A new paper in Earth’s Future documents procedural flaws in the rejection of the Anthropocene as a new geological epoch and calls for transparency and an independent review of the decision

The Anthropocene Working Group’s case cannot be meaningfully evaluated until the grounds for its rejection are fully transparent Questions remain over voter eligibility, quorum, document access, ...

While the Anthropocene is a term most of us are well aware of, it is not an official geological epoch. Now a group of scientists has reignited the push to get it formally recognised.

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, Published online: 08 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s43017-026-00817-8The Anthropocene is widely used without fixed definition. This Perspective argues for its base to be defined in 1952 by a sharp plutonium upturn coinciding with changes in multiple proxies, providing a globally correlatable horizon reflecting substantial human-driven Earth system disruption.

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, Published online: 08 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s43017-026-00820-zThe Anthropocene is a term applied across geological, environmental and social sciences, and the humanities and arts. This Perspective explores various applications of the term and discusses how a consistent definition could support transdisciplinary efforts to address modern environmental challenges.

Table of contents for The Anthropocene Review, 13, 2

2026 News from the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology

2026 News from the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology

Mining Conversations is a monthly online discussion series dedicated to how knowledge practices on local and planetary scales shape the energy landscapes we see today, whether influenced by past or pr...

Mining Conversations is a monthly online discussion series dedicated to how knowledge practices on local and planetary scales shape the energy landscapes we see today, whether influenced by past or pr...

Mining Conversations is a monthly online discussion series dedicated to how knowledge practices on local and planetary scales shape the energy landscapes we see today, whether influenced by past or pr...

The Anthropocene Commons (AC) is a network of researchers, educators, activists, artists and scientists from all over the world working on the Anthropocene, the current time period in which human acti...