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[Home]
[Prog summaries - [Ice
World] [The
Earth was Born] [Out
of Eden] [In
perspective]]
[Out of chaos - [Introduction]
[Divine
guidance] [Tools
of knowledge] [Religious
conflict] [Search
goes on]]
[Survival - [Introduction]
[Exodus]
[New
Technology] [Moving
on]]
[The Globe - [Introduction]
[Star
Dust] [Water
of life]]
[Find
out more]
[Credits]
[Full site
with images]
In 1953 Crick and Watson explained the double helix structure of DNA and further demystified the origins of life. The latest research traces our genetic roots through our mitochondrial DNA back to one woman who lived in Africa 150,000 years ago. This shows how 80,000 years ago our ancestors left Africa as one group via a southern route to what is modern-day Yemen. This rewriting the history of humankind was backed by climatological evidence that suggests that migration into Europe was later than previously believed.
Our view of the world has been changed through mass travel and manned space flights, which started in 1961, saw a moon landing in 1969, and have now become commonplace. Through plotting the movements of planets, scientists have developed the Big Bang theory: that all space and matter exploded out of one hot, dense mass perhaps 20,000 million years ago and that the universe is still expanding. Current thinking puts the age of the Earth at some 4.6 billion years.
From our new vantage point we know that today's ideas on the origins of the planet are likely to be tomorrow’s illusions. Our horizons have broadened, but are we any wiser about what lies beyond?