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OCEAN scientists believe they have recreated one of the key processes that
trigger the beginning and end of ice ages.

In one of the largest experiments of its kind, an international team
“fertilised” a swathe of the Southern Ocean with iron. This boosted the growth
of algal plankton, which suck up carbon dioxide. The researchers argue that
variations in the amount of iron in dust blowing onto the oceans from land in
the past would have affected algal growth, changing atmospheric CO₂
enough to either freeze or thaw the planet.

But the researchers warn that the technique is not…