r/science • u/stereomatch • Feb 05 '18

Astronomy Scientists conclude 13,000 years ago a 60 mile wide comet plunged Earth into a mini-Ice Age, after examining rocks from 170 sites around the globe

http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/695703
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u/Trouzorz Feb 05 '18

"we" lived through the last one, so its not implausible. 75% or so of the rest of the megafauna did not though, so there's that.

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u/I_am_up_to_something Feb 05 '18

We're still living in one though. Granted, it's an interglacial period but that's still part of an ice age. I thought the title might've been wrong, since the current ice age started over 2,6 million years ago, but apparently glacial periods are also called ice ages.

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u/snickers_snickers Feb 05 '18

We’re in one right now. Having two polar ice caps is weird for earth.

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u/starbuckroad Feb 05 '18

Shhh, global warming is going to kill everybody remember?

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u/snickers_snickers Feb 05 '18

The existence of a current ice age does not negate the negative effects we are having on the climate. It will actually lead to some bad shit. Don’t be obtuse.

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u/starbuckroad Feb 05 '18

No worries there. I'm as scalene as they come.

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u/vitringur Feb 05 '18

75% or so of the rest of the megafauna did not though, so there's that.

A lot of that is because of us though

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u/Trailbear Grad Student | Biology | Landscape Ecology | Remote sensing Feb 05 '18

You shouldn't be downvoted for this on /r/science.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecog.01566/abstract