The north and south poles are hot news right now, but for disturbing reasons. As the Earth's atmosphere warms, ice at high latitudes is melting at alarming rates. You're undoubtedly aware of this massive melt and even feeling anxiety about it. But, due to global-warming-news-fatigue, in which the relentless onslaught of climate statistics has frozen your brain like a Popsicle, you can't explain why it matters.We can help. Tune in and find out why it's bad news if our frozen frontiers turn to mush and slush, as we talk with scientists who are breaking the ice as part of the International Polar Year, a collaboration to expand research and raise awareness of the Arctic and Antarctic, and the global climate system.Check out the Polar Palooza and International Polar Year websites. Guests: Ralph Harvey - Geologist, Case Western Reserve University and Principal Investigator for the Antarctic Search for Meteorites program (ANSMET) Michael Castellini - Biologist, University of Alaska, Fairbanks Kathy Licht - Geologist, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis Darlene Lim - Limnologist at NASA Ames and the SETI Institute Charles Bentley - Emeritus Professor of Geophysics, University of Wisconsin at Madison Less