Science: Glacial Thermostat

Geologists have developed many theories to account for the ebb and flow of glaciers in Europe and North America. Some blame external causes, such as interstellar dust or changes in the earth's atmosphere. In Science, Professors (of geology) Maurice Ewing of Columbia University and William L. Bonn of Brooklyn College propound a theory of ice ages that requires no cause external to the earth and no change in the atmosphere.

The reason for the recurring Pleistocene ice ages, say Ewing and Donn, is that the earth's poles are where they are. The South Pole is in the middle of a continent, and...

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