It’s time for a better—and more strategic—definition, Jeffrey R. Wilson writes. The humanities study the things humans make. That definition is better—more accurate and more strategic—than the most ...

By this definition, even the oldest of this genus that dates back at least 2 million years — Homo habilis — would be human, as would Neanderthals, Denisovans and H. erectus. Just as with early ...

Human progress has had a measurable impact on the ground we walk, even down to the layers of concrete, plastics and nuclear waste we leave behind—indelible enough to mark a new geological era.