Mountains on Tahiti. Credit: Mark Peaple A new study led by the University of Southampton and University of East Anglia (UEA) points to a major change in South Pacific climate conditions, beginning around 1,000 years ago, that may have encouraged people to move and settle farther to the east. The research suggests that as parts of the western region became steadily drier, communities may have been pushed to seek out islands with more dependable rainfall. The team reports that inhabited islands