Abstract: Evolutionary mechanisms enabled humans to irreversibly transform Earth systems, culminating in the present-day, globally connected, system of Anthropocene systems. Because Anthropocene systems are highly interdependent and dynamically evolving, often with accelerating rates of cultural [...]

Iron is at the heart of so much big history. Massive stars fuse hydrogen and helium into heavier elements, until they begin to form iron, at which point a supernova explodes. Along with all the [...]