Editor's note

One of my not-so-secret objectives is encouraging scientists to let the rest of us in on how they actually do their research and what they love about it. A great example is today’s story by Wesleyan University paleoceanographer Suzanne O’Connell who is spending two months on a research vessel in the iceberg-filled waters off Antarctica, studying past climate for clues about a warmer future. A landlubber like me isn’t going to be participating in an expedition like this any time soon. But thanks to the words and photos Suzanne has been zipping out to me via onboard satellite internet, I now know the muck they pull up from the bottom of the ocean can teach scientists about how quickly glaciers melted millions of years ago – and also why they have explosives on board, and the amount of butter and eggs it takes to keep this floating fieldwork running.

Also today, articles on who gets to be a ‘female’ athlete, celebrating the Confederacy in Brazil and coming out at the Mormon BYU.

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Maggie Villiger

Senior Science + Technology Editor

Top story

The research vessel must dodge dangerous icebergs as it drills for sediment core samples. Phil Christie/IODP

60 days in Iceberg Alley, drilling for marine sediment to decipher Earth’s climate 3 million years ago

Suzanne O'Connell, Wesleyan University

A paleooceanographer describes her ninth sea expedition, this time retrieving cylindrical 'cores' of the sediment and rock that's as much as two miles down at the ocean floor.

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Environment + Energy

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Education

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    Kirby Farah, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

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    Wayne Schlingman, The Ohio State University

    The far side of the Moon sees its share of sunlight – it's dark only in the sense that it's mysterious because it's never visible from Earth. Here's why.

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