* Astronomy

Researchers from Brown University have found that climate was a crucial factor in the disappearance of Viking and Norse settlers from Greenland.
The Vikings had arrived in Greenland in the 980s, establishing a string of small communities along Greenland's west coast.
Scientists reconstructed 5,600 years of climate history from lakes near the Norse settlement in western Greenland showing how the extreme cold climate affected the Dorset and Saqqaq cultures. They have ascertained that an extended cold snap, called the 'Little Ice Age' gripped Greenland in the beginning of the 1400s. This has been cited as a major cause of the Norses disappearance in the 14th and early 15th centuries.
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