27 October, 2017 by Nicholas O'Flaherty
In this podcast, we talk to Rebecca Priestley from Victoria University in New Zealand. In 2016 she wrote the first authoritative anthology of Antarctic science, 'Dispatches from Continent Seven'.
Starting with the journals of Captain James Cook, the anthology takes us on a journey through the scientific advances of each of the early explorers, including the Heroic Age of Polar Exporation. But there are also milestones from modern science. Jonathan Shanklin writes of his discovery of the ozone hole over Antarctica, while Robin Bell surveys the buried Gambertsev Mountains.
We read too from scientists who are diving in saline lakes, hunting for meteorites, and drilling for ice cores. They include marine zoologists, biologists, geologists and astronomers.
The scientists try to better understand the universe we live in, uncover the complexities of climate change, and learn how a land covered in forests became a frozen desert.
Click here to listen to the podcast interview of Rebecca Priestley.
