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Think pollution is just an on-Earth problem? Anthropocene junk is in space too
Since the Soviet and American space programmes began blasting off in the 1950s, humans have made major strides into the unknown – and left behind vast amounts of junk. This visualisation was created by the UK aerospace engineer Stuart Grey and depicts the 40,000 or so objects that we’ve left in space since Sputnik’s launch in 1957, including more than 17,000 objects still in Earth’s orbit, which pose a considerable danger not just to our satellites but to any spacecraft with humans aboard.
Director: Stuart Grey
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Nature and landscape
‘A culture is no better than its woods’ – what our trees reveal about us, by W H Auden
5 minutes
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History
Hags, seductresses, feminist icons – how gender dynamics manifest in witches
13 minutes
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Fairness and equality
There’s a dirty side to clean energy in the metal-rich mountains of South Africa
10 minutes
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Fairness and equality
‘To my old master’ – a freed slave answers the request to return to his old plantation
7 minutes
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Animals and humans
Villagers struggle to keep their beloved, endangered ape population afloat
19 minutes
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Information and communication
‘Astonished and somewhat terrified’ – Victorians’ reactions to the phonograph
36 minutes
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History
From Afghanistan to Virginia – the Muslims who fought in the American Civil War
22 minutes
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Fairness and equality
Visit the small Texas community that lives in the shadow of SpaceX launches
14 minutes
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The ancient world
Petty squabbles and bloody battles – the life of an ancient Roman soldier
18 minutes