On September 3, 2026, María Sánchez Goñi was invited to appear on the program “Avec sciences” of France Culture to discuss the transition of the Middle Pleistocene and the change in rhythm of glacial cycles.
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Nearly a million years ago, the Earth’s glacial cycles gradually shifted from lasting around 40,000 years to 100,000 years. This major shift in past climate remains one of the key questions in palaeoclimatology to this day.
Research carried out at the EPOC laboratory and published in *Nature Communications* highlights the role of interactions between solar radiation, westerly winds, precipitation and ice accumulation in this transition. To reconstruct the climatic conditions of this period, the scientists relied in particular on the study of fossilised pollen preserved off the coast of the Iberian Peninsula, combined with other climate indicators.
In this podcast, María Sánchez Goñi explains how these natural archives provide a better understanding of how our planet’s climate has evolved over several hundred thousand years.
Listen to the podcast on Radio France:
EPOC Information – September 2026