11 Items Tagged

Anthropocene

<em>Le Défenseur du temps</em>—<em>The Defender of Time</em>—has been reinstalled in the Quartier de l'Horloge in Paris. Throughout the day, the metal swordsman marks the passage of time by fighting off a dragon, a rooster, and a crab.

Wonder Is Everywhere: The Defender of Time, a Plan to Bomb the Moon, and More From Around the Web

Get a peek into what we’re obsessed with right now.

April White May 12, 2023

From his paraglider, Steinmetz appears to have captured a colorful, abstract mosaic made up of round tiles. In fact, these are shallow basins lined with mud, about three to five feet wide and made by hand, holding salt water that slowly evaporates to yield mineral solids, which are sold to be consumed by livestock. The colors depend on the mix of mud, algae, and salt. Teguidda-n-Tessoumt, Niger.

How a 'Flying Photographer' Sees the World From Above

The perspective made George Steinmetz an “accidental environmentalist.”

Winnie Lee June 10, 2020

<em>Apollo 15</em> astronaut David Scott sampled the lunar surface in 1971.

Humanity Has Managed to Change Places We've Barely Even Visited

From the Mariana Trench to the Moon, we don't have to be in a place very much to muck it up.

Jessica Leigh Hester January 4, 2019

Broiler chickens have a biomass greater than all other wild bird species combined.

Humanity as We Know It Will Be Defined by the Broiler Chicken

The legacy we’re leaving behind looks like a post-apocalyptic KFC.

Abbey Perreault December 19, 2018

Giant African land snails are among the largest land snails in the world.

How Giant, Intelligent Snails Became a Marker of Our Age

Ages from now, giant snails could be one of the lasting signs of human influence on Earth.

Sarah Laskow November 29, 2018

A Target bag rests on the surface of Walden Pond. Part of S.B. Walker's 2017 photo series, "Walden."

What Is Walden Pond?

Its cultural meaning may be calcified—but off the page, it's changing fast.

Cara Giaimo August 10, 2018

This Sitka spruce, sometimes called "The World's Loneliest Tree," contains hard evidence of humans' outsized influence on the planet.

The Island That May Hold the Key to the Beginning of the Anthropocene

A subantarctic spot off the coast of New Zealand is home to a very special tree.

Cara Giaimo March 8, 2018

A caravan of wild camels in the outback.

Giant, Introduced Herbivores Could Be Helping ‘Rewild’ the World

In the anthropocene, maybe feral camels, wild donkeys, and cocaine hippos aren't a bad thing.

Natasha Frost October 2, 2017

Echolocation and Its Discontents

In a world increasingly shaped by humans, having an extra sense can sometimes do more harm than good.

Cara Giaimo September 14, 2017

Many minerals.

Found: Hundreds of Minerals That Only Exist Because of Humans

Minerals are supposed to be "naturally occurring."

Sarah Laskow March 2, 2017

Found: A Giant Crack in the Arizona Desert

Fissures appear when groundwater is sucked away.

Sarah Laskow January 25, 2017