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Exploring Antarctica

Posted by michael on from the don't-forget-your-mittens dept.

dargaud writes "There will soon be some firsts on the high Antarctic plateau: after getting 150km from it last year a Chinese expedition plans on reaching Dome A, the highest part of the Antarctic ice sheet (4200m), farthest to reach and coldest place on Earth, untrodden yet. Then in a few months the French-Italian station of Concordia at Dome C (3200m) will open year-round for its first winter-over, of which I will be part. The location of these ice domes make them great for atmospheric physics, glaciology, astronomy and more. Big projects are getting interested in Antarctica again, just in time for the International Polar Year of 2007, 50 years after the first one."

5 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. Remeber to take sunblock by cheezemonkhai · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well it's about time we fully explored our own planet rather then jetting off into space.

    Space is cool and everything, but I think looking after our planet and exploring the seas etc would be a lot cooler :)

    1. Re:Remeber to take sunblock by Indy+Media+Watch · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Exploring the seas and looking after them are often mutually exclusive...

      --

      Indy Media Watch-Proctologist of the Internet

    2. Re:Remeber to take sunblock by Enigma_Man · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The earth is cool and all, but I think that looking after our own bodies and exploring them would be a lot cooler.

      Our bodies are cool and all, but I think that looking after our molecules and exploring them would be a lot cooler.

      Repeat unto infinity.

      Exploration can happen in parallel dude, without it, we'd still be stuck in the cave ages trying to figure out some mundane detail.

      -Jesse

      --
      Nothing says "unprofessional job" like wrinkles in your duct tape.
  2. The oceans by millahtime · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In order to really explore our planet we would have to go down and loot at the oceans too. We know very little about what is really down there and happens down there.

    --
    Evolution or ID?
  3. Re:Ozone by kirkjobsluder · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They banned dogs over a decade ago because people were afraid that they would spread parvo to the seals (something scientifically impossible since it is an entirely different species)

    Viruses cross over between species all the time: Rabies,Influenza, Hantavirus, and Ebola all have large non-human reservoirs.