A Canadian lake could mark the start of humanity’s geological epoch
Plutonium, carbon and plastic mark a new phase in Earth’s history
One way to view the history of science is as a repeated puncturing of humanity’s claims to be special. In scientific terms Homo sapiens is an oddly hairless species of ape that has existed for 200,000 years—an eyeblink in Earth’s 4.5bn-year history.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Choosing a fingerprint”
From the July 15th 2023 edition
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