Seasickness, spotting icebergs and keeping the crew fed: Life on board an Antarctic expedition
ITV News Science Correspondent shows what life is like on board the RRS Sir David Attenborough on an expedition deep within the Antarctic Circle
The British research ship the RRS Sir David Attenborough has travelled through an area of Antarctica that would have been impassable 30 years ago at this time of year.
That's because the area the ship navigates with ease would have been solid ice.
No other British ship has made the journey since the explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated Endurance expedition, when his ship became trapped in the pack ice and sank in 1915.
Fast forward 110 years - after global warming has caused the ice to melt - and ITV News Science Correspondent Martin Stew is the only journalist on board the British ship.
From the chef keeping crew members fed to the captain keeping a lookout for icebergs, he speaks to those on board about what life is like on an Antarctic expedition.
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'It also has short-term benefits in later life by helping 'charge' the endocrine system to respond to challenging situations, like intense exercise, by suddenly spiking testosterone levels. 'This could manifest as people having stronger body systems or organs that physically improve their ability to tolerate intense aerobic exercise, or as a stronger psychosocial, competitive response to being challenged when exercising.' For everyday athletes curious about their fitness potential, Professor Gower said there's a simple way to get a clue – just look at your fingers. 'Digit ratio is easy to measure – just compare the length of your index and ring fingers of your hand,' he said. Some scientists worry that measuring your fingers - as this diagram suggests - doesn't actually give any real indication of the hormones you were exposed to in the womb 'If your ring finger is longer, you've got a lower ratio. You never know – your fingers might just reveal you're built for endurance.' 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"It just reaffirmed every notion you have about responsibility, about the life of the planet, about the size of that wilderness and what it means to us on a human level. "And you just come away with great respect and awe and I think a sense of duty to transfer that to our daily endeavours and our responsibilities to deal with the climate crisis." The Trump administration has taken an axe to Biden-era environmental ambitions, rolled back landmark regulations, withdrawn climate project funding and instead bolstered support for oil and gas production in the name of an 'American energy dominance' agenda. The Environmental Protection Agency alone faces a 54.5% proposed cut to funding, taking its budget to a level last seen when Ronald Reagan was president. Under the latest tax and spending bill by the Trump administration, the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act", financial incentives for green technologies such as solar, wind, batteries, electric cars and heatpumps would be slashed. 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