5. The Anthropocene
Justin looks to the future. Could human engineering stabilise the Earth's climate and chemistry in the long term?
Could human engineering stabilise the Earth's climate and chemistry in the long term? Or will life eventually be extinguished by the expanding sun? Could humans seed life on other planets? And what will be our ultimate legacy in the Earth's geological record?
Tim Lenton of Exeter University explains why the Gaia hypothesis is the key to understanding the future of life on Earth. But what about life beyond Earth? Justin Rowlatt speaks to astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger - a hunter and explorer of planets outside our solar system - and to the science fiction author David Brin. Plus paleobiologist Jan Zalasiewicz describes what might remain of human civilisation in the geological record 100 million years hence.
Producer: Laurence Knight
(Photo: Skull fossil artwork from the Modern Fossils collection by Christopher Locke. Credit: Christopher Locke/Heartless Machine)
Last on
Broadcasts
- Sat 30 Oct 202119:06GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Sun 31 Oct 202110:06GMTBBC World Service
- Sun 31 Oct 202123:06GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Mon 1 Nov 202103:06GMTBBC World Service
