The quality, spectral resolution and wavelength coverage of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey are such that one can attempt to reconstruct the star formation and metallicity history of the SDSS galaxies from the current observed spectrum. In this talk I will discuss how and under what conditions this is possible. If possible, the enormous size of the SDSS in volume and number of galaxies can be used to determine the properties of galaxies as a function of environment. I will show new results from a study of mark correlations that shows how galaxies properties evolved from z ~ 3 to the present and how they are related to the environment where galaxies live in.