Latest news with #ErnestShackleton
BBC News
7 days ago
- Science
- BBC News
Goodwood: Call to action for oceans at Future Lab
Sir David Attenborough warned in his latest film Ocean that humanity still knows more about space than the deep sea and issued a plea to protect the planet's last great wilderness. The message was echoed at the Goodwood Festival of Speed where Future Lab, an immersive exhibition, showcased cutting-edge marine science and technology at the West Sussex the exhibits was a 3D-printed model of The Endurance shipwreck which was discovered in 2022 after sinking on an Antarctic expedition in 1914. The event highlighted how innovation is helping scientists explore the ocean floor, track marine life, and preserve fragile ecosystems. Future Lab also showcased the Seabed 2030 project, which aims to map the entire ocean floor by the end of the Hall, from the project, told BBC Radio Sussex: "We still don't have a complete map of the seabed. "People say we know more about the moon than the ocean - and they are right."The Future Lab also featured a 1.5m (4.9ft) model of The Endurance, the ship used by Sir Ernest Shackleton during his ill-fated expedition. The vessel was crushed by ice and sank in the Weddell Sea, but was found well-preserved more than a century later in 2022. Elena Lewendon from the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, which led the discovery, said: "It was pitch black down there, but the Antarctic Circumpolar Current protects the wreck from decay. We could still see paint on the hull." The team used defence-grade laser scanning and stitched together 25,000 high-resolution images to create a digital model accurate to the resulting 3D print, produced over 350 hours, includes remarkable details such as intact railings, the ship's wheel, and even artefacts like a flare gun believed to have been fired by Shackleton himself. "Most of the damage happened at the surface as the ship was crushed," said Ms Lewendon. "It went down 3,008 metres with quite a whack."Shackleton, who later lived in Eastbourne, East Sussex, famously sent a telegram to the press - not his wife - after returning via the Falklands.
ITV News
09-06-2025
- Science
- ITV News
Seasickness, spotting icebergs and keeping the crew fed: Life on board an Antarctic expedition
ITV News Science Correspondent shows what life is like on board the RRS Sir David Attenborough on an expedition deep within the Antarctic Circle The British research ship the RRS Sir David Attenborough has travelled through an area of Antarctica that would have been impassable 30 years ago at this time of year. That's because the area the ship navigates with ease would have been solid ice. No other British ship has made the journey since the explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated Endurance expedition, when his ship became trapped in the pack ice and sank in 1915. Fast forward 110 years - after global warming has caused the ice to melt - and ITV News Science Correspondent Martin Stew is the only journalist on board the British ship. From the chef keeping crew members fed to the captain keeping a lookout for icebergs, he speaks to those on board about what life is like on an Antarctic expedition.
The Age
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
I tried lying to my doctor. Blame the planets, I said. It didn't work
He says she stared at him as if he were Ernest Shackleton disembarking in England in 1917. I guess she'd never expected to meet someone who'd pulled off such a feat. Nobody could survive such a fire. Like meeting Alex Honnold, or Keith Richards… a myth, a ghost, a person seemingly impervious to the certainties. Loading I've done the maths on his habit (50 years x 365 days x 60 cigs = 1,095,000). He appears to have gotten away with smoking a million cigarettes. I guess if the packs were stacked they'd be about the size of a school bus. But you'd buy the bus and the school itself for the $2 million the smokes cost. He always has one lit, and in absent-minded moments two – one waggling in his lips as he talks and the other being used as a baton to enhance his arguments. And I notice that every time he draws a lungful, as the ciggie crackles and glows, his pupils dilate, and a moment's serenity washes over his sallow face. So, who am I to say he's got it wrong? If it kills him now, he's still played games of chance against God and won. Is that genes? Luck? Or the devil taking care of his own? He's also known among those who like to hoist a goblet. And when he finally got in to see the doctor he told her: 'The kidneys and liver we're not discussing at all. They're off-limits, a no-go zone, my private affair.' That he felt protective of these organs rather than his lungs tells you how appreciative he is of the vintner's art. You will have guessed by now that he is South Australian. From where else could such a committed debauchee hail? I don't know what medical statistics say about the bacchanalia that is South Australia, but the Croweaters I know drink like they're trying to forget breakfast and smoke like they're trying to fumigate themselves of hideous inner demons. They've built a religion around wine, replete with ritual and lore, explicitly so they can get skunked at lunch and call it culture. They don't seem to understand that health issues crackle and hover above the libertine like lightning above a butchers' picnic, and that at any moment their contempt for purer ways might be slapped down by God masquerading as a stroke or coronary. I wish I had the courage of my friend. I wish I was able to tell my own doctor what organs were off-limits. Because recently, roaming across my torso as enthusiastically as Darwin across the Galapagos, she diagnosed a morbidity that, despite my diversions ('It must be Sarah's paramilitary cuisine … a hereditary defect … Mars and Jupiter's recent conjunction…') she kept subtly blaming on an addiction I'd stupidly admitted to. When I say, 'admitted to' I, of course, mean half-admitted to. We all tell our doctors we're drinking half as much as we are, and they immediately double the amount to get nearer the truth. The first lesson at medical school is that each patient is a propagandist for their own virtue, a rakehell in sheep's clothing. I could have admitted to only a quarter of my turpitude – but that would have been a breach of faith. So now I'm taking a daily pill that tastes like a hospital. I have a reminder on my phone that goes off at 10 every morning and sounds like death running a whetstone along his scythe. This seems entirely shocking to me. Pills now? Me? Damn. And soon just another Achilles propped in a chair in a corner of a nursing home.
Sydney Morning Herald
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
I tried lying to my doctor. Blame the planets, I said. It didn't work
He says she stared at him as if he were Ernest Shackleton disembarking in England in 1917. I guess she'd never expected to meet someone who'd pulled off such a feat. Nobody could survive such a fire. Like meeting Alex Honnold, or Keith Richards… a myth, a ghost, a person seemingly impervious to the certainties. Loading I've done the maths on his habit (50 years x 365 days x 60 cigs = 1,095,000). He appears to have gotten away with smoking a million cigarettes. I guess if the packs were stacked they'd be about the size of a school bus. But you'd buy the bus and the school itself for the $2 million the smokes cost. He always has one lit, and in absent-minded moments two – one waggling in his lips as he talks and the other being used as a baton to enhance his arguments. And I notice that every time he draws a lungful, as the ciggie crackles and glows, his pupils dilate, and a moment's serenity washes over his sallow face. So, who am I to say he's got it wrong? If it kills him now, he's still played games of chance against God and won. Is that genes? Luck? Or the devil taking care of his own? He's also known among those who like to hoist a goblet. And when he finally got in to see the doctor he told her: 'The kidneys and liver we're not discussing at all. They're off-limits, a no-go zone, my private affair.' That he felt protective of these organs rather than his lungs tells you how appreciative he is of the vintner's art. You will have guessed by now that he is South Australian. From where else could such a committed debauchee hail? I don't know what medical statistics say about the bacchanalia that is South Australia, but the Croweaters I know drink like they're trying to forget breakfast and smoke like they're trying to fumigate themselves of hideous inner demons. They've built a religion around wine, replete with ritual and lore, explicitly so they can get skunked at lunch and call it culture. They don't seem to understand that health issues crackle and hover above the libertine like lightning above a butchers' picnic, and that at any moment their contempt for purer ways might be slapped down by God masquerading as a stroke or coronary. I wish I had the courage of my friend. I wish I was able to tell my own doctor what organs were off-limits. Because recently, roaming across my torso as enthusiastically as Darwin across the Galapagos, she diagnosed a morbidity that, despite my diversions ('It must be Sarah's paramilitary cuisine … a hereditary defect … Mars and Jupiter's recent conjunction…') she kept subtly blaming on an addiction I'd stupidly admitted to. When I say, 'admitted to' I, of course, mean half-admitted to. We all tell our doctors we're drinking half as much as we are, and they immediately double the amount to get nearer the truth. The first lesson at medical school is that each patient is a propagandist for their own virtue, a rakehell in sheep's clothing. I could have admitted to only a quarter of my turpitude – but that would have been a breach of faith. So now I'm taking a daily pill that tastes like a hospital. I have a reminder on my phone that goes off at 10 every morning and sounds like death running a whetstone along his scythe. This seems entirely shocking to me. Pills now? Me? Damn. And soon just another Achilles propped in a chair in a corner of a nursing home.
NDTV
21-05-2025
- Science
- NDTV
NASA Satellite Shows World's Largest Iceberg Breaking Into Thousands Of Pieces. What Happens Next
The world's largest iceberg, A23a, is breaking apart into smaller pieces, posing a threat to humans and the millions of penguins in the nearby Antarctic sanctuary. NASA's Aqua satellite, equipped with MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer), has captured striking images of the massive iceberg A23a breaking apart. The photos show thousands of smaller ice chunks detaching from the iceberg's northern edge, creating a hazardous icy landscape in the surrounding area. The image highlights the iceberg's enormous size, comparable to South Georgia Island (approximately 1400 square miles), which is famously known for Ernest Shackleton's rescue mission after the Endurance shipwreck. "Thousands of iceberg pieces litter the ocean surface near the main berg, creating a scene reminiscent of a dark, starry night," wrote representatives with the space agency, NASA wrote in a statement. The "megaberg" A23a, currently the world's largest iceberg, has a surface area of approximately 1,200 square miles. It calved from Antarctica's Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in 1986 but remained trapped until 2023. After breaking free, it regained the title of largest iceberg in June 2023. A23a became stuck again in a vortex in early 2024 but broke free in December. It is now grounded off South Georgia Island, where it will likely remain until it melts or breaks apart in the "iceberg graveyard" of the Scotia Sea. As per NASA, the massive iceberg is breaking apart into smaller pieces through a process called "edge wasting." Although the new icebergs appear small compared to A23a, many are still around a kilometre across, posing a risk to ships. The largest piece to break off, dubbed A23c, measures approximately 50 square miles. Since getting stuck in March, A23a has shrunk by about 200 square miles. It's expected to take months or years for the iceberg to fully disintegrate. A23a's size lead is also narrowing, with another iceberg, D15A, closing in on its record. The Impact South Georgia Island is home to a diverse wildlife population, including seals, seabirds, and over 2 million penguins, but has a sparse human presence with only a few dozen researchers visiting annually. The massive iceberg A23a, currently grounded offshore, could potentially disrupt the ecosystem by forcing penguins to travel longer distances to find prey and altering the surrounding water temperature and salinity with its meltwater. Some of these fragments measure over half a mile wide and could therefore "pose a risk to ships," according to NASA. However, its relatively distant location from the coast may mitigate the impact. Some researchers suggest the melting iceberg could also have a positive effect by releasing nutrients into the ocean, benefiting the marine ecosystem. Scientists warn that similar events, such as massive iceberg break-offs, may become more frequent in the future because of climate change. This acceleration of ice shelf melting could have significant implications for global sea levels, ocean ecosystems and the planet's climate as a whole.
