The World from PRX

Antarctica

Environment
In Antarctica, the impulse to explore clashes with the need to protect 
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The Thwaites Glacier is one of the hardest places in Antarctica to access, and scientists have only recently been able to go there to study it.
Climate Change
The melting and collapse of Thwaites Glacier could affect sea levels for years to come
An Emperor penguin jumps out of the water.
Climate Change
With global warming, Emperor penguins will ‘have no place to breed’ says researcher
A vast, white sheet of ice
Climate Change
Rapid ice melt and sea-level rise will be part of our global future — no matter what
The Endurance, trapped in sea ice along the Weddell Sea.
Books
‘Pathways to possibility’: New book argues optimism is key to endurance through tough times
A glacier in Half Moon Bay, Antarctica, Feb. 18, 2018.
200 years of exploring Antarctica — the world’s coldest, most forbidding and most peaceful continent
Penguins stand on ice in Antarctica.
Environment
Emperor Penguins could march to extinction if nations fail to halt climate change
A tent stands on Antarctica’s sea ice.
Antarctic robot might lead way to life beyond Earth
Drone footage shows large icebergs that have recently broken off the ice shelf in West Antarctica.
If Thwaites Glacier collapses, it would change global coastlines forever
Joee Patterson is shown with her arms outstretched while wearing sunglasses and a red safety vest.
Into the Thaw: Decoding Thwaites Glacier
For this marine tech, Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier drives home threat of climate change
Two yellow tents and a larger dome tent are staked into the snow. At the top of the image is a wing of a tiny prop plane.
Into the Thaw: Decoding Thwaites Glacier
These scientists used small explosions to ‘see’ under Antarctica and measure how fast a key glacier will melt
A ma in a bright orange suit holds his left arm in the air as an elephant seal opens its mouth to bellow.
Into the Thaw: Decoding Thwaites Glacier
These high-tech seals are charting future sea level rise
Headline reads, "How can a seal track climate change?" with an animated elephant seal
Into the Thaw: Decoding Thwaites Glacier
How can a seal track climate change?
chef
Into the Thaw: Decoding Thwaites Glacier
On a journey to Antarctica, a New Orleans chef awakens to the threat of melting ice
Woman wearing overalls and sunglasses holds and ax with both hands while looking at the camera.
‘Hi, I want a job in Antarctica’: Meet the first female researchers to blaze the path
Drone footage
This submarine’s historic tour under Thwaites Glacier will help scientists predict sea level rise
The eastern ice tongue of Thwaites Glacier is shown rising out of deep blue ocean waters.
Environment
Is Thwaites Glacier doomed? Scientists race against time to find out.
The front of the Nathaniel B. Palmer ship is shown at the bottom of the photo breaking through ice floes.
Into the Thaw: Decoding Thwaites Glacier
Antarctica Dispatch 9: Thoughts on climate change and returning home
Grease ice dampens ripples in the water near a golden orange sunset.
Into the Thaw: Decoding Thwaites Glacier
Antarctica dispatch 8: Behold grease, shuga and pancake ice
Researchers hoist the orange-colored Hugin autonomous submarine onto the deck of the Nathaniel B. Palmer.
Into the Thaw: Decoding Thwaites Glacier
Antarctica Dispatch 7: Under Thwaites Glacier
ship
Into the Thaw: Decoding Thwaites Glacier
Antarctica Dispatch 5: Detour, with scenery
seals
Into the Thaw: Decoding Thwaites Glacier
Antarctica Dispatch 4: Fieldwork begins, cue the seals
Researchers aboard the Nathanial B. Palmer gather on the ship’s bridge to view one of the first icebergs they encountered.
Into the Thaw: Decoding Thwaites Glacier
Antarctica Dispatch 3: The ship’s first encounters with icebergs
Nathaniel B Palmer in port
Into the Thaw: Decoding Thwaites Glacier
Antarctica Dispatch 1: Gearing up and shipping out
Three crew members are shown in a room with a green floor all leaning in order to stay balanced.
Into the Thaw: Decoding Thwaites Glacier
Antarctica Dispatch 2: Crossing the Drake Passage
Researchers Scott Landolt and Mark Seefeldt set up an automatic snowfall measuring system in Antarctica.
An unexpected challenge on Antarctica: Measuring snowfall
glacier
Into the Thaw: Decoding Thwaites Glacier
What Thwaites Glacier can tell us about the future of West Antarctica
Two men stand on rocky land as mountains and snow stretch out behind them. One holds a drill of some kind and is drilling into the rock.
If the Greenland ice sheet melts, what happens to New York City? This reporter went to find out.
the lush Antarctic seafloor
Mapping the colorful and diverse creatures of the Antarctic seas
Humpback whale
Climate Change
The humpback whale population is recovering
Snow is blown off of the calving front off of Thurston Island in western Antarctica in this photo, taken in November 2014. New findings show the western side of Antarctica to be more vulnerable to warming oceans — and increased ice loss — than first thoug
A scientist’s response to Antarctic ice loss: ‘We can act.’
Greenpeace
Environment
Greenpeace: Plastic pollution has spread to Antarctica
A ship carrying tourists plies the waters off Antarctica.
Climate Change
Antarctica needs humans to protect it. It also needs humans to stay away. What’s a potential visitor to do?
Thwaites Glacier
Environment
Just how unstable is the massive Thwaites glacier? Scientists are about to find out.
penguins sliding down a glacier
Environment
Photos: The glacial beauty of a journey to Antarctica
This image is from a video made in 2011 that compiled visualizations of the Antarctic ozone hole. Recent findings have shown that the hole is filling up — while other parts of ozone remain on the decline.
Science
The ozone hole over the Antarctic is beginning to fill up. Here’s the bad news.
The common housefly makes up just one of 150 families of flies.
Science
‘The Secret Lives of Flies’ provides insight into the diversity of the small insects
A map of Antarctica shows where the Larsen C ice shelf has broken, creating one of the largest icebergs ever since observation began. The iceberg is roughly the size of Delaware.
Environment
A Delaware-sized iceberg has broken off of the Antarctic Peninsula
Antarctica
Environment
Antarctica is getting greener. And that’s not necessarily a good thing.
A 110-mile crack in the Larsen Ice Shelf is shown in this map. A branch has appeared to the right of the rift.
Science
There’s a new branch in the huge Antarctic ice crack
How many pengos can you spot?
Environment
It’s World Penguin Day! Help scientists count penguins.
Total ice loss on the Larsen ice shelf, 1960-2008
Environment
Researchers continue to watch a massive rift in Antarctica likely to create a Delaware-sized iceberg
The Ross Sea in Western Antarctica, the site of the new marine protected area, is famous for its emperor penguins.
Environment
Negotiators from 25 major countries have created the world’s largest marine reserve
A false-color image showing ozone concentrations above Antarctica on Oct. 2, 2015.
Environment
The ozone layer is bouncing back. And our hairstyles will be OK too.
Otter plane
Science
Two patients rescued from South Pole in dramatic winter evacuation
Glacier in Antarctica
Environment
Don’t let Antarctica’s size fool you. It’s melting fast.
Protesters with the group Lifeline Antarctica traveled to the edge of the world in February. Protesters with the group Lifeline Antarctica traveled to the edge of the world in February, 2016. Protesters with the group Lifeline Antarctica traveled to the e
Business
A powerful Washington player takes on Walgreens to protect tiny Antarctic krill
Adelie penguins
Environment
In Antarctica, displaced penguins may be a sign of climate change
Antarctica
Science
Want to find a meteorite? Antarctica might be the best place to look.
A view of Palmer Station and its supply ship, the Laurence M. Gould, from the science mast.
Environment
In photos: Life in one of the most remote places on Earth
Palmer Station, Antarctica.
Food
In the frozen Antarctic, it’s culinary creativity that is vital for morale
Krill
Environment
Scientists consider whether krill need to be protected from human over-hunting
The MV Akademik Shokalskiy got caught in encroaching ice off Antarctica in late December of 2013. The Russian ship's 52 passengers were airlifted to a nearby icebreaker more than a week later.
Environment
In looking back at this year’s environmental news there’s a lot of doom and gloom — but not entirely
Seal with a tracking tag
Environment
Scientists are putting seals to work to gather ocean current data
Scientists holds the arms of a colossal squid as they examine the squid at a national museum facility in Wellington, New Zealand.
Science
A rare colossal squid was dissected in New Zealand — and you can watch it on YouTube
Blue whales are the largest creatures that have ever lived. They were hunted to near extinction in the 20th century and have only recovered since to perhaps 10% of their pre-whaling numbers, but new research has found that the Northeastern Pacific populat
Environment
Here’s the green success story of the California blue whale
Shuttles idling near Pegasus Field, an airstrip that serves the McMurdo Station research facility on Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf.
Science
Researchers discover microbial life deep beneath Antarctic ice
Environment
A new report confirms that Antarctica is melting–still slowly, but twice as fast as four years ago
Environment
Scientists say the retreat of west Antarctica’s ice sheet is unstoppable
Archaeologists work on unearthed skeletons in the Farringdon area of London in this undated handout photograph released March 15, 2013. Archaeologists said on Friday they had found a graveyard during excavations for a rail project in London which might ho
Global Scan
Found: One London cemetery where thousands were believed buried after dying of the plague