  We study the interaction between the EHP sequence and the Goodwillie tower of
the identity evaluated at spheres at the prime 2. Both give rise to spectral
sequences (the EHP spectral sequence and the Goodwillie spectral sequence,
respectively) which compute the unstable homotopy groups of spheres. We relate
the Goodwillie filtration to the P map, and the Goodwillie differentials to the
H map. Furthermore, we study an iterated Atiyah-Hirzebruch spectral sequence
approach to the homotopy of the layers of the Goodwillie tower of the identity
on spheres. We show that differentials in these spectral sequences give rise to
differentials in the EHP spectral sequence. We use our theory to re-compute the
2-primary unstable stems through the Toda range (up to the 19-stem). We also
study the homological behavior of the interaction between the EHP sequence and
the Goodwillie tower of the identity. This homological analysis involves the
introduction of Dyer-Lashof-like operations associated to M. Ching's operad
structure on the derivatives of the identity. These operations act on the mod 2
stable homology of the Goodwillie layers of any functor from spaces to spaces.
