Under the Ice, Big Crater

Researchers use specifically the ice piercing radar has located a large crater buried under a half-mile thick Greenland ice sheet. This crater has a width of 31 kilometers, making it one of the 25 largest craters known on Earth.

Scientists believe that the crater is the result of collisions with iron meteorites at least one kilometer – the impact of being able to melt rocks, as well as an important part of the ice sheet, has the potential to cause sea level rise and climate disturbances throughout the world. . However, the date of the impact is unknown – maybe only 12,000 years ago, or as old as three million years.

[Just when you thought you’ve seen every kind of cloud in the sky, researchers capture electric blue ones.]

Annalee Newitz joins Ira to talk about the discovery, and other stories from the week in science, including news about the orangutan thought process, violence in the Neanderthal world, and foresight for landing the Mars InSight mission later this month.