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Alaska contains several thousand valley glaciers, and fewer than 20 of them are advancing, while many of the rest are retreating, according to a study by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientist Bruce F. Molnia. Significant glacier retreat, thinning, stagnation, or a combination of these changes characterizes all eleven mountain ranges and three island areas that presently support glaciers there.

?The Earth recently emerged from a global climate event called the ?Little Ice Age,? during which Alaskan glaciers expanded significantly. The Little Ice Age began to wane in the late 19th century. In some areas of Alaska, glacier retreat started during the early 18th century, prior to the beginning of the industrial revolution,? says Molnia.
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In 1611, Galileo Galilei and other astronomers noticed there were fewer sunspots on the sun, and the coldest part of what?s known as the Little Ice Age began shortly after. Now NASA scientists have learned how that reduced solar activity chilled much of the Earth by changing the atmospheric circulation of the Northern Hemisphere from the 1400s into the early 18th century.

During the Little Ice Age, access to Greenland was cut off by ice, ending the Viking colonization there, and canals in Holland routinely froze solid. Londoners ice-skated on the Thames and glaciers advanced down the Alps.
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A forest without predators may not last long. When predators vanish, herbivore (plant eating) animal populations explode, leading to the mass destruction of plant life and eventually to the destruction of the forest itself.

A research team led by John Terborgh of Duke University made a census of the herbivores and trees on several islands in Lago Guri, a lake in Venezuela that was created in 1986 when a river was dammed to produce hydroelectric power. When the water rose, the smallest of the islands lost nearly all of its predatory animals, such as jaguars, snakes and hawks. The situation was a unique natural experiment, testing two competing theories of how ecosystems are structured.
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Someone asked us, ?Do you have any books that are especially right for Christmas giving?? and surprisingly, the answer is ?yes!?

My first suggestion is ?Resurrection of the Shroud? by Mark Antonacci. When Mark came on Dreamland to talk about his book, he told us some amazing facts. Did you know that the Shroud of Turin has actual human blood on it? Or that the image cannot have been caused by an ordinary corpse? This careful, fascinating book restores the Shroud to its former glory as one of the world’s great mysteries. To learn more,click here.
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