The Man Who Removed His Own Appendix

Leonid Ivanovich Rogozov was a Soviet general practitioner who took part in the sixth Soviet Antarctic Expedition in 1960–1961. He was the only doctor stationed at the Novolazarevskaya Station and, while there, developed appendicitis, which meant he had to perform an appendectomy on himself, a famous case of self-surgery. Leonid Rogozov was born in Dauriya Station, Chita Oblast, a remote […]

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Destroying Antarctica While Attempting To Save It

Destroying Antarctica

Are the scientists working to save Antarctica’s fragile ecosystem inadvertently contributing to its destruction? Could they possibly be Destroying Antarctica? A new study has linked a chemical used in flame-retardants—called polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)—that is contaminating the Antarctic environment to Australia’s Casey research station. Researchers found that dust and treated wastewater at the station contained PBDEs and another chemical that […]

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100 Year Old Box of Negatives Discovered Frozen In Block of Antarctica’s Ice

100 year old box of negatives

While restoring one of the exploration huts in Antarctica, Conservators of the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust discovered a 100 year old box that turned out to be a remarkable treasure. It contained 22 never-before-seen cellulose nitrate negatives documenting the life of Antarctic explorers a 100 years back. Preserved in a block of ice, this 100 year old box of negatives surprisingly […]

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When spiders fall from the sky

In southern Australia, it’s raining spiders. Spiders can ride the wind using an ingenious migration technique known as ballooning. Residents of Goulburn, Australia, received a startling demonstration of the phenomenon last week, when hundreds of thousands of tiny spiders descended from the sky on gossamer parachutes. “The whole place was covered in these little black spiderlings, and when I looked […]

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Antarctica’s Native Insect

Antarctica’s Native Insect - Antarctica Journal News

Antarctica’s native insect, the Antarctic Midge is a flightless insect that can survive nine months frozen at temps of at least negative 15 degrees Celsius.  It loses about 70% of its body fluids and can live for about a month without oxygen.  The midge survives because of its combination of rapid cold hardening and warm temperatures in its underground habitat.  […]

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What’s It Like to Work and Play in Antarctica’s Mac Town?

Nature films and science documentaries usually portray Antarctica to be nothing but the most cold, isolated, almost anti-social continent on earth — at least if you’re not a penguin — but life at McMurdo Station disproves that. The 2011-2012 Antarctic southern summer season is now alive and kicking (after numerous delays), and “Mac Town” (as the residents of McMurdo call […]

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Climate risk to inflexible penguins’ chicks

Crested and rockhopper penguins are threatened by climate change – but this time the penguins could be at risk because they cannot change their own ways. Evolution has left them with a rigid parenting strategy, probably well adapted for climate conditions so far. But as temperatures rise, conditions change and food supplies become precarious, the inflexible roles of male and female […]

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