'Slushball Earth' theory proposed by new study.

New research suggests that the "Snowball Earth" theory, which imagines the Earth as a perfect sphere covered in ice, might have been slushier than previously thought. The study found evidence of ice-free conditions at mid-northern paleolatitudes during the Marinoan ice age, suggesting that patchy ice-free areas may have existed much more widely than previously believed. These areas may have allowed oxygen to penetrate and created incubators for marine life, which could have helped spur a rapid rebound of the biosphere at the end of the ice age. The findings could provide insight into how life survived extreme climate events and have useful lessons for a planet now experiencing new severe climate change.