The Descendant's Tale Begins...

Introducing Kaia Elizabeth Mills, latest in a long line of carbon-based lifeforms. Kaia traces her ancestry back to an unnamed protoplasmic replicator which lived about four billion years ago. Since inventing sex about 2.5 billion years ago, every member of Kaia's clan has had not one but two burstingly proud parents.

Among that replicator's descendants, most remain single-celled. Kaia's ancestors learned cooperation and have been massively multi-cellular for countless generations. When born, Kaia herself contained 8lb 6oz (3800g) of microscopic cells and was 55.5 cm (22 inches) in length.

One of several branches of the family who have (independently) developed sight, Kaia gazes at the world through deep blue eyes.

Thanks to a relatively recent family development (mammals, 247 million years ago), Kaia spent the first nine months of her development as part of her mother's body, and so the family have opted to celebrate the moment of her emergence from that body as her "Birth Day" - six minutes past noon on the 28th of September 2007.

Though Kaia's family are a relatively hairless part of the ape clan, she was born with her hominid cephalus covered in rich dark hair.

Here is Kaia with some of her most recent ancestors:

Not long after her emergence, this picture shows Kaia with her delighted mother, from whom she inherits all of her mitochondrial DNA.

Kaia's father, pictured here, contributed the decisive chromosome that determined Kaia's sex. Before her birth, in an attempt to determine whether the baby was male or female, Tim was asked which he had provided. He answered, "I gave you millions of each - which one did you pick?"

The ovum that gave Kaia half of her genetic material was already present in baby Deena before she emerged from Kaia's granny (pictured), 378 months ago.

More details will be posted here about Kaia as she begins to explore this biosphere full of her fellow carbon-based lifeforms. Watch this space, or click on "subscribe" at the bottom of this page.