Fark linked up this BBCnews article detailing the latest findings from the longest ice core yet retrieved. Coming from an area called "Dome C" in east Antartica, it traces climate changes back nearly 800,000 years. Among the more interesting findings are that the Earth has been mostly a cold place, with interglacial "warming" periods lasting approximately 10,000 years. The current warming phase we're in right now is about that old, but scientists note that does not necessarily mean we're heading into an ice age. It has been discovered conditions now are very similar to an interglacial period 400,000 years ago, and that one lasted nearly thirty thousand years.

It's hoped that further data will help create more accurate climate models, which can then be used to more accurately predict long-term weather trends, like the effects of global warming.