An overview of the Milankovitch (or astronomical) ice age theory appears in the May 2020 issue of Physics Today.¹ This theory (hypothesis, really) holds that Earth’s rotational and orbital motions influence Earth’s climate over long ages, pacing the timing of ice ages.

Can you imagine frogs in snow-covered, frigid Antarctica? A recent fossil discovery has significant implications for Earth’s climate history as well as the fossil record.

Some are pointing out that the coronavirus shutdown presents an opportunity to test a major climate change assumption.^1-3 Because global industrial activity has been curtailed due to the pandemic, pollution in certain urban areas has decreased dramatically.⁴ This decrease in industrial activity should also theoretically decrease global carbon dioxide emissions.

Recently, a new study published in Nature Communications found that mountain streams may be much larger contributors to the global carbon cycle than previously believed.¹ The study suggests that this is a consequence of the higher turbulence levels of most mountain streams.

Early this week, the websites Phys.org and TheConversation.com published an editorial by John Hewson, former federal leader of the Australian Liberal Party, who claimed that the coronavirus pandemic has made it even more urgent for the world to respond to “climate change.”^1,2 Because the issue of climate change intersects the origins debate in a number of ways, it is worthwhile to re