Unravelling the mystery of how life in Antarctica survived past ice ages involved sampling some of the oldest museum records. When combined with a dating database, a familiar story is revealed.
During the Ice Age, hunter-gatherer societies built sedentary settlements.
(Shutterstock)
When, how, where and why did complex hierarchical societies evolve? Understanding how we got to this point in time may help us address global challenges, like climate change.
DNA from ancient eastern moa bones is unlocking the secrets of their survival during the last ice age, and providing lessons for today’s threatened species.
Wolverine numbers are declining globally due to heavy trapping and predator killing by humans, habitat loss, climate change and various other factors.
(Shutterstock)
The key to protecting wolverines around the world is to reduce trapping, minimize predator control pressures, and to protect and connect large blocks of intact habitat they need to survive.
The Earth viewed from the Apollo 8 lunar mission on Dec. 24, 1968.
NASA
Biologists have used ancient DNA, preserved in fossil bones for millennia, to study the evolution of large species, but now they can employ it to study small animals like lizards and frogs.
Genetic material found in permafrost sediments from the Yukon contains rich information about ancient ecosystems.
(Julius Csotonyi/Government of Yukon)
Ice Age glaciers can help us track the jet stream 12,000 ago, and by comparing its path today we can see how it’s moving northwards, changing weather patterns and indicating climate change.
The Perito Moreno glacier in Patagonia. The sheer number of seracs gives the impression that the glacier’s surface is covered in dragon scales.
Olivier Dangles/IRD
Olivier Dangles, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD)
The parable of the dragons underlines the need to apprehend glacier disappearance in a transdisciplinary way, to create a dialogue between the physical, ecological and philosophical sciences.
Fossil remains indicate these birds had a wingspan of over 20 feet.
Brian Choo
Paleontologists have discovered fossil remains belonging to an enormous ‘toothed’ bird that lived for a period of about 60 million years after dinosaurs.
A prehistoric woman with a child have left behind the world’s longest trackway.
These findings are in stark contrast with the original worldview that suggested the entire globe was at a maximum glaciated state around 20 000 years ago.
Surface detail of the Tomanowos meteorite, showing cavities produced by dissolution of iron.
Eden, Janine and Jim/Wikipedia
Tomanowos, aka the Willamette Meteorite, may be the world’s most interesting rock. Its story includes catastrophic ice age floods, theft of Native American cultural heritage and plenty of human folly.