November 28, 2015

That fall of 2015, gas ran $2.45 a gallon and Obama was in the White House — the U.S. had just opened military talks with Russia over the conflict in Syria, one of several international pressure points playing out alongside ordinary American life. On the pop culture front, The Weeknd's "The Hills" sat at number one on the charts while "Game of Thrones" took home the Emmy for best drama, drawing tens of millions of viewers each week. The Kansas City Royals won the World Series over the New York Mets in five games, and that same fall scientists announced the discovery of Homo naledi, a previously unknown species of early human found in a South African cave system — a significant addition to the understanding of human evolution.