Good morning. Penny, a Doberman pinscher, won the Westminster Dog Show last night — the first of her breed to receive the best in show honor since 1989. (See pictures from the show here.) And peace talks among the U.S., Russia and Ukraine are taking place today in the U.A.E. There’s more news below. I’m going to start today, though, at the very bottom of the world.
The melting continentTwo days after Christmas, the Times journalists Raymond Zhong and Chang W. Lee set sail from Christchurch, New Zealand, on a research vessel bound for Antarctica. They’ve been there ever since, traveling with an international team of scientists on a high-stakes expedition to study the continent’s most unstable glacier. They’ve sent back gripping dispatches (that’s Ray’s job) and amazing images (Chang captures those). Their work documents the scientists’ research and lives, as well as the austere, beautiful and sometimes terrifying vistas around them. Thwaites, the glacier the scientists are studying, is a mass of ice that’s roughly the size of Florida. The research is meant to help us understand how long it will be before it melts away, lifting sea levels around the world.
Reporters from The Times have covered Antarctica for the better part of a century, and not from afar. (That’s my job.) Russell Owen was on the continent for 14 months in the late 1920s, writing almost daily about a milestone expedition led by Richard E. Byrd, then a U.S. Navy commander. Later trips by Times reporters, most recently in 2016, brought our readers stories of discovery and science on and in the ice. Ray and Chang have it pretty good, Ray told me yesterday when we caught up on a video call from the ship: good food, warm bunks, strong internet, an easy commute to work. Still, he said, it’s Antarctica. Things go wrong. Over the weekend, Ray reported, the expedition suffered a significant setback when instruments the scientists were lowering down a half-mile hole in the glacier got stuck and then froze over. The idea had been to moor them in the sea below the glacier to monitor the warming water that’s causing the glacier to slough ice and disappear. It was a gutting moment for the crew, Ray told me yesterday. As he wrote, “A project almost a decade in the making had crumbled at the final stage.”
But it’s not as if the expedition has been a failure. The scientists bounced back quickly, and returned to work on the ship, Ray said. Disappointment often accompanies discovery, they know. It was never a certainty that the scientists would get any data at all, given the vicissitudes of weather and the ice itself. “They know what they signed up for,” Ray said. And they’ve gotten plenty of data, with more on the way before they depart this weekend. The scientists have flown helicopters equipped with radar antennas that have allowed them to find huge cracks in the ice and to map where and how the ice is breaking apart. They’ve tagged seals with sensors that essentially deputize the animals — they’ll collect data on their deep ocean dives that will help scientists better understand the water’s warming currents. They’ve placed instruments in ice rifts. And, Ray said, they’ll be back to learn more when they can. Once you’ve experienced the majesty of Antarctica, it’s hard to let it go. “You get the bug,” he said. Has he? Ray laughed. “Oh, yeah.”
You can read more about the expedition here. Now, let’s see what else is happening in the world.
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Laughter is fundamental to how babies learn about the world, writes Gina Mireault, a developmental psychologist. Here is a column by Jamelle Bouie on what happens when a president will not find common ground. The Times Sale ends soon: Expand your knowledge with our experts. Take advantage of our best offer and gain understanding and insight in every area of life. Just $1 a week for your first year of unlimited access to news, culture, cooking and more.
Brushing, panting, licking: See photos from backstage at the Westminster Dog Show, where the dogs could let down their fur before taking to the ring. A closer look: Researchers are doing virtual autopsies on mummies using high-resolution CT scans and 3-D printers. Your pick: The most-clicked link in The Morning yesterday was about how to make and keep friends. The “Lobster Lady”: Virginia Oliver, a Maine folk hero, fished off the New England coast for more than 80 years. and continued almost until she died at 105. See photos of her life here.
15— That is the height, in feet, of a bronze gold-leafed statue of Trump that’s meant to be installed at his golf complex in Doral, Fla. |
