C.P. asks:

>I caught the tail-end of something on TV one time, I think it had Alan
>Alda so it must have been 'Scientific American Frontiers'.  Anyway,
>apparently, a couple of geologists had concluded that there must have
>been an incredible ice age half a billion years ago, with the ice cap
>going down to the equator (this is how I remember the presentation,
>can't go back, and didn't see it from the beginning.)  Then something
>caused it to end, they speculated on volcanoes releasing carbon
>dioxide into the air.  Anyway, since this happened just before or at
>the time of the Cambrian Explosion, the scientists felt there must be
>a connection, though they couldn't say what.  I've never seen any
>other reference to this hypothesis or theory though.  However, the
>idea that it took some unusual event, some KITA (an old management
>acronym) for life to get out of the bacterial rut, is kind of
>intriguing.  Anyone else familiar with this idea?

There's an excellent article on the subject in the January, 2000 issue of
Scientific American, written by Hoffman and Schraq:

    http://www.sciam.com/issue.cfm?issueDate=Jan-00

Wirt Atmar
---
þ RIMEGate(tm)/RGXPost V1.14 at BBSWORLD * Info{at}bbsworld.com

---
 * RIMEGate(tm)V10.2áÿ* RelayNet(tm) NNTP Gateway * MoonDog BBS
 * RgateImp.MoonDog.BBS at 12/3/02 4:25:08 PM