Dec
21
2018
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50 Years Of Weddell Seals
For a half a century, generations of researchers have studied various aspects of the life cycle of generations of Weddell seals around Antarctica's McMurdo Sound, making them some of the most closely studied mammals on the planet.
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Aug
29
2018
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An Ecosystem Grows in Antarctica
Antarctica's native microorganisms are a hearty bunch, able to eke out a living on the planet's coldest, highest, driest, windiest and emptiest continent. But the region wasn't always quite as hospitable as it is today.
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May
31
2018
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A World-Class Classroom At The Bottom Of The World
For early-career scientists, learning the ropes in Antarctica can mean donning actual safety lines and harnesses. This past austral summer, 20 students traveled to the National Science Foundation's McMurdo Station to conduct a range of experiments and learn first-hand what it's like to do research at the bottom of the world.
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May
15
2018
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Ultraviolet Radiation Gives Microbes Mixed Messages
Ultraviolet rays from the sun may be disrupting the natural ecology of the waters of Antarctica's Southern Ocean. A research team, led by a scientist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, is taking a close look at the effects that excess UV radiation at the cellular level to see what it means for marine ecosystems and the regional food web.
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Apr
24
2018
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Climate Change In The McMurdo Dry Valleys
The McMurdo Dry Valleys ecosystems are changing because of climate change. In a paper published in the journal Ecology in January researchers said they've tracked the decline of the microorganism living in the Dry Valleys' barren soils. More frequent extreme weather events are driving down the population of the nematode Scottnema lindsayae, a microscopic roundworm, which makes up about 90 percent of the species that live in the Dry Valleys.
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Apr
10
2018
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Why Antarctic Fish Don't Freeze Their Tails Off
An innovative project to understand how fish survive in the frigid Antarctic waters is opening up new avenues for researchers monitoring what goes on under the sea ice in McMurdo Sound. Evolutionary biologist Paul Cziko from the University of Oregon is studying how Antarctic fish don't, themselves, freeze into a solid block while spending their lives in subzero waters.
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Mar
06
2018
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Sea Drifters
The menagerie of drifting ocean creatures that lives off the coast of Palmer Station was under the microscope more than ever this past austral summer. A team of scientists spent five months at the station studying the tiny creatures that drift along the ocean currents. It's the first time the research team studying these zooplankton spent an entire field season at Palmer Station analyzing changes over time in the abundance of different species.
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Oct
31
2017
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Life In A Cryoconite Hole
Diverse ecosystems that teem with life thrive just below the surface of many Antarctic glaciers. Small, frozen holes full of liquid water and microorganisms entombed by ice dot the surfaces of glaciers. Researchers in Antarctica are studying them to glean new insights into how these habitats form, and learn what they might be able to reveal about ecosystems around the world.
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Sep
19
2017
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The Edge Of Life
Researchers working in Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valleys found evidence, in ancient dried microbial mats, of microorganisms that may have been alive for thousands of years. The discovery could have implications for biology in other parts of the world and even on other planets, such as Mars.
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Mar
27
2017
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Seals Don't Waste their Breath
The ubiquitous Weddell seals that live around McMurdo Station are the region's undisputed diving champs, able to hold their breath for 90-plus minutes. That's at least three times as long as any other air-breathing animal in the region. It's an impressive feat, and how they're able to stay under for so long is what Emmanuel Buys and his team have been investigating over the past two seasons in Antarctica.
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Dec
14
2016
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Glue Genes
At the mouth of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, along a small spit of land called New Harbor, a team of scientists and divers have worked for decades to unlock the genetic secrets of foraminifera, some of the world's largest single-celled organisms.
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Jun
21
2016
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Antibiotics from a Sponge
A newly discovered chemical compound found in an Antarctic sea sponge shows promise as a potential way to develop treatments against the fortified form of some of the most virulent antibiotic-resistant infections.
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Mar
24
2016
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The Dissolving Sentinels of the Southern Ocean
Scientists are increasingly finding sea snails with abrasions all over their tiny spiral shells, but these scuffs aren't just wear and tear. They're ominous signs that a foundational link in the Southern Ocean's food chain could be facing an existential crisis in waters that are becoming increasingly acidic.
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Penguins From SPAAAAAACCCE
Stressed Out Fish?
