Author does book signing in Antarctica

This is an interesting article about the author Patrick Woodward launching his new book in Antarctica. The book is called Beneath the Ice, which is a thriller set in Antarctica being released on January 1, 2015.

Photos and notebook discovered in/near Terra Nova expedition hut

Here is an interesting article about photos and a notebook discovered last year in and near one of Scott's Terra Nova expedition huts. The photo negatives were from Shackleton's 1914-1917 expedition when he used Scott's hut. The notebook is quite amazing to have survived as it was found outside. It contains notes on photos taken during Scott's 1910-1913 expedition. The notes were able to be matched to the photos held by the Scoot Polar Research Institute.

New bird flu found in Adele penguins

Here is an interesting brief article about the a new bird flu virus being found on Adele penguins in Antarctica.  This is the first time a live strain has been reported found in penguins in Antarctica.  The study found it in 3% of the penguins sampled (8 out of ~300 it sounds like) and the penguins did not appear to be sick.

1,600 year-old Moss in Antarctica

Plant life existing at all in Antarctica is pretty amazing for most to hear about in the first place, but even more unbelievable is that recently moss that has been frozen in Antarctica for over 1,600 years was found to come back to life when put in an incubator.  Frozen plant life coming back to life is not new, but how long it was frozen before being regenerated is much longer than previously done, as before this the oldest plant material regenerated was only frozen for 20 years.  Read more about this here.

Russians install bust in honor of 'discover' of Antarctica

A bust of Russian Faddey Bellingshausen was recently installed in Antarctica to honor his discovery of Antarctica.  Whether he was the actual discoverer is somewhat debatable, as Bellinghausen, British Edward Bransfield, and American Nathan Palmer first sighted it in the same year (1820).  Also, the discovery depends on the definition, as it could also go to those that first set foot on the continent in 1821 (also debatable whether it was John Davis, Nathan Palmer, etc) or the first to realize he had discovered a whole continent, Charles Wilkes.

Related Article

• Bust of Antarctica discoverer Faddey Bellingshausen installed on 6th continent

Explosion at Argentine Esperanza Base Kills Army Officer

On January 14, an explosion at Argentina's Esperanza base on the Antarctic peninsula killed one army officer. The explosion was caused while retrieving inflammable material leftovers.

Related Links

• Deadly blast at Argentine base in Antarctica (Washington Post, January 14, 2014)