A hidden megadrought reshaped Rapa Nui—but its people proved far more resilient than history’s most famous cautionary tale suggests. Credit: Shutterstock New research from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory provides the strongest evidence so far that a prolonged drought reshaped life on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) starting around the year 1550. To uncover this history, scientists extracted sediment cores from two of the island's limited freshwater sites: Rano Aroi, a wetland high in elevation,