IF MAN were to vanish from the face of the Earth today, his footprint on the planet would linger for the mere blink of an eye in geological terms.
Within hours, nature would begin to eradicate its impact. In 50,000 years all that would remain would be archaeological traces. Only radioactive materials and a few man-made chemical contaminants would last longer -- an invisible legacy.
Homo sapiens has managed just 150,000 years on Earth, and his earliest -- debatable -- ancestor only six million. By contrast, the dinosaurs populated the planet for 165 million years.
Meanwhile:
Scientists Reveal Bears Have Stopped Hibernating
Many of the 130 bears in Spain's northern cordillera - which have a slightly different genetic identity from bear populations elsewhere in the world - have remained active throughout recent winters, naturalists from Spain's Brown Bear Foundation said yesterday
