Polar | Common News Update

Sep32023 by adminNo Comments

UK scientists tackle the taboo subject of periods in polar research

Science

This video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.By Harriet BradshawBBC Climate & Science reporterYou're tied to co-workers, on a glacier, in icy conditions, and then you realise… it's that time of the month. What do you do? Dealing with your period during fieldwork in the Arctic or Antarctic can be a challenge.And yet talking about menstruation has remained taboo. It's why it is on the agenda for the UK Polar Network (UKPN), a voluntary organisation which represents more than 400 early career scientists, and which is piloting a new workshop to tackle the issue head on. "I've had so many of my friends and my peers come and say, 'God, I couldn't talk to anyone about this; I felt so uncomfortable; I felt scared at times'," explains Ellie Hona...

Nov282020 by adminNo Comments

Polar scientists wary of impending satellite gap

Science

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Sep262019 by adminNo Comments

Royal naming for Sir David Attenborough polar ship

Science

Media playback is unsupported on your device The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will officially name the UK's new polar research ship after Sir David Attenborough on Thursday. The famous broadcaster and naturalist will be on hand to witness the ceremony, which is taking place at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead.In time-honoured tradition, a bottle of champagne will be smashed against the vessel's hull. Some 200 children dressed as penguins will be among the large ticketed crowd. The £200m vessel was commissioned to replace the James Clark Ross and the Shackleton, which between them gave almost 50 years' service in support of UK polar science.The RRS Sir David Attenborough will now carry the union flag into the Arctic and the Antarctic....

Jul142018 by adminNo Comments

Sir David Attenborough launches 'Boaty' polar ship

Science

Media playback is unsupported on your device Sir David Attenborough has launched the 10,000-tonne hull of the UK's newest polar ship - named after him - into the River Mersey.The broadcaster pushed the button, sending the hull sliding out from the Cammell Laird yard in Birkenhead, into the water where building will continue."Our future will be affected by what people working on this ship will be discovering in years to come," he said.It is "the greatest possible honour" to be its namesake, Sir David added.The hull of the £200m research vessel entered the river stern-first, creating a big wave as it hit the water.Ahead of the launch, the riverbed was dredged in front of the slipway to make sure the steel mass did not bottom out. ...

Feb22018 by adminNo Comments

Polar bears 'running out of food'

Science

Media playback is unsupported on your deviceHigh-tech tracking collars on nine female polar bears have measured the animals' efforts to find food on the diminishing Arctic ice.The collars recorded video, locations and activity levels over 11 days, while metabolic tracers allowed scientists to work out how much energy bears used.This revealed that the animals were unable to catch enough prey to meet their energy needs.The team says wild bears have higher metabolic rates than thought. Moreover, climate change appears to be having dramatic effects on the Arctic sea-ice, forcing polar bears to move greater distances as they hunt, and making it harder for them to catch prey.The vision of a polar bear plucking a vulnerable seal off an ice floe is something familiar to wildlife documentary fanati...