Scientists have found new evidence that the Renland Ice Cap in eastern Greenland has grown and shrank repeatedly over the past 12,000 years, at times becoming smaller than its current state. In a paper first-authored by Aaron K. Medford of the University of Maine, the team detailed its radiocarbon dating of plant remains uncovered as the ice cap has recently retreated. Their results suggest that moss and willow shrubs grew near the present boundary of the glacier during two very recent periods—the first being roughly 1000 years ago, and the second being roughly 500 years ago. “The oldest ages are [approximately] 900-1000 [years old],” the scientists wrote in the paper, published in April in Quaternary Science Reviews. “Thus, when these plants lived, Renland Ice Cap must have been smaller than it was in A.D. 2011, allowing plants to grow in spaces that until recently have been covered by ice.” The …