Grant Wrangler
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See science in action at the South Pole
Wed, Jan 02, 2008 E-School News
In a series of live webcasts held in celebration of the International Polar Year (2007-2008), educators at the Exploratorium in San Francisco will be talking throughout the month with scientists at McMurdo Station near the South Pole about the manyresearch projects they're conducting. For instance, this season three giant helium balloons will launch near McMurdo Station and circulate in circumpolar air currents above Antarctica, collecting data about cosmic rays--very high-energy particles that zip through the galaxy at nearly the speed of light. If conditions permit, Exploratorium educators will be talking with the balloon scientists from their ice facility at Williams Field, where the giant balloons are inflated and launched and their flights are tracked. The museum is holding live webcasts on this and other topics Jan. 4, 11, 12, 18,and 25, and educators also can explore its archive of previous South Pole webcasts, which feature research on penguins, ice cores taken from miles beneath the earth's surface, and construction of a new10-meter telescope at the South Pole.
