And now, it's time for Who Smarted?
Psst, hey, smarty pants, I bet most of you can guess that sound.
Now, which of these would you associate that sound with?
Hot or cold?
Why, of course, cold.
Now, close your eyes and picture a time when you might hear such cold wind.
Did you say winter?
Great.
Now, close your eyes and picture the scene.
What do you see?
Maybe snow, sleet, ice or icicles, or even a polar bear.
Or a penguin.
Wow, this wind is really something.
Brr, I'm getting shivers just thinking about it.
Where do you think you'd have to go for it to be this windy and cold?
Did you say Antarctica?
Great guess.
The North Pole isn't a bad guess either.
Neither is Cleveland.
Me cold.
Right, my caveman friend.
Smarty pants instead of winter and Antarctica.
Imagine if you will this kind of weather all year long and everywhere on Earth.
That's right, it's happened before.
About two billion years ago, our planet was completely frozen over, making it one giant snowball.
Hey!
Gotcha!
Snowball fight!
Uh, maybe later?
Anyway, humans, fortunately, weren't around back then.
Smartypants, what do we call a time when the Earth is covered in thick sheets of ice?
A, an ice capade, B, an ice age, or C, the super slippery age?
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, me falling.
You guessed it, it's an ice age.
But here's something you might not know.
Even though humans weren't around when the earth was completely frozen, they have survived an ice age.
Me fight ice, me build fire.
Me stay warm.
Me cook fish and meat and pizza.
Uh, yeah, that's mostly accurate.
What we know for sure is ice ages have had a huge impact on the world and human history.
Smartypants, do you know when the last ice age ended?
Was it 635 million years ago?
50 million years ago?
Or 12,000 years ago?
Actually, it's a trick question.
That's because we're still in an ice age.
Say what?
Yep.
Also, Chet, you can stop pretending to be a caveman.
Oh, well, in that case...
This is Chet Nickerson with breaking news.
Forget global warming.
Break out your sweaters and snow boots.
Shovels, too, because it's going to be snowing at the pyramids of Egypt.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
That's not exactly true.
But we are in an ice age.
So be prepared.
Round up your scarves and mittens because it's freezing in the Caribbean.
Now, where is my snowblower?
Uh, Chet?
Yes, trustee?
What's the temperature right now in the Caribbean?
I don't have exact numbers, but it's probably quite warm.
Right.
And you know what?
Global warming and climate change, they're still happening.
We're not heading toward any deep freeze.
But you just said we're in an ice age.
I don't make the news.
I just report it.
Yes, I did say that.
And we are.
But how can that be?
Good question.
Smarty Pants, do you know?
Why do ice ages happen?
Is another big freeze coming?
And what wild and unusual animals were around the last time the Earth was super frosty?
It's time for another whiff of science on... The Smart Edge!
Who's smarted?
Who's smart?
Is it you?
Is it me?
Is it science?
Or history?
Listen up, everyone.
We make smarting lots of fun on Who's Smarted?
Hey there, smarty pants.
Want even more Who Smarted and less ads?
Introducing Who Smarted Plus.
More Who Smarted?
Yay!
That's right.
With Who Smarted Plus, you unlock an extra new episode every week.
Zero ads, plus our special segment smarty cues, where we tackle your curious questions like why is the sky blue Exactly?
And guess what?
There are even more surprise bonuses from me, your trusty narrator.
Wow.
How much?
Less than $4 a month with an annual subscription.
And hey, try it out with an adult's permission, with a one-week free trial from Apple Podcasts or from whosmartedcom.
I'm in.
Let's get smarter.
Who's Smarted Plus?
More to learn, more to love.
Subscribe now.
Okay, smarty pants, another audio guessing game.
What comes to mind when you hear these sounds?
Bright sun, crashing waves, hot sand.
You're probably thinking of a beach right now.
And if you can be out enjoying the beach, you're probably not experiencing an ice age, right?
Ah, but we are.
Smarty Pants, care to guess how long this ice age has lasted?
100 years?
1,000 years?
A million years?
Whatever you said, you're probably wrong.
Ah!
That's because our current ice age actually started over two and a half million years ago.
Whoa.
Breaking news.
The ice age is no longer breaking news.
It turns out we've been shivering for millions of years.
Brr.
Uh, no.
Certainly not all of us, Chet.
But in some parts of the world, it's been frosty for quite a long time.
Smarty Pants, which regions are famously cold?
We mentioned them earlier.
Why, of course, it's the North and South Poles.
Which means the question, why are we in an ice age, is also easy to answer.
Um, I'm guessing it has to do with the North and South Poles.
Exactly.
And what will you find at the North and South Poles that has to do with an ice age?
Um...
Oh, of course!
Ice!
Yep, it's that simple.
An ice age is any period where massive areas of land are covered by thick sheets of ice.
For example, Greenland and Antarctica today.
I see.
But does that mean there was once a time when Antarctica wasn't covered in ice?
Smartypants, what do you think?
Was there ever a time when Antarctica wasn't covered in ice?
The answer is...
Yes.
Whoa.
In fact, 53 million years ago, Antarctica was home to palm trees.
That's amazing!
Not exactly breaking news, but interesting nonetheless.
So, trusty, tell us, why do ice ages happen?
You can find the answers from a place where they do happen.
Prepare to teleport.
Welcome to the North Pole.
You know, trustee, you could give a guy a little warning.
I would have brought a warmer coat.
Ho, ho, ho.
You can borrow my coat, Jet.
Wow!
Thanks, Santa!
Now this is what I call breaking news!
Uh, let's just keep this between us.
And what can I get you, trustee?
Actually, we're not here for you, Santa.
Oh, and who are you here to see?
Superman?
Superman?
No, we're not here to visit the Fortress of Solitude either.
I see.
Oh well, I'll leave it to you.
Come Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen.
Bye, Santa.
I'll mail your coat back to you.
Wow, nobody's gonna believe this.
Anyway, trusty, why are we here?
Is there another magical person who lives here in the North Pole that creates ice ages?
What do you think, smarty pants?
Nope.
Of course not.
The truth is ice ages are caused by natural events.
Aha!
And what natural event is that, I might ask?
Smarty Pants, see if you can guess.
Is it A, volcanoes, B, the atmosphere, C, the sun's energy, or D, the Earth's movement and tilt?
If you guessed A, volcanoes, you're correct.
Volcanoes?
Interesting.
Who knew?
Well, besides you.
But wait, Chet, there's more.
You see, if you guessed B, C, or D, you're also correct.
Oh, I did not see that coming.
If, for example, the atmosphere has a low level of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, an ice age can happen.
Too little greenhouse gas?
Yeah, not these days.
No, but there was a time.
Also, the sun can play a factor.
Sometimes it gives off less energy, and that could trigger an ice age.
And then there's the Earth itself.
Whenever its orbit or tilt changes, certain areas get less sunlight than before, and that's also when things can get a little frosty.
Frosty the Snowman was a jolly No, not that, Frosty.
Hold on, hold on.
I've reported on many amazing natural forces like earthquakes, hurricanes and tornadoes, but not once have I seen evidence that the planet is moving differently.
Smartypants, what do you think?
True or false?
The Earth's movement does not change.
That answer is coming up right after this quick break and a word from our sponsors.
Now back to Who Smarted?
Okay, Chet Nickerson and I are still here in the North Pole trying to understand what causes an ice age.
One of the reasons could be due to a change in Earth's orbit through space.
The question is, do you think it's true or false that the Earth's movement stays the same?
The answer is false.
But how can that be?
Don't forget Chet, the Earth's been around for billions of years, way longer than your lifetime or human history.
Some changes take thousands of years, but they happen.
Jupiter and Saturn pull on our planet, moving its orbit.
Scientists believe that Earth's orbit goes from circular to more oval-like and back every 100000 years.
No, no, no, no, no, that's not breaking news.
And neither is the fact that every 41,000 years, the tilt of Earth's axis changes.
And to be clear, Earth's axis is an imaginary line through the center of the planet.
As Earth rotates on that axis, it wobbles a little like a spinning top that's not perfectly upright.
All of these things affect the seasons and the amount of sunlight and can trigger what?
An ice age!
Exactly.
Smarty Pants, guess how many ice ages have happened.
Is it 1, at least 5, at least 10, or at least 100?
The answer is at least 5. though some last more than 100 million years.
That is fire.
So this ice age we're in right now if it started more than two and a half million years ago, that means we're sharing the same ice age with cavemen and cavewomen.
Nice ice age we're having.
That's right.
And even though temperatures are rising now, don't forget an ice age is just a period of time when ice sheets cover parts of the Earth.
Some of the time the ice grows.
Other times it shrinks.
Incredible.
It feels like there should be names for these.
Great point, Jet.
As it turns out, there are names for these periods of time.
Smartypants, can you guess what they are?
A, glacial and interglacial.
B, icing and thawing.
Or C, Olaf and Kristoff.
Wait, how did that get in there?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
We're not doing that.
Plus, we'll get sued.
The answer is A, glacial and interglacial.
We are in an interglacial period now as the ice sheets melt.
The last period of ice growth, a glacial period, peaked about 18000 years ago and ended more than 11000 years ago.
When people refer to the Ice Age you know the one with cavemen it's this glacial period that they're talking about.
I see.
And while I believe you when you say there were at least five ice ages, how do scientists know for sure?
Wow, Chet, you really ask great questions.
Hey, I'm a lot more than weather, traffic, and sports, my friend.
Smarty Pants, what do you think?
How are scientists able to know approximately how many ice ages there are?
The answer is by drilling.
By drilling down through ancient ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica and pulling out cylinders of ice called cores, scientists can learn more about ice ages.
So, what happened in the last Ice Age?
I mean, this one.
But the part where the ice grew.
You mean the last glacial period?
Uh, yeah, with all the cavemen and cavewomen.
It was pretty wild.
Back then, ice covered almost all of Canada and large parts of South America, Northern Europe and Asia.
It was also an age of giant creatures.
Elephant-like woolly mammoths stood 12 feet or three and a half meters tall.
Cats with massive teeth, the famous saber-toothed tigers, were over twice the size of tigers today.
Deer, seven feet or two meters tall.
Beavers as big as bears.
Bears larger than any other meat-eating mammal.
And sloths.
Sloths.
Yep gigantic sloths called Megatherium were as tall as a woolly mammoth and weighed as much as a car.
Wow!
How did humans survive with all these terrifying creatures?
That's just it, chat.
Humans were a clever bunch.
They hunted some of these creatures and developed language so they could work together.
They created tools and weapons and made clothing for the harsh conditions.
Believe it or not, humans did quite well through the roughest parts of the Ice Age.
Well, not all humans.
Smarty pants, how many species of humans are in the world today?
Is it A, 57?
B, 9?
Or C, 1?
The answer is C, one.
Though at one point there were at least nine.
All the other species, including the famous Neanderthals, were extinct by the end of the last glacial period.
Same goes for some animals and plants that can't handle a major shift in global temperatures.
I'm not sure I'd survive a glacial period.
When's the next one?
Some scientists say we should be heading toward one now, but instead of greenhouse gases decreasing, they're increasing due to global warming.
But in case you were wondering, that's not a good thing.
Yeah, I'd much rather be in an Ice Age, especially since I have Santa's coat!
Thanks, Santa!
A double shout out to two of my biggest Smarty fans, Liam and Connery in the Cayman Islands.
They wrote in to let us know they listen to Who Smarted every morning on the way to school and absolutely love smarting with us.
Not just them, their parents love it too.
Aw, thank you all so much for being part of our Smarty family.
And hopefully you'll see me on the beach in the Cayman Islands someday soon.
This episode, Ice Ages, was written by Dave Snowboots Beaudry and voiced by Adam Snowday Davis and Jerry Colbert.
Technical direction and sound design by Josh.
Where's your hat, Han?
Our associate producer is Mittens Max Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian Snowballs Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex-Davis.
Who Smarted was created and produced by Adam Tex-Davis and Jerry Colbert.
This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.
