THE SCIENCE IS NEVER SETTLED: Arctic fossils indicate ice shelf is not as stable as previously thought, scientists say.

Researchers recently analyzed fossils taken from the center of the Greenland ice sheet, widely considered to be the largest annual contributor of water into the ocean. The fossils were found to have organic matter, indicating an ice-free period during the Pleistocene Epoch, about 400,000 years ago, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The soil samples contained fragments of willow and wood, as well as insect parts, spike moss megaspores, fungi and poppy seeds, Halley Mastro, a graduate research assistant at the University of Vermont and co-author of the paper, told ABC News.

Paul Bierman, professor of natural resources and environmental science at the University of Vermont and lead author of the study, added: “There’s just no way around the fact that the ice must have been gone or otherwise you couldn’t have had these plants.”

The world seems to have done just fine.