Ice Worlds

Get ready for skinny polar bears and a colder Europe if we can’t stop global warming

Mother Earth gets the cold shoulder in Ice Worlds, a new full-dome documentary at the Houston Museum of Natural Science’s Burke Baker Planetarium that examines nature at its most severe. The film chronicles the importance of ice in the universe, from the tail mists of frozen comets, which formed earth’s oceans millions of years ago, to today’s glaciers melting because of global warming, and beyond. It takes a look at the continent under the massive block of ice we call the South Pole, and predicts what would happen if we lost our ice caps (we’d have skinnier polar bears, a colder Europe and higher sea levels that would make our northern neighbors trade in their sled dogs for boats). Ice Worlds also takes a look at other chilly planets in the universe, like Mars and Neptune, questioning if ice on those planets might be home to microscopic life.

The film uses animation, historical photos and films to put viewers in the middle of the action (including a boat ride in the roughest sea on earth — a definite Dramamine moment). 1:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 1:30 and 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Through May 29. One Hermann Circle Drive. For information, call 713-639-4629 or visit www.hmns.org. $4 to $7.
Dec. 24-April 16, 1:30 p.m., 2008