A Runway Run
The first planes of the season arrived two day ago — a Twin Otter and a Basler — two small aircraft en route to McMurdo. They came, stayed just long enough to refuel, see the sites, and grab a bite to eat. Then they left. Over 200 hours had been put into the skiway to […]
Signs of summer at the South Pole
The sun has started to spiral upwards. It now sits less than six degrees below the horizon—civil twilight on the Antarctic plateau. Earth meets sky, in a rapture of orange, yellow and red, a chorus of bright hues that fades into what remains of the polar night. A few stars and planets are still visible […]
Clean-up Day at the South Pole
You’d be surprised how much mess 50 people in a large research station can create. Here at the South Pole, where it takes six months for the sun to rise, it only takes two days for a 30 gallon (113 liter) trashcan in the bathroom to be stuffed to the brim and overflowing with used […]
The beginning of the end of night at the South Pole
Stars and auroras fill the night sky. They blink and swerve through the darkness, like race cars on a dark, winding, celestial freeway. For four months, they have been my steadfast companions, joining me on my walk to and from the Atmospheric Research Observatory (ARO) each morning. On calm, clear days, they cast green and […]
Sticking with a Daily Routine at the South Pole
I arrived in Antarctica on a clear, sunny day in October, 2015. The Mount Erebus volcano dominated the horizon, sending large clouds of steam and smoke high into the air. Minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit (-28C) felt cold at the time, and watching my breath glide from my mouth and disappear into the landscape was hypnotizing. […]
Science Scanner: Cat Videos Can Help You, Permanent Dust Cloud Surrounds Moon
Watching Cat Videos Can Give You a Boost You can hardly surf the Internet without stumbling across a cat video, and new research suggests those videos could actually be good for you. Of all the categories of YouTube video content, videos of cats have had more views per video. It’s been suggested that there were […]
Science Images of the Week
Atoms Star in Smallest Movie Ever Made
The World’s Smallest Stop-action Movie (IBM) Bigger is often better in Hollywood, but IBM is drawing lots of attention for making the smallest movie ever. A Boy and His Atom is a stop-motion, animated movie made with thousands of precisely positioned atoms in nearly 250 motion picture frames. The folks at Guinness World Records® verified […]
Science Images of the Week
NASA Wants to Speed Journey to Mars
NASA wants to shorten the journey to Mars. It took about eight months for its Mars rover, Curiosity, to reach the red planet. And now, the US space agency is looking for ways to cut the travel time for future manned missions there. Researchers in Washington State say that might be possible through a unique […]