Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal

Thanks to Amanda Bauer (astropixie) for the link to this.

Well worth watching!

Lee Hotz of the Wall Street Journal discusses a lunch invitation with a Skua in Antarctica.

Here is another video/slide-show of my January trip courtesy the National Science Foundation to see the Science underway in Antarctica. I am planing 5 parts now, because I want to spend more time on the astronomy and climate science being done. My travel colleague Ann Posegate of NEEF is also working on a similar project and I’ll post her’s here as well soon.

This was all edited on my macbook pro. The pictures were taken with a Canon 400d and 500d dslr. Movies were mainly done on a canon sd970 pocket cam that shoots incredibly good 720p video. I also had a station camera that shoots in full 1080p. I highly recommend the little sd-970. Best video for the price I’ve seen. We used the video for the “on TV” pieces in many spots and you could hardly tell the difference!

So here is more of what I saw, and the people I met. Extraordinary people with one common goal.

Conducting science, while enduring the harshest climate, at the most remote location on Earth.

Brian Cox host of "Wonders of The Solar System" on BBC Two. Image from the beeb.

Dr. Brian Cox.

Rock band musician and physicist. No, really. He played in the rock band DARE with Thin Lizzy’s Darren Wharton.

If you’re in the UK and have not seen Wonders of The Solar System on BBC Two, then fire up the iPlayer and watch it. All four episodes that have aired are just superb.

They are the only TV productions I’ve seen about astronomy that equals or surpasses the great Carl Sagan’s COSMOS. Episode two on Saturn’s rings is in itself equal or better than any COSMOS episode.

The world of science desperately needs a replacement to Carl Sagan these days. There is an open war on science among some political groups. The overwhelming consensus among scientists on such subjects as climate change and the age of the Earth is being ridiculed by those with a political viewpoint to trumpet.  Urged on by only a tiny handful of academics.

Click the image to see a 5 minute clip from "Wonders" on the BBC website.

Brian Cox is anything but a nerdy science guy. He has a way with words. His on camera presence is comfortable and unique.

Sagan was actually looked down upon in some quarters of the science community for being so famous. It just wasn’t “scientific” some thought.

This mistake should not happen again. The silly claims about climate science recently by those ignorant of how science works should be a potent reminder. Science needs a champion right now. Someone the public can latch onto. Someone who can make the case that knowledge for the sake of knowledge is important.

Hopefully these episodes will be bought by PBS and shown here in America soon. Remember that the next time your local PBS station is having a fund drive!

That's me in the hydroponics unit at the South Pole. I was asking questions for some Huntsville Students competing in a national science competition.

A little story for you.

I’m on the board of our great science museum, SCI Quest, here in Huntsville. Just before my trip to the South Pole, I found out about a project some students were doing with help from Sci Quest. I was asked if  it might be possible to get some info or pictures of a greenhouse in Antarctica for them.

Lane Patterson operates the vegetable grow unit at Amundsen - Scott Station at the South Pole.

The students are involved in an eCybermission project on hydroponics. This is a free web based science, math,engineering and technology competition for students grade 6-9. When I saw what they were working on, I promised to try and bring back something for them.

So four weeks and 13,000 miles later, I’m walking down to eat dinner at Amundsen Scott Station at the South Pole, and guess what I see?? A hydroponics greenhouse! Dinner was delayed while I grabbed my cameras. Best of all, the operator of the unit Lane Patterson was there!

Lane calls this the vegetable growth unit and it’s not just for science. It provides fresh vegetables to the researchers and support staff wintering over at the South Pole. No planes can reach the Pole during the long polar night, and this is the only supply of fresh vegetables available.

Lane works out of the University of Arizona with the Controlled Environment Agricultural Center. They received a grant from the National Science Foundation to build and operate the unit. Lane is employed by Raytheon Polar Services the NSF civilian contractor to operate the unit.

So, take a look and see how it works , and how Lane grows things from 9,000 miles away in another desert – Arizona.

Oh, and yes, the students at Sci Quest will have this video and more.

and here it is: