The Anthropocene is the name of a proposed new geological time period (probably an epoch) that may soon enter the official Geologic Time Scale. The Anthropocene is defined by the human influence on ...

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily. The guardians of the world’s official geological timescale have firmly rejected a ...

Since “Anthropocene” was coined in 2000, it has increasingly defined our times as an age of human-caused planetary transformation. On March 4, 2024, the commission responsible for recognizing time ...

Humans have altered the planet so much that we’ve created a new geological age–the Anthropocene. Millennia from now, this is how scientists will learn about what we did. Nuclear particles, changes in ...

There's no doubt that humans have had a powerful impact on the planet, but some scientists believe the effects are so clear and widespread that our current time period should be declared the dawn of a ...

Relations thaw as opposing sides vote on what to call latest geological period. London After more than 150 years of conflict, geologists have taken a small step towards agreeing what to call the time ...

Jurassic, Pleistocene, Precambrian. The named times in Earth’s history might inspire mental images of dinosaurs, trilobites, or other enigmatic animals unlike anything in our modern world. Labels like ...

For something that is supposed to keep track of 4 billion years of history, the geologic time scale is quite a fuzzy and slippery yardstick. After two centuries of careful research and argumentation, ...

Every other Friday, the Outside/In team answers a listener question about the natural world. This week’s question comes from Emily in Washington, DC. Crawford Lake in Milton, Ontario. The answer to ...

Volcanoes don't operate on human timescales. They may go quiet for centuries, only to rumble to life with devastating ...