{"id":1269,"date":"2023-02-10T14:17:12","date_gmt":"2023-02-10T14:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/difference\/?p=1269"},"modified":"2023-02-10T14:17:15","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T14:17:15","slug":"origins-how-the-earth-shaped-human-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/difference\/origins-how-the-earth-shaped-human-history\/","title":{"rendered":"ORIGINS: How the Earth Shaped Human History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When we talk about human history, we focus on great leaders, revolutions, and technological advances. But how has the Earth itself determined our destiny? How has our planet made us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a species we are shaped by our environment. Geological forces drove our evolution in East Africa; mountainous terrain led to the development of democracy in Greece; and today voting behaviour in the United States follows the bed of an ancient sea. The human story is the story of these forces, from plate tectonics and climate change, to atmospheric circulation and ocean currents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By taking us through millennia of human history, and billions of years into our planet\u2019s past, Professor Lewis Dartnell tells us the ultimate origin story. When we reach the point where history becomes science we see a vast web of connections that underwrites our modern world and helps us face the challenges of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the cultivation of the first crops to the founding of modern states, Origins reveals the Earth\u2019s awesome impact on the shape of human civilizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ORIGINS<\/a> is a Sunday Times top history book of the year, a Waterstones ‘Best of 2019’ book, on iNews\u2019 11 best popular science books for 2019, and a Mail on Sunday recommended science and nature book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof Lewis Dartnell<\/a> is an astrobiology researcher based at the University of Westminster, studying how microbial life, and signs of its existence, might persist on the surface of Mars. Alongside his research he writes regular science articles in newspapers and magazines, and has appeared in TV shows such as BBC Horizon, Wonders of the Universe, and documentaries on National Geographic, Discovery and History channels. Both ORIGINS and his previous book, \u2018THE KNOWLEDGE: How To Rebuild Our World After An Apocalypse\u2019<\/a> are Sunday Times bestsellers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Catch Prof Lewis Dartnell talk more about Origins at the Difference Festival on Friday, 3rd<\/sup> March from 5:30pm \u2013 7:30pm at UG05, Regent Street, University of Westminster. Book your tickets at Eventbrite<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we talk about human history, we focus on great leaders, revolutions, and technological advances. But how has the Earth itself determined our destiny? How has our planet made us? As a species we are shaped by our environment. Geological…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":749,"featured_media":1270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,14],"tags":[205,24,316,315,314,66,70,22,33],"class_list":["post-1269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-sciences","category-difference-festival","tag-blog","tag-difference","tag-earth","tag-human-history","tag-origins","tag-research","tag-school-of-life-sciences","tag-the-difference-festival","tag-university-of-westminster"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/difference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/difference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/difference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/difference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/749"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/difference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1269"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/difference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1271,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/difference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269\/revisions\/1271"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/difference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/difference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/difference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/difference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}