Reservoirs of Evolution: Rainy periods linked to human origins in Africa

A massive, earthquake-induced gash that cuts through eastern Africa contains evidence of three rainy phases during the Stone Age. They might have spurred the evolution of modern humanity’s direct ancestors as well as of many other mammal species, scientists suggest.

WATER FROM ROCK. Analysis of sediment in this Kenyan rift basin indicates that a lake existed there roughly 1 million years ago.