It was carved of mammoth ivory using a flint knife and stands 31.1cm tall, 5.6cm wide and 5.9cm thick. She cites artifacts such as the “Lion Man”, the oldest known zoomorphic sculpture and uncontested example of figurative art, between 35,000 and 40,000 years old. In addition to fire and language, Gaia Vince asserts that beauty was a powerful force in human evolution. She currently lives in London, where we spoke with her via Skype.

Her research takes her across the world: she has visited more than 60 countries. She also writes and presents science programs for radio and television. She has held senior editorial posts at Nature and New Scientist, and her writing has featured in newspapers and magazines including the Guardian, The Times and Scientific American.

That book discussed the Anthropocene, the geological epoch that began when human activities started to have a significant global impact on Earth’s ecosystems. Her first book, Adventures in the Anthropocene: A Journey to the Heart of the Planet We Made, won the 2015 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books, making her the first woman to win the prize outright. Her latest book, TRANSCENDENCE: How Humans Evolved Through Fire, Language, Beauty & Time, was published in the United States in January, 2020 by Basic Books. Her work focuses largely on the interplay between humans and the planetary environment. Gaia Vince is an environmental journalist, author and broadcaster.

Transcendence by Gaia Vince