In this week’s episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, two experts explain how melting ice in the far north is bringing more light to the Arctic Ocean and what this means for the species that live there. And we hear from a team of archaeologists on their new research in Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge that found evidence of just how adaptable early humans were to the changing environment. Every summer, the sea ice in the Arctic melts – but it’s melting more and more each year. In September 2020, the ice covered 3.74 million square kilometres in the Arctic. That might sound like a lot, but it was actually the second smallest measurement ever – and roughly half of what was measured in 1980. This dramatic loss is because the Arctic is warming two to three times faster than the rest of the planet.