For the first time in human history (recorded human history, at least), the Arctic is now an island. Satellite images show that the North Pole's ice has decreased enough that the region no longer touches any of the surrounding land masses.

Humans, ever the capitalists, are already planning to exploit the routes that are now open by sea. The Beluga Group will send its first ship through the opened passage to spare the vessel an extra 4,000 miles of journey from Germany to Japan.

The ice cap is expected to melt completely during the summer. Scientists - ones that are most heard anyway - say that the cause is global warming. To concede to one of our readers' point in  a previous article (Orlyeh), it could be just the Earth's natural cycle of warming.

Whatever the cause, this is further proof that the ice is melting, and we may not be prepared for the changes it may bring. One such example is the amount of freshwater the melting ice cap would introduce to the waters, disturbing the natural salinity of the oceans. This may affect ocean currents, in turn affecting the climate, and existing ecosystems.

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