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Solar System's Path May Have Spurred Ice Ages

ImproperShutdown writes "Space.com reports that a physicist has found a correlation between the amount of cosmic rays reaching the Earth, as it passes through the spiral arms of the Milky Way, and the planet's ice ages over the last billion years. Apparently, as the Solar System passes through the higher density spiral arm regions, it receives more cosmic rays from the higher density of supernovae that have occurred in the region. This larger flux of cosmic rays ionizes the Earth's atmosphere more, which makes it more cloudy and cools down the Earth."

1 of 34 comments (clear)

  1. See, there they go again. by Snafoo · · Score: 4, Funny

    Once again our 'scientists' have managed to
    misintepret perfectly clear statistical
    data by imposing a faulty chain of causality.

    Obviously, things are back-to-front. Ice ages
    cause changes in the path of the solar system.

    Duh.

    --
    - undoware.ca