Snowball Earth | BBC News at Six

Duration: 2'47''

Synopsis

A group of islands in the UK could explain why Earth engaged in its Ice Age over 700 million years ago.

Further Information

More clips from BBC News at Six

David Cameron warns of failed 'state multiculturalism' | BBC News at Six

David Cameron warns of failed 'state multiculturalism' | BBC News at Six

BBC One | 2011 | 1'44''

David Cameron says multiculturalism in Britain has failed. In a speech to a security conference in M...

Effects of Hurricane Milton | BBC News at Six

Effects of Hurricane Milton | BBC News at Six

BBC One | 2024 | 7'14''

Effects of tropical storms as seen through this update on Hurricane Milton.

Giant's Causeway | BBC News at Six

Giant's Causeway | BBC News at Six

BBC One | 2025 | 3'02''

There are coins, inserted into the tiny gaps between one of Northern Ireland's most famous and photographed natural resources, the basalt ...

Herpes Deaths | BBC News at Six

Herpes Deaths | BBC News at Six

BBC One | 2021 | 4'42''

Two women who had just given birth in Kent, both died of Herpes right after one another. Michael Buchanan investigates and finds they both re...

Hurricane Milton | BBC News at Six

Hurricane Milton | BBC News at Six

BBC One | 2024 | 4'04''

Features tropical storm formation, impact, preparation and link to climate change.

Ice core analysis | BBC News at Six

Ice core analysis | BBC News at Six

BBC One | 2025 | 2'14''

Samples of ancient ice from Antarctica, more than a million and a half years old, have arrived in the UK for scientists to study. Their h...

Slapton coastal erosion | BBC News at Six

Slapton coastal erosion | BBC News at Six

BBC One | 2026 | 2'34''

Slapton and Torcross rally after the part of the scenic coast road fell into the sea after a battering from Strorm Ingrid.

Typhoon Kalmaegi Tears Through Vietnam | BBC News at Six

Typhoon Kalmaegi Tears Through Vietnam | BBC News at Six

BBC News | 2025 | 2'31''

Typhoon Kalmaegi has destroyed homes and uprooted trees in Vietnam and has now weakened as it heads into Cambodia an...

UK population growth | BBC News at Six

UK population growth | BBC News at Six

BBC One | 2024 | 2'02''

Example of population change in the UK in 2024.

Vape retailer gives away free vapes | BBC News at Six

Vape retailer gives away free vapes | BBC News at Six

BBC One | 2023 | 27''

The second biggest seller of e-cigarettes in the UK - S.K.E - has taken down its social media accounts after BBC report...

Vaping | BBC News at Six

Vaping | BBC News at Six

BBC One | 2023 | 3'54''

A headteacher has warned that children are at risk of dying because they're using vapes that have been found to contain illegal drugs. Glyn Potts sa...

Vaping claims | BBC News at Six

Vaping claims | BBC News at Six

BBC One | 2023 | 4'42''

The claim that vaping is 95% safer than cigarettes has informed government policy for years. However, paediatricians says that this fact is p...

Young people vaping | BBC News at Six

Young people vaping | BBC News at Six

BBC One | 2022 | 2'22''

Experts have called for a crackdown on the sale of vapes to the under 18s as a new study concluded that little is known about the long-...

More resources about Ecosystems and Biomes

S01E01: Amazon | Earth's Great Rivers

S01E01: Amazon | Earth's Great Rivers

BBC Two | 2019 | 59'02''

Documentary revealing the animals, landscapes and people of the greatest river on earth. From transparent lagoons to pink dolphins, the...

02: Deserts - Life in the Furnace | Human Planet

02: Deserts - Life in the Furnace | Human Planet

BBC One | 2011 | 59'01''

A look at how the eternal quest for water brings huge challenges - and ingenious solutions - for millions of people in the d...

Dying for a Biscuit | Panorama

Dying for a Biscuit | Panorama

BBC One | 2010 | 29'06''

Reporter Raphael Rowe journeys into the rainforest of Borneo, where he uncovers evidence of palm oil companies developing plantations on prote...

Episode 5 | Amazon with Bruce Parry

Episode 5 | Amazon with Bruce Parry

BBC Two | 2008 | 59'00''

Bruce Parry explores the Amazon rainforest. He meets the millionaires of Manaus, lives and works with illegal gold miners and sleeps in t...

03: Arctic - Life in the Deep Freeze | Human Planet

03: Arctic - Life in the Deep Freeze | Human Planet

BBC One | 2011 | 58'48''

The remarkable stories of some of the extraordinary people who make their homes in the Arctic, the harshest environment o...

02: Greenland | Arctic with Bruce Parry

02: Greenland | Arctic with Bruce Parry

BBC Two | 2011 | 59'07''

Bruce Parry journeys to the far north of Greenland, home to the last traditional Inuit hunters, and learns how climate change is thre...

Episode 6 | Amazon with Bruce Parry

Episode 6 | Amazon with Bruce Parry

BBC Two | 2008 | 58'55''

Bruce Parry reaches the end of his Amazon adventure in Brazil's Para state where huge areas of forest are being cut down for cattle farming.

Episode 2 | Simon Reeve's South America

Episode 2 | Simon Reeve's South America

BBC Two | 2022 | 59'05''

Simon travels through Brazil, from the heart of the Amazon rainforest to the coast and the glamorous-but-troubled city of Rio de Jane...

S01E02: Nile | Earth's Great Rivers

S01E02: Nile | Earth's Great Rivers

BBC Two | 2019 | 59'02''

A look at the astonishing wildlife, landscapes and people of the Nile. From elephants and leopards to ancient wonders, its great length i...

Episode 1 | I Bought a Rainforest

Episode 1 | I Bought a Rainforest

BBC Two | 2014 | 59'16''

Series following wildlife cameraman Charlie Hamilton James, who has bought 100 acres of Peruvian rainforest. Charlie establishes camp and m...

04: Jungles - People of the Trees | Human Planet

04: Jungles - People of the Trees | Human Planet

BBC One | 2011 | 58'58''

Series examining man's survival in extreme environments. A look at life in the rainforest, which requires great skill, ingen...

01: Oceans - Into the Blue | Human Planet

01: Oceans - Into the Blue | Human Planet

BBC One | 2011 | 58'37''

Humans have always found ways to live an almost aquatic life so they can exploit the sea's riches. This journey reveals tales of in...

01: Siberia | Arctic with Bruce Parry

01: Siberia | Arctic with Bruce Parry

BBC Two | 2011 | 59'12''

Bruce Parry meets the Sakha horse people and Eveny reindeer herders in Siberia's Verkhoyansk Mountains to see how they are embracing th...

S02E01: Zambezi | Earth's Great Rivers II

S02E01: Zambezi | Earth's Great Rivers II

BBC Two | 2022 | 59'01''

From elephants and wildebeest to Victoria Falls, the largest curtain of water on earth. This is the story of the Zambezi, Africa's ...

Antarctica - Ice Station Rescue | Horizon

Antarctica - Ice Station Rescue | Horizon

BBC Two | 2017 | 59'10''

Documentary which follows the everyday people battling in the most extreme environment on earth to move Halley VI, a vital polar re...

Episode 1 | Great Barrier Reef with David Attenborough

Episode 1 | Great Barrier Reef with David Attenborough

BBC One | 2015 | 58'06''

David Attenborough descends beneath the waves at night to meet some of the tiny coral animals that built the reef.

Species of tree | Planet Earth

Species of tree | Planet Earth

BBC One | 2006 | 5'12''

In the New Guinea rainforest, different species of tree fight for sunlight.

Tibetan sky burials | Human Planet

Tibetan sky burials | Human Planet

BBC One | 2011 | 7'46''

In the Himalayan state of Nepal we witness a rarely seen ceremony - a sky burial. In a land where there is little wood to burn for cremati...

03: Alaska | Arctic with Bruce Parry

03: Alaska | Arctic with Bruce Parry

BBC Two | 2011 | 59'26''

Bruce travels to Alaska, America's last great wilderness, where modern-day pioneers are harvesting the vast natural wealth of the seas.

Deforestation and Palm Oil | Earth From Space

Deforestation and Palm Oil | Earth From Space

BBC One | 2019 | 2'24''

Satellite images depict wild spaces in Indonesia being replaced by palm oil farms.