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Our understanding of human ancestry has changed dramatically since the discovery of Lucy the ancient hominin 50 years ago. Here is the history of humanity as we know it today.

Anybody within the eruption zone would be pulverised by blasts, crisped by the heat, or asphyxiated by ash.

The Earth has had at least five major ice ages, and humans showed up in time for the most recent one. In fact, we’re still in it.

Unravelling the mystery of how life in Antarctica survived past ice ages involved sampling some of the oldest museum records. When combined with a dating database, a familiar story is revealed.

The last ice age locked atmospheric carbon dioxide into oceans, which has major implications for how the oceans and carbon dioxide may be linked in the future.

Iron and nutrients from Antarctica’s bedrock are carried into the oceans – nourishing entire food webs.

The way ice sheets respond to global warming may be more predictable than previously thought

45,000 years ago, people first started arriving in what’s known as Europe today. We thought a worsening ice age made them disappear – but it seems some lineages survived.

Scandinavia was populated by two main migrations, making its first inhabitants more genetically diverse and adapted to harsh climates than those in the rest of Europe.

Super-fertile slugs from the continent have bred with their cousins in the UK.