New Ebola Drugs Possible; New Weather Satellite; Bacteria or Virus?
Ebola Antibodies Could Lead to Effective Vaccines and Therapies According to the Centers for Disease Control, the 2014 West African Ebola Epidemic killed 11,316 people with about 28,638 suspected, probable, and confirmed cases of the deadly disease. The worst outbreak of Ebola in history prompted researchers from around the world to work on developing ways […]
On Balmy, Below-Zero Day at South Pole, There’s Work to Do
After a month at the South Pole, you begin to adapt to the frigid conditions. Your body becomes more efficient at generating heat and your metabolism shifts into overdrive — every calorie you consume is burned. As your tolerance of the polar environment changes, so do your perceptions of warm and cold. My first week […]
Most Brilliant Supernova; Protein Hunts/Kills Cancer Cells; ETI in Old Star Clusters?
Supernova: 50 Times Brighter than Milky Way Astronomers have been observing a fascinating cosmic event taking place some 3.8 billion light years from Earth. Its the most luminous supernova in the universe. Scientists say that its to be the most powerful supernova ever seen. They say the object at the center of this celestial wonder, […]
Working at the South Pole…Not Your Average Day at the Office
I live in the western wing on the first floor of the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Station. SOUTH POLE JOURNALRefael Klein blogs about his year working and living at the South Pole. Read his earlier posts here. My room is small — perhaps 3 meters by 3 meters (9 feet by 9 feet) — with […]
Readying for Winter, South Pole Station Is Awash in Activity
From November until February, the South Pole is awash in activity. With only four months to ready the station for the coming winter and fix what broke during the previous one, everyone is consumed with work. The cargo and materials specialists are unloading and organizing 70 C-130 airplanes worth of food, fuel and building supplies. […]
Exploring South Pole on Cross-Country Skis
SOUTH POLE JOURNALRefael Klein is blogging about his experiences as he spends a year working and living at the South Pole. Read his earlier posts here. On a clear day at the South Pole, the horizon sits about 16 kilometers (10 miles) away. We measure the visibility at any given point by referencing large wooden […]
Braving Brutal Cold to Tower Climb at the South Pole
Yesterday, it was minus 34 Celsius (minus 29 Fahrenheit) and sunny. Winds were low and visibility was perfect. The sky was a uniform shade of blue, stretching from horizon to horizon like a taut canvas. Walking to work, I felt like a red line running down the middle of a Barnett Newman painting. I was […]
How to Avoid Getting Lost While Living at the South Pole
Cardinal directions become meaningless at the South Pole. There is no east, west or south. You are at the bottom of the world. Any direction you move is north. This makes certain tasks complicated, like giving someone directions to a building they have never been to before, or trying to describe which way the wind […]
My Cramped, Precarious Flight to the South Pole
After a two-hour delay, due to engine troubles, we finally boarded our south-bound flight to the Amundson-Scott Station — the U.S. scientific research station at the Geographic South Pole, the southernmost place on the planet. SOUTH POLE JOURNALRefael Klein is blogging about his experiences as he spends a year working and living at the South Pole. Read his […]
What Happened When I Landed in Antarctica
It was early afternoon when our plane, an LC-130 operated by the New York National Guard, began its descent towards the ice runway at McMurdo Station, the logistics hub of the U.S. Antarctic Program. Last I heard, ground temperatures were minus 31 Celsius (minus 25 Fahrenheit). In the next half hour, the plane would land and […]