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‘Living on top of each other’Mission Antarctica: Each year, the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust sends a crack team to run one of the world's most remote post offices. UK Antarctic Heritage Trust Shovel your way in: It was a tough start. UK Antarctic Heritage Trust Food reserves: Unsurprisingly, fresh food is in short supply, other than what comes their way via visiting cruise ships. UK Antarctic Heritage Trust Kitted out: Those sunglasses are crucial if you don't want to risk snow blindness. UK Antarctic Heritage Trust The post office at the end of the world Prev NextThe chosen candidates beat out odds of one in a thousand – but this is not a cozy posting.

Persons: They’d, Clare Ballantyne, it’s, Ballantyne, Lucy Bruzzone, Mairi Hilton, Natalie Corbett, Camilla Nichol, Nichol, “, ”, Vicky Inglis, ‘ Cheeriness, Cheeriness, They’ll, aren’t, Says Nichol Organizations: CNN, Britain’s Royal Navy, Port, Antarctic Heritage Trust, Base, Antarctic Heritage Trust Food, Antarctic Heritage, British Antarctic Survey, International Association of Antarctica Locations: there’s, Antarctica, Inglis, Montreal, Antarctic

☆ The future of medicine may lie in space
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Days after I got my first taste of working at a lab bench, a company set forth to prove scientific research can be successfully done in orbit without any humans present. Look upVarda Space Industries plans to use a small capsule, shown in the rendering above, to conduct pharmaceutical research in space. Varda Space industriesThe future of medicine may take flight in space. Unearthed in Ethiopia in 1974 and representing 40% of a skeleton, the remains revealed an early human relative who lived millions of years before Homo sapiens. Meanwhile, other, more recent fossil discoveries are shaking up what we know about early human migration.

Persons: Varda, Lucy, Dave Einsel, paleoanthropologist Dr, Ashleigh L.A, Wiseman, waddle, Frank Postberg, Jochen Brocks, —, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, Logan Science Journalism, Marine Biological, Space Industries, Research, British Antarctic Survey, Sky, University of Cambridge, ATP, Freie Universität Berlin, Australian National University, CNN Space, Science Locations: Woods Hole , Massachusetts, California, Antarctica, Weddell, Ethiopia, Barney Creek, Northern Australia, Australia, New England

☆ Four alarming charts that show just how extreme the climate is right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( Rachel Ramirez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Record high levels of carbon pollution in the atmosphere and record low levels of Antarctic ice. Several all-time heat records were also broken earlier this month in Siberia, as temperatures shot up above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. In 2022, the world’s oceans broke heat records for the fourth year in a row. In late February, Antarctic sea ice reached its lowest extent since records began in the 1970s, at 691,000 square miles. The decline in sea ice also poses severe harm to the continent’s species, including penguins who rely on sea ice for feeding and hatching eggs.

Persons: Brian McNoldy, vZ9eKEs22b, we’re, ” Jennifer Marlon, “ We’ve, – we’ve, Ted Scambos, “ We’re, Phil Reid, El, Climatologist Maximiliano Herrera, “, El Niño, ” Herrera, ” Scambos, Reid, Scambos, there’s, Rick Spinrad, ” Organizations: CNN, University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Yale School of, University of Colorado -, National Weather Service, Australian, of Meteorology, National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, Atlantic, NOAA, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, Industrial Locations: University of Colorado - Boulder, Canada, United States, Siberia, Central America, Texas, Louisiana, Puerto Rico, Asia, China, El, California, Pacific, San Diego

☆ Penguins in Your Fridge? These 7-Year-Olds Have Climate Solutions.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Cara Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

What could the penguins that live there do to adapt? “Maybe they could migrate to another cold place, like the United States in winter?” the boy, whose name is Noah, asked. Gabi thought maybe the penguins could build igloos. A few of them, Gabi added, could live inside her fridge. The standards are built on a striking premise: Even as storms eat away New Jersey’s coastline, snow days become obsolete and wildfire smoke poisons the air outside, climate change can be taught to the youngest learners without freaking them out.

Persons: Michelle Liwacz, murmured, Noah, Aliya, Gabi Organizations: Slackwood Elementary Locations: Trenton , N.J, Antarctica, United States, New Jersey

☆ A Book About Owls, in Which Each Species Is a Marvel
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Jennifer Szalai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Owls can also carry more negative connotations, depending on the context. In “What an Owl Knows,” Ackerman explains that the “new science” she refers to in her subtitle has required technological innovations: cameras, drones, DNA analysis, satellite transmitters. “Finding owls is hard,” a naturalist and photographer tells Ackerman, stating a simple truth from which many complications follow. Another researcher, who has encountered hundreds of owls, says, “It was still magic to me every time we found one, because they’re so well camouflaged and so shy.” There are some 260 species of owls spread across every continent except Antarctica. But it turns out that the owl’s closest relatives are a group of birds that are active in the daytime, including toucans and woodpeckers.

Persons: Jennifer Ackerman, Athena, Ackerman, ” Ackerman Locations: Serbian, Kikinda, Great

☆ The ‘breakout travel trend’ of the decade: What to know about expedition cruising
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Helen Iatrou | Chris Dwyer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Instagram posts — which often showcase trips to Antarctica — may have given expedition cruising more publicity, but this form of cruising isn't new. Today, there is stiff competition among expedition cruise lines to launch more technologically advanced vessels and to secure onboard talent. Source: Aurora ExpeditionsNoah Brodsky, chief commercial officer of Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic, described expedition cruising as the "breakout travel trend of the decade." Expedition cruising is also a good option for the growing number of solo travelers. "Unfortunately, this has meant the new expedition cruise ships have become larger and the expedition experience itself has been sacrificed," he told CNBC.

Persons: LIND, Costa, Greg Mortimer, Carlo Raciti, Bronwyn Stephenson, Aurora expeditioner, Lindblad, Mensun, Robert Bindschadler, Hayley Peacock, Gower, Aurora's Hayley Peacock, Noah Brodsky, James Cole, Hillary, Cousteau, Shackleton, Cole, Xers, hadn't, Carl Raciti, Andrew Marsh, Commandant Charcot, Stefanie Schmudde Organizations: Aurora Expeditions, Panama's UNESCO, Expeditions, Lindblad Expeditions, NASA, Aurora, Geographic, CNBC, Expedition, Cruisers, Environmental, Abercrombie, Kent Locations: Australia, Panama, Costa Rica, Aurora, Antarctica, Its, Greenland, Alaska, Galapagos, French Polynesia, Western, Kimberley, Central, South America

☆ Here’s How Much Hotter Than Normal This June Has Been
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Elena Shao | Raymond Zhong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

64° F June 11, 2023 62° 2022 60° 1979-2021 58° Global Daily Average Air Temperatures 56° 54° 52° 50° Jan. 1 Mar. “We’re putting heat into the system — through climate change, through the greenhouse effect — and that heat is going to manifest. NOAA last month said there was a 40 percent chance that this year’s hurricane season would be near normal. But it also assigned 30 percent probabilities to the season’s being above or below normal. There’s another factor that could also have made the world hotter recently, though it’s not clear how much.

Persons: ” Rick Spinrad, “, Spinrad, El Niño, it’s, Daniel L, Swain, Dr, ” Organizations: University of Maine, National Centers for, National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, University of California Locations: Canada, United States, Siberia, Antarctica, El, Pacific, Tonga, Los Angeles

☆ The planet's coldest, saltiest ocean waters are heating up and shrinking, new report finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Deep ocean water in the Antarctic is heating up and shrinking, with potentially far-reaching consequences for climate change and deep ocean ecosystems, according to a report. They also found that ocean waters deeper than 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) have warmed four times faster than the rest of the global ocean. They are a vital part of global ocean circulation, transporting human-caused carbon pollution into the deep ocean where it remains for centuries, said Silvano. If this deep circulation weakens, “less carbon can be absorbed by the deep ocean, limiting the ability of the ocean to mitigate global warming,” Silvano told CNN. This cold, dense water also has a vital role in supplying oxygen to deep ocean waters.

Persons: Povl, ” Alessandro Silvano, ” Silvano, ”, Holly Ayres, ” Ayres, Zhou Organizations: CNN, British Antarctic Survey, Weddell, University of Southampton, Reading University Locations: Weddell, Antarctica

☆ The world's top H.P. Lovecraft expert weighs in on a monstrous viral meme in the A.I. world
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Mike Calia | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Lovecraft's novella "At the Mountains of Madness" — aren't quite perfect, according to the world's leading Lovecraft scholar, S.T. "While I'm sure Lovecraft would be grateful (and amused) by the application of his creation to AI, the parallels are not very exact," Joshi wrote. Read more: How to talk about AI like an insiderFirst of all, it's "shoggoth," not "Shoggoth," Joshi said. "It is a species name, not a proper name," Joshi wrote in an email to CNBC. For instance, a recent fake Toronto Blue Jays ad, created by a TSN producer who used text-to-video AI tech, is packed with horrifying images such as people feasting on each other's hot dog tentacles.

Persons: H.P, S.T, Joshi, Lovecraft, it's Joshi, He's, Kevin Roose, Roose, Harlan Ellison's Organizations: Lovecraft, Providence, The New York Times, CNBC, Times, Workers, Toronto Blue Jays, TSN Locations: A.I, Antarctica

☆ We're losing the battle against bird loss. Scientists estimate North America's bird population is down 3 billion and dropping fast in other countries worldwide.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Emily Sohn | Knowable Magazine | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

In North America, more than half of 529 bird species have declined, according to one study. Another study of 378 European bird species estimates numbers fell by as much as 19% from 1980-2017. There are birds on mountains, birds in cities, birds in deserts, birds in oceans, birds on farm fields and birds in parking lots. Bird numbers are falling across a broad range of habitats, as these graphs from Europe and North America show. A recovery program has boosted the species' numbers to more than 500, with several hundred living once more in the wild.

Persons: —, Peter Marra, It's, Alexander Lees, Lees, Christopher Michel, Marra, we're, Lees et, Philip McGowan, Glenn Simmons, McGowan Organizations: Service, Penguins, Earth Commons, Manchester Metropolitan University, Cornell, of Ornithology, National Audubon Society, Survey, US Geological Survey, Environment Canada, European Union, International Union for Conservation, Environment, Resources, Newcastle University, IUCN, California condor, Recovery Initiative Locations: North America, Antarctica, ptarmigan, Everest, Georgetown, England, Canada, United Kingdom, Gould Bay, eBird, United States, Science, Costa, India, Europe, California, Arizona, Brazil

☆ Australia to triple size of Macquarie Island Marine Park to protected area larger than Germany
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Australia plans to triple the size of an ecologically important marine park and close off an area larger than Germany to fishing and mining, the government announced Monday, protecting millions of vulnerable seabirds and animals. The remote Macquarie Island Marine Park, located off Australia’s southeastern coast between Tasmania and Antarctica in the Southern Ocean, is set to expand to 475,465 square kilometers (about 184,000 square miles). The wind-swept World Heritage-listed Macquarie Island and its surrounding waters is a site of outstanding geological and natural significance. The plan to expand the marine park was released in February and Monday’s announcement comes after two months of public consultations with more than 14,700 submissions that were 99% in support, according to the government. Darren Kindleysides, chief executive of the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said sanctuaries are vital for marine wildlife, healthy ocean ecosystems and sustainable commercial fisheries.

Persons: Tanya Plibersek, ”, Fiona Maxwell, “, Darren Kindleysides Organizations: CNN, Pew, Albanese Government, UNESCO, Heritage, Australian Marine Conservation Society Locations: Australia, Germany, Macquarie, Tasmania, Antarctica

☆ I lived and worked in Antarctica for 5 months without WiFi or running water. It didn't feel as remote as I expected.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Lucy Bruzzone is one of several women who spent the last five months working in Antarctica. Bruzzone found it surprisingly easy to adjust to life on the peninsula and said it didn't feel as remote as she expected. Historically, Antarctica has been an extremely male-dominated place; Port Lockroy didn't have its first female team member until 2001. The team spent five months in Antarctica through the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust. Between ship visits, we'd grab a quick lunch, restock the shop, cancel stamps on any postcards we'd received, and monitor the penguins on alternate days.

☆ I'm a butler on a luxury cruise where tickets cost up to $150K. I've traveled to Antarctica and enjoyed perks like submarine rides — here's what my job is like.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Claire Turrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Nehad Popovic, the cruise butler for the Scenic Eclipse. Since then, I've traveled to the Arctic and Antarctica, among other destinations, as a cruise butler. Scenic EclipseI started as a steward on fairy-tale river cruises across EuropeIn September 2014, I applied to Scenic Luxury Cruises and Tours to be a restaurant steward on its river cruises. In March 2015, I started stewarding the river cruises for Scenic Luxury Cruises and Tours. Moving from steward to butler gave me more opportunitiesAfter two years as a steward, I was promoted to cruise butler.

☆ Stunning photos of the night sky in one of the darkest places on Earth will make you want to visit New Zealand ASAP
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Rebecca Strong | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve is especially great for star gazing. But in one of the darkest places on Earth — the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve in New Zealand — that's not an issue. Aoraki is the second-largest dark sky reserve in the world, ranking at a level 2 on the nine-level Bortle Dark-Sky Scale for light pollution. The Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve is located in southern New Zealand. Igor HoogerwerfAccording to Jason Menard, an executive at Mackenzie Tourism, The Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve is one of the best places to view the Milky Way — and that's pretty evident in this photo.

☆ Fossils reveal butterfly 'tree of life' and origins
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —The world’s largest butterfly tree of life is helping researchers determine where the winged insects originated when they first appeared on Earth about 100 million years ago. Scientists first uncovered in 2019 how this single shift to daytime activity served as the evolutionary turning point for all butterfly species. Together, the researchers collected DNA from nearly 2,300 species from 90 countries that represent all butterfly families. “We used multiple fossils for the study in order to calibrate particular parts of the tree,” Kawahara said. “Europe doesn’t have many butterfly species compared to other parts of the world, and the ones it does have can often be found elsewhere,” Kawahara said.

☆ NASA researchers will spend a year living in a simulated Mars habitat
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Thomas Page | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Bill Stafford/NASAAiming for fidelity has resulted in a habitat that could feasibly built on Mars, Smith adds. MARK FELIX/AFP/AFP /AFP via Getty ImagesNASA is attempting to fill in what it calls “Strategic Knowledge Gaps,” that currently make a manned Mars mission too risky. A manned Mars mission will ship food to the planet in advance of humans, which means it will need a long shelf-life. Intended as a location for the emirate to develop technology for an eventual Mars mission, it was also designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, with 3D-printed buildings. Thankfully the crew entering CHAPEA in June will not have to concern themselves with that potentially deadly element of a Mars mission.

☆ Bat lands worldwide are besieged, seeding risk of a new pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +16 min

This collision – bats and humans competing for resources on territory long the domain of the bats – could trigger the next pandemic. As people destroy bat habitats worldwide, they are unwittingly helping bat-borne viruses mutate, multiply, and infect other species, including homo sapiens. For millennia, bat viruses lurked across the forests of West Africa and in other undisturbed parts of the world but posed little threat to humanity. They’re potent proliferators: Some roost tightly together and in close quarters with other bat species. Each of the bat viruses analyzed by Reuters has epidemic potential, according to the World Health Organization.

☆ I lived and worked in Antarctica for 5 months without WiFi or running water. Here's what surprised me.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Lucy Bruzzone is one of several women who spent the last five months working in Antarctica. I've always been fascinated by ice and the polar regions and I'd been exploring opportunities to visit Antarctica for many years. At the same time, changes in Antarctica affect our lives at home, destabilizing systems we depend on for food, water, and security. Lucy Bruzzone spent five months in Antarctica. Work was more physical day-to-day, but I still spent a lot of time working at a laptop for someone in Antarctica!

☆ I went from working on cruise ships to taking more than 20 a year as a guest. Here's my biggest advice to cruise passengers.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

J. Alexander, who used to work for cruise ships, took more than 20 cruises last year. He said his favorite cruise was to Antarctica and that Royal Caribbean is his favorite cruise line. Every cruise line does something better than another cruise line. Treat the cruise crew members with respectOne six-month contract aboard a cruise ship, you will see it all. One time I was working on board a cruise ship and me and the rest of the entertainment went out.

☆ I bought a 720-square-foot cruise ship cabin for $2.5 million. My wife and I plan to live at sea full-time and are excited to make new friends in our 80s.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Dan Latu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Mike Soroker, 80, and his wife Barbara, 75, purchased a $2.5 million cabin on the MV Narrative. purchased a $2.5 million cabin on the MV Narrative. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Mike Soroker, 80, and his decision to purchase a $2.5 million cabin aboard Storylines MV Narrative, a luxury residential cruise ship, where he and his wife, Barbara, plan to live full-time. The MV Narrative is currently slated to set sail in 2025 and circumnavigate the earth once every three years continuously, with stops in ports across the globe. A rendering of a one of the cabins on the MV Narrative from cruise company Storylines.

☆ Scientists updated the human genome to make it more inclusive
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Scientists have pieced together a new draft of the human genome that better captures humanity’s genetic diversity. The scientists involved say it will improve our ability to diagnose disease, discover new drugs and understand the genetic variants that lead to ill health or a particular physical trait. The pangenome, a digital amalgamation of sequences that can be used to compare, construct and study other human genome sequences, is still a draft. The first draft of the human genome was released in 2001 and was only fully completed in 2022. The new pangenome reference is an amalgamation of different genomes from 47 people with ancestry from around the world.

☆ Hurricanes of Data: The Tiny Craft Mapping Superstorms at Sea
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Porter Fox | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +35 min

The Tiny Craft Mapping Superstorms at Sea Shortly after dawn on Sept. 30, 2021, Richard Jenkins watched a Category 4 hurricane overrun his life’s work. That August, a sister ship, SD 1031, successfully entered Tropical Storm Henri, but only in its early stages. Hurricane research, modeling and forecasting requires many terabytes of data for every square mile the storm passes through, including vitally important sea-level data from inside a storm. The next day, the depression was upgraded to a tropical storm and officially given the name Sam. And four months later, Tropical Storm Megi killed more than 150, wiped out several villages with landslides and displaced more than a million people.

☆ Petermann Glacier in Greenland is melting away with the tide, which could signal faster sea level rise, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Brandon Miller | Cnn Meteorologist | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —A major glacier in northwest Greenland is interacting with the ocean tides, scientists reported Monday, resulting in previously unaccounted-for melting and potentially faster sea level rise. This is an important finding: The traditional view among scientists was that the grounding line did not migrate with the tides – and this introduces another major source of melting that could be accelerating sea level rise. Between 2016 and 2022, warmer tidal cycles melted a 670-foot-tall hole in the underside of the glacier along the grounding line — big enough that two Statues of Liberty could be stacked on top of one another inside it. The study raises more concerns for the already worrisome prospect of sea level rise, which threatens coastlines around the world. Greenland’s melting ice is the single largest contributor to sea level rise, according to NASA, which has been accelerating in recent years.

☆ Get Ready to See More of the Northern Lights
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( April Rubin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the southern hemisphere, aurora australis, or the southern lights, are typically visible from Antarctica, Australia and south of Argentina. As the sun’s magnetic fields flip over 11 years, this cycle, phases between solar minimum and solar maximum, Dr. Cameron said. Experts predict that solar maximum will be reached in 2025, meaning the auroral oval, or the area on earth where the lights are visible, will widen until then. “When we’re in the minimum part of the solar cycle, the sun is very quiet, basically nothing going on,” Dr. Cameron said. The solar cycle is tied to the sun’s magnetic field, Dr. Cameron said, but doesn’t affect its temperature.

☆ PlayStation, treasure hunts and natural wonders: What life is like onboard a giant oil tanker
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Lucy Handley | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

The movies, which feature ambushes, looting and a drunken captain, are far from real life, according to shipping veteran Ralph Juhl. The crew on board an oil tanker operated by Hafnia. Where the ship goes depends on where the demand for oil is and Dixon has sailed to every continent bar Antarctica, he said. An aurora borealis light display in the southern part of Norway, one of the natural spectacles seen by oil tanker captain DSA Dixon during his seafaring life. Oil tanker crew prepare mooring ropes to secure a bunker barge to their vessel for refueling.

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