Living in an isolated environment, off of the city grid, requires some thought about what you do with waste, especially of the human variety.  Since arriving in Antarctica, we have used a variety of different toilets.  And I know some of you are curious about what toilets are like here in Antarctica.   When…

Since we got here, things have gone mostly well. But like at home there are those days where everything goes wrong and you feel like you have done something bad that caused bad karma. Two days ago was one of those days. We had a big sampling day ahead: visiting two sampling sites, drilling into…

Strong winds are quite common in Antarctica, and here is no different.  We are currently living beside a small mountain range that interrupts the bulk of the East Antarctic ice sheet from the coast.  Over the ice sheet there is commonly a high pressure system that forces the air to flow to the low pressure…

Humans need water to live, so do any other organisms on this planet, even the tiniest microbes. Therefore one would expect the least to find life in very dry places. In order to find out what the limits are here in Antarctica, we went to a so called “dry valley”. As the name suggests a…

Before I came here I didn’t expect daily life in Antarctica to be so pleasant. Much has changed since the first explorers came here. I am writing this blog post sitting on a very modern looking and comfortable chair, listening to French music while the French chef (who usually works in a mountain refuge on…

As the name of this blog implies, the purpose of this trip is look for life on Antarctica in order to understand what conditions support life here.  In more temperate climates, we have trees, flowers, bees, animals and of course microbes that life in the soil.  Here, where the conditions are much more harsh, the…

After a brief hiccup with our internet — we now have the ability to send messages again. After a day of final business emails, websurfing and calls to home, we departed Cape Town. We left the hotel around 7pm to head to the airport. Our departure from Cape Town was surprisingly like a normal international…

“It feels like it was only yesterday that Lori asked me to join her on her adventure and today I am about to get on the plane to Antarctica. Having been to the cold north several times but never to the south, I didn’t hesitate to say YES! I am a microbiologist, based at the…

Since arriving in Cape Town on Monday we have been making our final preparations for the trip. There were a few logistical issues that we needed to get sorted.   First of all was our cold weather gear. Under the blazing sun and in hot temperatures (30C) weather we tried on our insulated layers. The International…

Over the past 24 hour both Steffi and I have completed the journey to Cape Town. Steffi, who was flying from Berlin, arrived earlier today. I flew from Columbia, South Carolina to Atlanta, Georgia. From Atlanta I had a 15 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. I am writing this on the final flight from…