigraphy: all of the scale’s 4 eons, 10 eras and 22 periods, and its 7 most recent epochs and 7 most recent ages. The other 18 describe the successive states of the Earth, and the reconstructed scenes that the timeline displays for each part of the Earth’s history.
The timeline itself is a graphic that the reader can move across and zoom into, from the scale of a billion years down to that of a decade. The same content is available as standard web pages that can be read without JavaScript:
Sapiens
Sapiens applies the same approach to the 300,000 years of the species Homo sapiens, from the oldest fossils attributed to it (Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, about 315,000 years old) to the contemporary world. The timeline has 200 entries, on themes such as migrations, domestication, major epidemics and discoveries. It also has 40 period pages and 6 pages on the major divergences in the peopling of the world.
Both timelines are published in French and in English. Each entry is available in both languages. A full chronology and two summary pages can be read straight through:
The essays
The collection brings together about twenty essays in French, each 300 to 1,500 words long. They are grouped into themes such as the Anthropocene, evolution, technology, ethics, fertility and abiogenesis. They deal with questions at the intersection of evolutionary biology, genetics and human societies: the origin of the concept of the Anthropocene, the decline in sperm concentration, the expensive-tissue hypothesis, the disappearance of the Neanderthals, the Oviedo Convention on modifications of the human genome, and the demographic transition.
Editorial method
The entries that explain the events of the timelines set out the state of knowledge. They are held to requirements for dating and for citing scientific sources. These requirements do not apply in the same way to the essays.
The timeline entries
Counted on 4 November 2026, in the French entries of both timelines.
Sources
Each entry rests on two to four peer-reviewed scientific publications, most often three. They are identified by their DOI or PubMed ID. Each opens in one click. In exceptional cases, a few documents from public or international bodies supplement these references.
The essays
The essays are written by the author of the site. Where relevant, the work they draw on is cited in the body of the text. Each essay shows its publication date and, if it has been updated, the date of the update.
The analyses, interpretations and views they present result from personal reflection and are the author’s alone. They are no substitute for the rigour of a scientific publication. They express no institutional position. Their purpose is to feed into the debate on the transformations of science and society. When an essay takes a stance on a debated question, it says so and presents the positions involved.
Corrections policy
Errors of fact, dates superseded by more recent publications and wrong source attributions can be reported through the site’s contact form, whether they appear in an entry or in an essay. Please give the page concerned and, if possible, the source that contradicts the text.
Author
The site is written and edited by Guillaume Jouret, a medical doctor specialist in human genetics and principal investigator on international research projects. His author page sets out his career, his scientific publications with their DOIs, his talks and his ORCID identifier, which makes his work findable in bibliographic databases. The site may host occasional contributions from researchers or clinicians.
The site is a personal project, carried out outside any institutional activity. The views expressed on it are those of their author alone, not of the institution that employs him.
Funding and independence
The site is funded by its author, who also pays for its hosting. It carries no advertising, no sponsored links and no affiliate links. It receives no financial support from any company, institution or public body. No data about readers is sold or passed on to third parties.
Scope of the content
The articles published on Genes.media are not peer-reviewed scientific publications. They draw on published work, which they cite, but they have not been through peer review and do not carry the same weight.
Genes.media provides general scientific information. Its content is not medical advice and is not a substitute for a medical consultation. The site does not answer individual requests about a disease, a genetic test or a treatment.
Reuse of the content
Unless otherwise stated, the texts, timelines, data and illustrations are the property of their author. They were designed for educational purposes and may be used in teaching and training without prior permission. Genes.media encourages the sharing of its content, provided the page’s address is given. The terms of reuse are set out in the legal notice, in French. An introduction to the two timelines and a teaching pack are offered to teachers on the For teachers page.
Personal data and legal notice
The site sells no data and passes none on to third parties. It is published by Dr Guillaume Jouret and hosted by Infomaniak, in Switzerland.
Two pages, in French, give the details. The legal notice names the publisher, the publication director and the hosting provider. It also sets the terms of reuse of the content. The privacy policy describes the data the site collects, how it is used, how long it is kept and the rights of readers.
Contact
The site does not publish its email address, so that robots cannot harvest it. Error reports, questions about the content and reuse requests should be sent through the site’s contact form. Requests for medical advice receive no reply.