Antarctica's Blood Falls could be home to microorganisms similar to alien life on Mars. New data shows that beneath McMurdo Dry Valleys, earth’s coldest and driest place, lies salty water that may support previously unknown ecosystems.
Scientists might soon get closer to understanding the nature of the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole. To observe its mysterious event horizon, they are connecting a planet-wide system of telescopes that will “see” 1,000 times better than Hubble.
Russian scientists have made a new borehole into Lake Vostok, the prehistoric Antarctic water mass, which has been sealed for millions of years – three years after a previous mission was prematurely ended by an accident resulting in sample contamination.
A team of Russian divers from the expedition 'Antarctica 100' have jumped 97 meters deep into the crater of an active Antarctic volcano. The seabed plunge in extremely cold water marked a world record, and served as an important test of diving techniques.
A new type of 3D mapping revealed Antarctic sea ice could be much thicker than previously estimated, shows a study done with the help of a yellow robotic submarine named SeaBed.
A recent discovery has shown that the Earth’s magnetic reversal could happen much quicker than had been expected. US scientists say the North and South poles can swap their positions in less than a century, which would carry some danger for humans.
Scientist at the Vostok Antarctic station are to gather dust from the comet ISON, which was disintegrated by the sun in late November 2013. They hope their luck will help them find the “basic building blocks” of life.
Russia is set to allocate over $30 million to boost its five polar bases, including the Vostok research station, and fund exploration in the region in 2014, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry stated.