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The Age of Humans The Age of Humans

While arriving only recently in Earth's timeline, humans are driving major changes to the planet's ecosystems. Even now, the basic requirements for human life—air, water, shelter, food, nature and culture—are being rapidly transformed by the billions of people on the planet.

These changes have become so noticeable on a global scale that scientists believe we are living in a new chapter in Earth's story:
the Anthropocene.

Featured story

Where in the World is the Anthropocene?

Some geologists believe we’ve entered a new era. Now they have to search for the rocks that prove it
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Air

How Climate Changed-Fueled “Mega Droughts” Could Harm Human Health

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One in Six Global Deaths Linked to Pollution

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How America Stacks Up When It Comes to Greenhouse Gas Emissions

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Human Pollution May Be Fertilizing The Oceans. That’s Not a Good Thing

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Twelve Years Ago, the Kyoto Protocol Set the Stage for Global Climate Change Policy

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Health

One in Six Global Deaths Linked to Pollution

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Yes, Sperm Counts Have Been Steadily Declining—But Don’t Freeze Your Sperm Yet

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Video: Why Should Humans Care About Preserving the Diversity of Life on Earth?

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Water

What's Behind Cape Town's Water Woes?

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One in Six Global Deaths Linked to Pollution

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Stinking Rich: Swiss Sewage Contains $1.8 Million in Gold

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A Mysteriously Massive Hole in Antarctic Ice Has Returned

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Thousands of Snow Geese Die at Abandoned Pit Mine

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More From Water »

Education

How India Is Teaching 300 Million Kids to Be Environmentalists
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Ask Smithsonian

What Is Wind?
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Podcasts

How Geography Shaped Societies, From Neanderthals to iPhones
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Culture

As Mongolia Melts, Looters Close In On Priceless Artifacts

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The Evolution of Petface

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How Polar Bears Became the Dragons of the North

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Which of Your Favorite Superheroes Is Destroying the Earth?

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Appalled by the Illegal Trade in Elephant Ivory, a Biologist Decided to Make His Own

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More From Culture »

Food

Is the Mysterious Sea Cucumber Slipping Out of Our Grasp?

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Just a Few Species Make Up Most of Earth's Food Supply. And That's a Problem

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America's Fancy Pet Food Addiction Is a Big Problem for the Environment

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Trace Amounts of Pesticide Found in Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream

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Fish Industry On the Hook for Rampant Mislabeling of Species

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Shelter

Move Over, Steel: The High Rises of Tomorrow Are ‘Plyscrapers’

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Five Things to Know About Megacities

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How Climate Change Could Make Office Work Even Unhealthier

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Coastal Cities Need to Radically Rethink How They Deal With Rising Waters

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DIY Cartographers Are Putting Slums on the Literal Map

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Economics

Is Sustainable Trash-Burning a Load of Rubbish?

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Americans Think National Parks Are Worth Way More Than We Spend On Them

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New Schemes Pay You to Save Species—But Will They Work?

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Human Impact Atlas

See How Humans Have Reshaped the Globe With This Interactive Atlas
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Rise of Megacities

Make Cities Explode in Size With These Interactive Maps
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Deep Time Globe

Travel Through Deep Time With This Interactive Earth
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Nature

Is Light Pollution Really Pollution?

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How Thousand-Year-Old Trees Became the New Ivory

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Study Shows 84% of Wildfires Caused by Humans

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This Music Was Composed by Climate Change

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Ancient Oyster Shells Are Windows to the Past

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More From Nature »

Latest Anthropocene Stories

Welcome to the Meghalayan Age, the Latest Stage in Earth’s 4.54-Billion-Year History

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Fear of Humans Is Forcing Daytime Animals Into Night Mode

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How Climate Changed-Fueled “Mega Droughts” Could Harm Human Health

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Rat Bones Reveal How Humans Transformed Their Island Environments

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Even the Deepest Parts of the Ocean Are Polluted With Startling Amounts of Plastic

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Climate Change Can Also Transform Language

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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Is Much Larger and Chunkier Than We Thought

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Foxes and Coyotes are Natural Enemies. Or Are They?

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What's Behind Cape Town's Water Woes?

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Corals Seem to Like the "Taste" of Plastic

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More From Latest Anthropocene Stories »

Inventions for Good

Tweaking the Tiny Electrical Charges Inside Cells Can Fight Infection

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Move Over, Steel: The High Rises of Tomorrow Are ‘Plyscrapers’

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Here's a Food Wrapper You Can Eat

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Tags

Key Resources

The Smithsonian's Official Climate Change Statement

The bold assessment acknowledges that the global climate is warming because of human activities
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What Is the Anthropocene?

We are living in the Anthropocene. But no one can agree when it started or how human activity will be preserved
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Secretary Skorton Q&A: Genomics in the Age of Humans

Video

The Past, Present and Future of Agriculture

An Evening with E.O. Wilson

What Is the Anthropocene?

This animation explains why scientists think we've entered a new chapter in Earth's history
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Climate Change 101 With Bill Nye the Science Guy

The Future of Climate Change Is in the Past

At the Smithsonian

Dig Into the Nuclear Era's Homegrown Fallout Shelters

For the World’s Wetlands, It May Be Sink or Swim. Here’s Why It Matters

How Canoes Are Saving Lives and Restoring Spirit

Did John Deere's Best Invention Spark a Revolution or an Environmental Disaster?

Humans Caused a Major Shift in Earth's Ecosystems 6,000 Years Ago

Podcasts

Creating an Equation for Cities May Solve Ecological Conundrums

In this Generation Anthropocene podcast, scientists explore the ways urbanization might lead to a greener future
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Are There Any Places on Earth Left Untouched by Noise Pollution?

In this Generation Anthropocene podcast, an acoustic ecologist tours the planet in search of pristine soundscapes
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How a Farming Project in Brazil Turned Into an Ecological Tragedy

This week's Generation Anthropocene podcast looks at Rondônia, a textbook tale of how not to set up sustainable land use
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