First, what is an ice age? It’s when the Earth has cold temperatures for a long time – millions to tens of millions of years – that lead to ice sheets and glaciers covering large areas of its surface.

Cosmic dust can tell scientists about how ice covered Earth during the last ice age. This dust is leftover debris from ...

For decades, scientists puzzled over two key climate mysteries. What sparked the formation of Earth’s vast ice sheets during the last ice age—and how did they spread so fast? New research may finally ...

Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere vary naturally between ice ages and interglacial periods. A new study by researchers at the University of Gothenburg shows that an unexpectedly large proportion ...

Scientists believe that the motion of Earth's continents through plate tectonics has been largely steady over millions of years. New research, however, suggests this drift can speed up or slow down ...

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to [email protected]. How many ice ages has the Earth had, and could ...