BBC: Fastest glacier melt in modern history-2

And our next headline is about the relationship between the glacier melting and rising sea levels 

This comes from CNN, which is an American news broadcaster. Antarctic glacier saw the fastest retreat in modern history, report finds. 

And that headline again. Antarctic glacier saw the fastest retreat in modern history, report finds. And that is from CNN in the United States. This headline is about what melting glaciers could mean for the planet. We're focusing on this phrase spell trouble. Now I can spell trouble T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Well done, you can. 

But Georgie, that is literal. And this headline is metaphorical. When something spells trouble, it means it will lead to problems in the future. So we use it to predict a negative result. 

So, in this story, scientists are warning that the glacier's very quick retreat could cause a rise in sea levels, which would be a very serious problem, especially for coastal areas. 

Exactly. Spell trouble is quite dramatic. It suggests there is danger or bad news coming. So, for example, falling sales could spell trouble for a shop. 

Yes. And we can change the word trouble to other nouns, like disaster, change, or maybe the end of something. Spell in this context means to cause something to happen. 

Yes, so another example could be a new manager could spell change for the structure of a company. 

We've had spell trouble, cause trouble. 

For example, a new supermarket could spell trouble for smaller local shops. 

This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines. Today we're talking about the fastest retreating glacier in modern history. 

Now, at first, scientists say there was no obvious cause as to why this glacier retreated so quickly. 

But researchers on this new study say they have now found out why it happened. 

It's a complicated scientific process that scientists say has never been seen in the modern world. 

Although other researhers have questioned the study's findings. 

Our next headline comes from an article about this. It's from BBC News. Antarctic glacier's rapid retreat sparks scientific whodunnit. 

And that headlien again from BBC News. Antarctic glacier's rapid retreat sparks scietific  whodunnit. 

Okay, so this headline describes how scientists have been trying to understand why the glacier melted so quickly. We're focusing on whodunnit. And, Georgie, this makes me think of a mystery. 

Well, Beth, that's where it comes from. Whodunit is an informal noun which comes from the question who has done it? It's most commonly seen in crime or detective stories, where the question would be who committed the crime?

Okay, so why is it being used here?

So in the headline whodunit is a quote, the scientists described the investigation as a whodunit. It was used metaphorically tomean they are investigating the mystery of the glacier melting so quickly. And just like detective, they're looking for clues by gathering evidence. 

Now, we should say that in this case, nobody had one it. We're not looking for a person here. But using whodunnit is quite  a dramatic way of encouraging the audience to read the news article. 

We can use whodunnit in other non-crime situations, but there always needs to be a mystery that needs sloving. For example, the missing cake created an office whodunnit. 

We've had whodunnit, a story about a msytery or crime. 

For example, when money went missing from the business accounts, it turned into a whodunnit. 

That's it for this episode of Learning English from the News. We'll be back next week with another news story.