Science: October 2006 Archives

"Imagine that all the people on Earth [...] could be spirited away tomorrow, transported to a re-education camp in a far-off galaxy. [...] Left once more to its own devices, Nature would begin to reclaim the planet, as fields and pastures reverted to prairies and forest, the air and water cleansed themselves of pollutants, and roads and cities crumbled back to dust. [...] All things considered, it will only take a few tens of thousands of years at most before almost every trace of our present dominance has vanished completely. Alien visitors coming to Earth 100,000 years hence will find no obvious signs that an advanced civilisation ever lived here." - story