Octopus DNA Holds Grave Warning for Antarctica

A recent DNA analysis of two geographically separated populations of Turquet's octopus in West Antarctica suggests that around 125,000 years ago, the massive 2.2 million cubic kilometer West Antarctic ice sheet that separates the two bays had fully collapsed into the sea. Scientists found evidence of ancestral gene flow between the two populations roughly 70,000 years ago, suggesting that "an ancient seaway was likely once opened across the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which directly linked the present day Weddell Sea and Ross Sea". If it happened then, it could very well happen again, especially since global temperatures are reaching a similar threshold today. If the entire West Antarctic ice sheet collapses from human-induced global warming, forming an archipelago in the southern ocean, the resulting environmental catastrophe is hard to fathom.