As the ice sheets at the earth’s poles continue to recede, life on this planet as we know it hangs in the balance. Of course that ice is only there as a result of an Ice Age - a vast and inhospitable period of time in our deep and distant past But what exactly are ice ages and why do they occur? Benjamin Laabs, Associate Professor in the Department of Geosciences at North Dakota State joined Jonathan to discuss. Listen and subscribe to Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.    Download, listen and subscribe on the Newstalk App.    You can also listen to Newstalk live on newstalk.com or on Alexa, by adding the Newstalk skill and asking: 'Alexa, play Newstalk'.