It is many people's wish and dream to one day see the Northern Lights. They are, after all a wonder of nature that have captivated people for centuries. These lights, also occurring in the south of the planet, are not only beautiful, they are also a connection between us and space beyond our little planet, … Continue reading 37: The Northern (and Southern) Lights

You may have heard of North Pole (yay Arctic), you may have heard of the South Pole (go Antarctic!), but have you ever heard of the Third Pole? This week we will be stepping out of the Arctic and exploring the nature and science of a somewhat similar place, the third pole, which is found … Continue reading 36: The Third Pole

Scientist quite like classifying stuff, and literally all living things on the planet are no exception. This is done through taxonomy, which in biology is simply the scientific organisation of all living and once living but now extinct things. Our current system of taxonomy has, with some changes, existed since the 1700s originating with botanist … Continue reading 35: Taxonomy and names, both classic and stupid (or hilarious!)

Time for another animal spotlight, and this week, it’s the moose! Sadly in my research I discovered meese is definitely not the plural of moose… it’s just moose, like sheep and sheep. Despite the sad loss of this wonderful word, there are lots of interesting and often unexpected bits of life history connected to these … Continue reading 34: Prepare to be amoosed

Fossil fuels eh? Awful! Scourge of humanity! But… what are they? And why are they so bad? Should we stop using them straight away? And what does a fern have to do with any of this? As always the answers aren’t always simple, but some of them are quite interesting. This week we will be … Continue reading 33: Fossil Fuels- what happens to a fern 300 million years after it dies?

On a bit of a different line this week, we will be taking a look at some of the practicalities of doing scientific research, rather than what the research itself has discovered. It’s easy to think of scientific research being done in two ways- one in a high tech lab with fancy instruments and lots … Continue reading 32: Research Stations

Over the last 30 or so plogs, we have looked at all kinds of aspects of life in the Arctic. However, they have all been a little biased towards life on land, so this week we’re going to take a look at the life living under the sea! This will include microscopic crustaceans, jellyfish, whales, … Continue reading 31: Life in the Arctic Ocean