Antarctic

A new study tracked the effects of extreme isolation on the brains of crew members living on a research station in Antartica. It presents some of the first evidence showing how social isolation can cause tangible structural changes in a human brain.

A wheeled robot designed to roll along on the underside of the ice cap is to be tested in the Antarctic. Dubbed BRUIE, the rover is part of a project to develop technology for studying the icy moons of the outer solar system.

After studying vintage film of Antarctic radar data, Thwaites Glacier was found to be melting even faster than we thought.

In the pure white snow of Antarctica, scientists have found rare isotopes that don't occur naturally on Earth. The isotope, known as iron-60, is usually forged in the crucible of supernova explosions, and the researchers believe it fell to Earth as our solar system passed through an interstellar gas cloud.

Researchers from the US and South Korea have run climate simulations that include the “iceberg effect” and found that melting icebergs could play a significant role in slowing warming in the Southern Hemisphere.

July 2019 has been found to be the hottest month ever recorded, which won’t surprise anybody who sweated through the heat wave this summer. This continues a long-running upwards trend, with the first six months of the year tied for second hottest and sea ice at an all-time low at both poles.

The hole in the ozone layer may be on the mend, but its environmental impacts are ongoing. A new review study has examined the effects that the extra UV radiation is having on the environment, such as shifting climate zones, changing ocean temperatures and making some species more vulnerable.

A new study has examined 25 years of satellite data to get a sense of the extent of ice loss across Antarctica. According to the findings, warming waters have destabilized as much as a quarter of the glacier ice in West Antarctica.

A vital section of the world's largest ice shelf is losing ice 10 times faster than the overall melt rate for the structure, posing a potential risk to its future stability. The Ross Ice Shelf stretches out over 500,809 square km, and accounts for 32 percent of Antarctica's total ice shelf area.

Scientists have discovered a tiny fragment of a comet in a meteorite. The bulk of the rock itself was once an asteroid, but when the team cracked it open and analyzed the inside, they found that the growing asteroid must have swept up the seed of a comet billions of years ago.

A huge iceberg, roughly twice the size of New York City, is set to soon break off from the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica. With two large cracks due to meet within the next few months, a research station has already been relocated as scientists watch the rifting event enter its “final phase.”

NASA’s ongoing Operation IceBridge has found a gigantic cavity underneath Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica, which shows that the area has suffered even more drastic ice loss in recent years than previously thought – and it’s accelerating.