Today there are more than 8 billion humans on Earth. But according to a recent genetic study, there may have been a moment in our past when the entire human population dropped to just 1,280 adults. That is a number small enough for every single human alive to fit inside one large school building, or just a small section of a sports stadium.

If that happened today, Homo sapiens would instantly become one of the most endangered species on Earth, yet scientists now think something very close to this may actually have happened 930,000 years ago. But is it true?

New Scientist first reported on this controversial discovery back in 2023. Since then, scientists have been debating what it really means. In this video, we dig into the genetic clues that suggest humanity nearly vanished and explore what kind of catastrophe could have pushed our species to the brink.

If humanity came this close to extinction once, how many other times has it happened? And what’s to stop it from happening again?

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