Editor's note

Those feeling sad about Britain leaving Europe may want to keep in mind that the really big split happened more than 100,000 years ago, when dramatic waterfalls and flooding destroyed the land bridge that once joined England and France. Simon Redfern takes a look at a new study unveiling details of the separation, which could have been caused by melting glacial ice. And melting ice is something we should be worried about today. Another study reveals that the sun is more powerful now than when we last had similar levels of carbon in the atmosphere and could push the climate to the warmest levels in half a billion years.

Gibraltar, the British overseas territory where 96% of voters wanted to remain in the European Union, has found itself at the centre of early Brexit negotiation tensions. While residents clearly see themselves as British Gibraltarian, Andrew Canessa explains that Britishness is a fairly recent identity on the rock.

Monday’s attack on the St Petersburg metro left 14 people dead and many more injured. But the situation could have been worse had the driver not managed to get the train back to a station. Enrico Ronchi and Daniel Nilsson look at how engineering and psychology can further help to optimise such underground evacuation procedures.

Miriam Frankel

Science Editor

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Artist’s impression of waterfalls pouring over the original land bridge connecting England with France. CREDIT: Imperial College London/Chase Stone

Geologists unveil how Britain first separated from Europe – and it was catastrophic

Simon Redfern, University of Cambridge

Almost half a million years ago a huge flood started breaking the apart the land bridge that joined England and France.

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