Antarctica, the icy bottom of the world, is one of the planet's last great wildernesses. With no permanent residents, the continent is managed by a treaty, which was signed by 12 nations in 1959 and was renewed in 1991. The treaty allows these countries, including the U.S., to conduct research in Antarctica, but calls the continent a natural preserve, "devoted to peace and science." But now another country down under is trying to undermine the treaty.

Ice at the top and bottom of the planet - on Greenland and Antarctica - is melting faster than scientists previously thought, thanks to warming temperatures. This freshwater ice will pour into the ocean, causing sea levels to rise as much as three feet by the end of the century, and 20 feet or more after that. These are the alarming conclusions of a group of top climate researchers, including Dr. Bette Otto-Bliesner, a climate change scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, in Boulder, Colo.

New evidence from ice buried deep in Antarctica shows that today’s greenhouse gas levels are higher than anything the Earth has seen in 650,000 years. A team of scientists collected ice cores from a depth of two miles in a remote area of Antarctica, allowing them a glimpse far back in time.

They found that levels of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide – three gases that trap heat in our atmosphere – have been rising, since the industrial age began, to levels unmatched anywhere in the ice record that now goes back 650,000 years.

The melting of icebergs due to global warming is affecting the evolution of penguins, according to a fascinating new study based on analysis of DNA from a longstanding penguin colony in Antarctica.