'Case is made' for Earth's new Anthropocene Epoch
8 January 2016 Last updated at 14:25 GMT
An international scientific panel believes that the Earth has entered a new geological age.
The team, which has been tasked with defining the so-called Anthropocene, says humanity's impacts on Earth will be visible in sediments and rocks millions of years into the future.
The researchers are working towards a formal classification of the new epoch.
Stephen Sackur explains.