Scientists just pulled a 1.2-million-year-old ice core from Antarctica, and it’s already challenging what we know about Earth’s past. The ancient ice, buried deep beneath the continent’s frozen surface, contains trapped air bubbles that act as a time capsule of ancient atmospheres.
In January 2025, a team of scientists working in Antarctica recovered an ice core from 2,800 meters below the surface. The core contains a continuous climate record spanning 1.2 million years, including air bubbles that preserve the composition of the atmosphere at the time the ice formed. The samples predate the appearance of modern humans and extend significantly further back than any previous i…