Footprints on the sands of time are not made by sitting down. So it is no wonder that the longest trackway of fossil footprints ever discovered, dating to between 11,550 and 13,000 years ago, was made by a very determined individual rushing through a hostile landscape with very hungry predators around them.

An international team of scientists discovered the footprints, spanning more than 1.5km in a straight path, in a dried-up lake bed in the White Sands National Park, New Mexico. Now, they have finally been deciphered and two of the team have explained the findings for us.

By analysing the shape and structure of the tracks, the scientists uncovered that the trackway was most likely made by a woman carrying a young child. For some reason, she rushed through the muddy field at an impressive speed. She then returned the same way without the toddler, and may have discovered that both a sloth and a mammoth had crossed her path in the meantime.

Fast forward some 13,000 years and another determined individual, RuPaul, has made an important mark by helping turn an underground anti-capitalist art form into a lucrative, mainstream industry through his reality show “Drag Race” and the power of social media.

Meanwhile, eight-year-old Lena finds out how we can tell that a volcano is going to erupt in the latest article in our Curious Kids series.

Miriam Frankel

Science Editor

A prehistoric woman with a child have left behind the world’s longest trackway.

Fossil footprints: the fascinating story behind the longest known prehistoric journey

Matthew Robert Bennett, Bournemouth University; Sally Christine Reynolds, Bournemouth University

Some 13,000 years ago, an adult carrying in a child walked 1.5km in mud at great speed in the presence of hungry predators.

The contestants of the first Canadian Drag Race. Matt Barnes

RuPaul’s Drag Race: how social media made drag’s subversive art form into a capitalist money maker

Zeena Feldman, King's College London; Jamie Hakim, University of East Anglia

How Ru Paul's Drag Race turned an underground anti-capitalist art form into a lucrative multifaceted mainstream industry

Mount Etna erupting. Tomarchio Francesco/Shutterstock

Curious Kids: How can we tell when a volcano is going to erupt?

Ian Skilling, University of South Wales

Volcanoes give lots of clues which help scientists work out if they are about to erupt.

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