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Bushfire near Masai Mara Reserve, Kenya

Exploding stars could have kick-started our ancestors’ evolution

9 October 2017

The savannahs early hominins occupied might have appeared thanks to a spate of wildfires 8 million years ago – which might in turn be linked to a nearby supernova
A beach on Hainan

Early farmers may have polluted the sea 4000 years ago

4 October 2017

Heavy metals including cadmium and lead are unusually common in sediments from the South China Sea, hinting that run-off from farms was spilling into the ocean 4000 years ago

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