The next ice age could begin any day now. Twelve thousand years from now the whole world  could start making clothes from animal bones and skin. The world's people will know that they are in the next ice age when cold spots are getting colder and warm spots are getting warmer. The next ice age is about fifty thousand years late, scientists believe. But they think it will not happen for at least one hundred thousand years. Other scientists believe that it is already over. Since the last ice age ended almost exactly 11,500 years ago, and there is an ice age every few hundred thousand years or so, it may be true that the next ice age is very far away.  So be prepared.