The EDGE educational foundation promotes vocational learning throughout UK. As its contribution to IPY project 343 it launched the ICE-Edge competition in January 2007 in which teams of schoolchildren aged 13-17 from 10 regions in England and Wales submitted project ideas for tackling issues of climate change and environmental problems. The prize - a once in a lifetime trip to Svalbard to see for themselves the changing Arctic environment, meet polar researchers and get involved in polar projects. The response was fantastic with well over 2000 entries submitted and from these entries 37 teams were selected to appear in a Grand Final held on 5th May at Imperial College, London. A team of expert judges (including Cynan Ellis-Evans from the IPY International...

The National Maritime Museum celebrates International Polar Year 2007 with this series of talks by explorers, artists, historians and scientists. Covering environmental, cultural, social and historical responses to the polar regions, the talks aim to uncover and examine this fast-disappearing place on Earth. Each week they will be explored from a different perspective: cultural commentators and ecologists will engage with the burning issue of climate change; historians will discuss empire-building and notions of heroism through the characters of Scott, Franklin and Shackleton; anthropologists will highlight the culture and contemporary concerns of indigenous communities and explorers will discuss their experiences. 5-week course

You are invited to participate and contribute to the first Virtual Observatories in Geosciences Conference (VOiG). The conference will be at The Curtis Hotel, Denver Colorado, USA - June 12-15, 2007 Each day features plenary and parallel (breakout) sessions to cover areas of broad interests as well as the opportunity for detailed discussions. Time will be allowed for posters, with breaks to facilitate interactions amongst the worldwide VO community. The conference is sponsored by the Electronic Geophysical Year (eGY), USGS, NASA, NSF, SCOSTEP and NCAR. While this conference focuses on geosciences, all interested disciplines are invited to participate. ...

The banners up are, the invites are out, and our contractors are downstairs building the structure for Ice Station Antarctica. This week we’ve been watching the video diaries that the winterers recorded for us. They are funny and poignant. My favourite one is Vicky the doctor getting a dental checkup from an engineer, carpenter and electrician; ‘I’ve got very very clean gums now!’ I love the diaries and think they are a treasure in the heart of the exhibition – a chance for the visitors to hear about real life Down South. The rest of the exhibition is full of quotes from scientists and support staff. It is their stories which engage people with the science and life down in Antarcti...

Live Earth concerts will be held around the world. Headliners for the London Concert will be Madonna, the Beastie Boys and Black Eyed Peas joined by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Keane, Foo Fighters and others. In East Rutherford, New Jersey artists will include Bon Jovi, Dave Matthews Band, Kanye West, Rihanna, John Mayer, Smashing Pumpkins and Fall Out Boy. Other concerts will be in China, South Africa, Australia, Toyko and Brazil. Organizers have promised an event in Antarctica - but no word yet on where. These concerts start a campaign called Save Our Selves (SOS). The full story can be found at cnn.com ...

I look deep into the water lapping at the bow of the ice breaker and find myself thinking of the books in my wife’s study at home. Shackleton, Amundsen, Scott. Tales of great heroism and courage. I thought: if it weren't for my wife’s keen interest in this continent, I wouldn't be here. The excitement is almost tangible. Photographers swarm over the boat, smiling, shaking hands, examining new kit. Maybe I should have hired a 500mm telephoto? Puzzlingly a dockworker rests on a ladder balanced in mid air. Why? Sailors, nonchalantly eating sandwiches, perch on a container high above the huge boat moored alongside us. ...

National UK Children’s Art Competition Today, the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign announced its Young Pavement Artists Competition 2007 and is on the look out for the next Picasso. Young people in the UK aged 4-19 are invited to take part in the national art-based, educational and fundraising initiative where they get the chance to create their masterpieces on a novel canvas – the pavement. To coincide with the International Polar Year (IPY), the theme is the Arctic and Antarctic, home of polar bears and penguins. Mark Speight, from Children’s BBC and president of the Young Pavement Artists Competition said: “Pavement art ca...

The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) seeks an Executive Officer to assist in the running of the SCAR Secretariat. SCAR is a body of the International Council for Science (ICSU). It facilitates and coordinates Antarctic research and identifies issues emerging from greater scientific understanding of the region that should be brought to the attention of policy makers. Its objectives and activities are described on the SCAR web site at http://www.scar.org. The primary tasks of the Executive Officer are: - to assist the Executive Director in the day-to-day operation of the Secretariat including supervising staff, coordinating programmes, analysing scientific issues concerning the A...

A small but nevertheless very important piece of the puzzle in the study of climatic reconstruction of the early history of the earth is Sven Kretschmer's project with his working group from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven. His scientific instruments include the Schwerelot and the multicorer. During the whole of this expedition ANTXXIII/9, it is these drilling instruments that make the ocean floor core drilling project possible. The exact positioning is determined by parasounding equipment. The concentration of thorium 230 in sediment is particularly interesting to geochemists. This radioactive element is a disintegration product, and in water it is extremely insoluble, so it binds immediately to single minerals or other organic particles. In this way, thorium ...

Ian McEwan & John Schellnhuber - a Conversation about Climate Change Moderator: David Buckland 22 March 2007, Bucerius Law School, Hamburg During March and April, Cape Farewell - in collaboration with the British Council - travels to the vast industrial space of Kampnagel Cultural Centre in Hamburg with Cape Farewell - Art and Climate Change, the exhibition developed in collaboration with the Natural History Museum in London in 2006. Climate change is the most serious challenge facing the world in the 21 st century and the British Council's focus on the issue in Germany reflects a commitment to addressing sharedglobal challenges together with European partners. One of the highlights is a discussion between novelist Ian McEwan and Profes...